A RAMANTIC STORY.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2709, 13 December 1882, Page 3

A RAMANTIC STORY.

[rSESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.}

AUCKLAND, December 12,

The police authorities have just brought to a satisfactory issue certain delicate negotiations in respect of the matter up North that threatened at one time to cause a rupture of the peaceful relations which have existed long between the two races in the Kaipara district. It seems about a fortnight ago a Government surveyor, named Eoss, who was engaged upon some operations near the Hoteo bridge, gave information to Constable McLeod that a yacht belonging to him, which had been moored in the Hoteo river, had been seizod by the Natives with all his surveying instruments. The total value of the property taken amounted to several hundred pounds.. The constable saw the case was one beset with difficulty, and he therefore referred the information to Superintendent Thomson, who was accordingly interviewed by him in due course. By dint of a searching enquiry the superintendent discovered the Maoris had had considerable provocation, and they had simply put into practice their ancient law of retaliation. He found out that one of Eoss’ chainmen was a Maori possessed of a rather comely wife, who had been accustomed to pay frequent visits to the surveyor's camp for the ostensible purpose of seeing her husband. It occurred to her Maori friends that she was becoming far more intimate than was proper with the chief of the party, and some steps were about to be taken to prevent a scandal, when the dusky beauty mysteriously disappeared. Her friends, however, traced her to Warkworth, and thence to Auckland, and then they discovered that she had been shipped off to some secure haven on the East Coast. The result of their investigation was the seizure of Eoss’ boat and implements for alleged seduction and elopment. Thompson at once perceived the importance of acting with the utmost, circumspection, lest the Government should be placed in an awkward position,and he therefore brought the whole matter under the notice of the Native Minister. Mr Bryce at once wired to Mr Cleudon, E.M. for Whangarei, Mahurangi. Port Albert, &c., requesting him to do what he could in the direction of securing restitution of the appropriated property. Mr Clendou was engaged at the time with a [Maori road squabble at Whangarei, but he managed to see the Natives on Wednesday near Kpkoromiki, where they had carried the vessel. They showed themselves to be tractable and orderly, and when he informed them they had broken the law they promised to return the yacht and the other confiscated goods, although they were greatly incensed at Eoss’s alleged dishonorable conduct. On Thursday evening last the vessel was taken to Helensville, and handed over to Constable Naughton. The owner found nothing had been tampered with or injured, not even the spirits had been touched. An inquiry into the charges made against Eoss is now being carried on by the chief surveyor. The accused individual is said to be in town at present, and it is reported that he has been dismissed from the Government service.

Boss, the surveyor, has come to town to take legal proceedings against the Kaipara Natives for taking forcible and unlawful possession of his yacht. He says after the Native woman’s disappearance they suspected he was the cause, but they seized the yacht first, and accused him afterwards. He got a warrant for the arrest, but being only signed by a J.P. it was not operative. Ho denies the Chief Surveyor making an inquiry re his conduct and his dismissal from the Government service, and states he resigned previous to these occurrences.