LETTER No. 6, AND CONCLUDING.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 119, 29 May 1863, Page 2

LETTER No. 6, AND CONCLUDING.

Being a true and unvarnished narrative of the incidents and adventures which befel a trustworthy, truthful, and veracious traveller in his journeyings and discoveries in the unknown regions of Hawke's Bay.

Dear Sir, —The adventures, researches, and travels, of even the most persevering of men, come, sooner or later, to an end. And as has ever been the case, and will ever he the case with everything on this earth which has had a beginning, it must also at some time or other have an ending, I have only now to give you a few more particulars, and then my task, my pleasant task, will be finished.

“Time rolls his ceaseless course ; the race of yore, Who danced our infancy upon their knee, And told our marv’ling boyhood legends store, Of their strange ’ventures happ’d "by land and How are they blotted from the things that be!”[sea, And I, too, and my great doings and adventures will soon be “ blotted from the things that be.”

It would seem, from what information I could gather, that there is a large population of Natives located upon the banks of the Wairoa river, who cultivate in their own peculiar fashion a small, and but a very small, portion of the rich plains which Nature has given them. The Maories of Wairoa are, upon the whole, pretty well behaved, at all events, they only seem to bully in moderation those white brethren who have settled amongst them. The river divides into two branches about 12 miles up from its mouth, from which point, I was given to understand, the country is in the hands of “ Kingites,” and that travelling into the interior is strictly prohibited. Therefore, any attempt to reach the fine falls which are to be seen about a day’s journey up the main branch, will, most probably be frustrated. I could discern no difference in the manners, customs, and habits of the Maories, whether they are supporters of the King movement, or whether they are the supporters of no movement in particular, they all alike luxuriate in the customary amount of filth, smoking, and sleeping, and are, upon the whole, just like all the race, shrewd as Shylock and as dirty and debauched as if is possible for any people to be. At the time I was at Wairoa, the Provincial Engineer was engaged in planning and estimating some road works and small bridges for the benefit of the Maories. A course of procedure, considering the state of the Provincial funds, which I consider to be on the part of the Government, anything but judicious. We have little enough done in the way of improving our roads, &c., in the settled parts of our own districts, and little enough money at hand for anything, and it is therefore extremely unfair, that our great needs should be neglected, and our little money spent for the benefit of a people who arc willing enough to reap the harvest, but who will have nothing to do with the sowing of the seed. At the time I travelled this country, there happened to be some repairs of the road required, between Tongohio and Mohaka, but the Natives would neither do the work themselves, nor allow anybody else to do it, and for some months, pending the settlement of the question at issue, the road remained in a most disgraceful condition. Well, it ended, like all other disputes between the Government and the Natives, in

the Government foolishly yielding to the extravagant demands of the Maories, instead of taking a decisive step, hy sending a party of white laborers on to the works, with orders to finish those works, and if the natives dared to interfere, pitch into their heads for a day or so, instead of the banks and braes of the road. If some decisive course was adopted to bring any little difference between the Whites and Natives to an issue, "instead of always compromising with them, we should never hear of these vexatious and preposterous proceedings. But to return to Wairoa. As I observed before, there is plenty of timber in Wairoa Valley, and which timber might be readily exported to Napier, either in baulk orin sawn stuff. The river is wide and deep, and large rafts could be easily floated down to the sea for shipment. The river mouth is liable to be stopped up in heavy southerly weather, but it does not remain in that state for any lengthened time. I made careful inquiry as touching the feeling of the Natives towards the Pakehas and their Government. The invariable reply to all my questions was the eternal “ me utu” which exactly signifies the whole state of the case. Pay the Maori, and he will be our friend ; feed and coax him, and be will be our staunch supporter ; flatter him, and he will swallow the most fulsome twaddle. Eelax any one of these mild ami sedative measures, and then behold the effect produced. Our supposed friend turns into our most bitter enemy, and the people whom we before firmly believed loved us better than their brothers, turn out, after all, to be the most greedy, false, foul wretches that it is possible to conceive.

The principal production of these regions, are pigs, bacon, pork, corn, and half-castes Fruit of all kinds does well here, and attains great perfection of flavour and colour. The white settlers appear to live a vegetable existence, and flourish upon the richness of the land like any other plant. They sow not, neither do they reap. There is a doctor located here in the pay of the Government. His duties appear to lie amongst the Natives ; but I fancy this gentleman leads an easy, indolent life, having little to do and not much more to get. I did not, however, make his acquaintance. The Runanga or Native Council which flourishesatWairoaalong with other exotics, hasmadesomestringentrogulationsforthe prevention of grog-selling ; but such is the unaccountable perversity of human nature, even amongst nature’s gentlemen, that if any contraband liquors are discovered they are incontinently seized by the emissaries of the Council, and a meeting is thereupon called and held to devise measures for the punishment of the offenders against the sobriety and decorum of our dear dirty brown brethren, and, if rumour speaks correctly, the meeting generally ends in all parties concerned getting “ fou’ ” together, and thus at once and with great skill bringing the case to a close, and finding judgment not upon the evidence but upon the merits. There can be no doubt that the Governor’s Magistrate is obliged to be very careful in giving judgment in cases brought before him not to offend the ruling Natives. So long as he walks in that path he is just, and only just, tolerated. He is, in fact, looked upon more as a medium through which money and presents may be extracted from the Government than as a person empowered to maintain justice and enforce the law. If at any time the Magistrate should give an offensive decision, .lie would be very soon packed off about his business in a most unceremonious and undignified fashion. To avoid the possibility of any such disagreeable contingency, that dignitary is cautious not to hear a case unless he feels pretty sure that he can do so without offending the stronger party, and without prejudicing his clients against himself. The res\ilt of°pursuing this course is, that his authority is treated with placid contempt by one half of the people, and is openly treated with disdain and defiance by the other half. Here, then, my task ends, and if I have wiled away a dull hour, or have in any way contributed to break the monotony of the every day life of your readers, and given them some amusement, in ever so small a particular, I shall consider that I have done and suffered to some good purpose • and your traveller returns to his home a wiser if not a better man.

“ At length his lonely cot appears in view, Beneath the shelter of an aged tree ; Th’ expectant wee things, toddlin’, stacher thro’ To meet their dad, wi’ flichteringnoisean’gleo. His wee bit ingle, blinkin’ bonnily, [smile," His clean hearth-stanc, his thriftie wifio’s" The lisping infant, prattling oh his knee Docs a’ his weary kiaugh an’ care beguile, An’ makes him quite forget his labor an’ his toil.” With these exquisitely touching and beau-

tiful lines from Bob Burns’ ever memorable “ Cottar’s Saturday Night” the letters of The Modern Mercury end.