RAGLAN (AUCKLAND.)

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 333, 18 December 1865, Page 3

RAGLAN (AUCKLAND.)

DISCOVERY OF MUTILATED BODIES. TWO SHIPS’ BOATS FOUND. (Prom the New Zealand Herald, 13th December.) On Friday, the Ist inst., a ship’s long-boat, of about twenty-two feet keel, was picked up on Ruapuke beaeh. It was painted white inside, and was tarred over the. white paint on the outside, and apparently was of American build. On the following day a party of Maoris reported that they had found a whale-boat near Taranaki Point, Aotea, the upper sides of which were painted black—the bottom white,- that it had in it six oars, and also a keg of rum, “ sealed.” Near the boat, they state, that they found the body of a female, from which the head, legs, and arms were wanting, and near the same spot the head of a man. There was a name painted on the boat, but the Maoris state that they were unable to make it out. We shall, we trust, be soon in a position to give further intelligence on the subject, as Dr. Harsant and other Europeans were to proceed on Monday last to the spot, to institute further inquiries.

The public will naturally ask bow the death and mutilation of these bodies are to be accounted for. Haring been found on the coast near the Hau-hau head-quarters at Kawhia, it may be thought by some they are the remains of Euro* peans who hare fallen into the hands of fanatics, and been thus cruelly murdered and mutilated. We believe nothing of the kind. It will be recollected that about two months since the Maori Queen left Onehunga for Hokitika, with a number of passengers ; that she put in leaky to Eaglan, where she picked up eleven more passengers, and that she has never been heard of since. The mutilation of bodies in the water is also to be accounted for in more ways than one, without a recourse to the supposition that it was the work of man. As it was only by the breasts that the trunk found was supposed to be that of a woman, it is more than probable that the head found belonged to the trunk also discovered ; both were, it seems, much decomposed and destroyed. That it was not the work of the Hau-haus we feel certain. Had it been so, had a boat’s crew driven in distress on tho East Coast been massacred, we should of heard of it long ago. The natives themselves would have boasted of the deed—the act would have not been half performed if the pakchas had not been made aware of the how and why it was done.

Mr Commissioner Maekay lias we see arrived at Raglan from Kawhia. Like all Maori alarms that of danger to the settlers of that district turns out to bo a mare’s nest. The truth is, the war in this Province is at an end, and the ill-disposed natives, though never more than half-thrashed, have been so thoroughly dispirited by starvation, the consequence of war, that they will think twice before committing any overt act likely to bring down upon them the vengeance of the Europeans. The hanging of the prisoners found guilty of the murder of Ailloon, Yolkner, and others, will, if the Governor allow the supremacy of the law to be vindicated, and the sentence of the Courts of justice to be something more than a dead letter, have the effect of putting a finishing stroke to the insurrection.