EXPEDITION AGAINST TE KOOTI.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1038, 9 June 1871, Page 2

EXPEDITION AGAINST TE KOOTI.

A correspondent of the Wanganui Chronicle, writing under this heading, says :• I lately read an account, taken from a Hawke's Bay journal, of an expedition, under the Maori chief Ropata and his inferior officer, Capt. Porter, (closely connected with the tribe), sent to capture Te Kooti. We are constantly hearing, on the best authority, of the IJriweras and other 1 iih.es haying deserted their chief Te, Kooti ; and here it. is repeated again. "The Uriweras, who weiethe principal part of his force, have to a man deserted him, and now ho lias, but nine followers." A short time, ago it was stated he had only three companions left. I will explain this as I understand it. If I had the exact number of the. XJriwera tribe who have left him this : time I would give an exact muster, roll of what his next force should be ; for if three followers can in a fevy. weeks produce a given number of men for Te Kooti, what number will nine produce, and the question is solved. I was rather indisposed the evening when I read the description of tha "terrible privations" and "intense, sufferings of the men" (I take no delight in inflicting tortures on our fel-low-creatures,) and the account of Ropata and hk force being one mass of naming sores and scabs (to say nothing of the horrible " boil on the inside of the Major's thigh the size of a cheeseplate," coupled with the statement that Hotenc was one mass of sores (ugh !) —was too much, for me. I left the table feeling really ili. The good this expedition really did, as it was organised, and the extra good it might have done if properly managed, is a different question, T have no doubi a great deal of the kind of energy natives possess was expended, and that they « eve not provided . with proper food, as the. account before me mentions that " the expedition was entirely without provisions of any description, and existed on roots and fern stalks." (How would you like to hunt up a desperate enemy on such food Mr No experience 1) And in consequence each man became, as stated, a running and scabby mass of boils. We have no right to tempt natives as a certain gentleman was permitted to tempt Job. Natives are not apt to be xo patient as he was. 1 believe "the Nwatiporou did behave admirably,'' and covered themselves with—boils. But that the expense to the Government has been but light, as the men were in receipt of only 3s of pay per day, and have not been on rations for a fortnight, argues against reason and common practical sense. "Why was not this expedition supplied with proper f »od 1 Why, for the sake of a few rations, was the obi ject of the march defeated ere it had started ? The 3s a-day to several hundred men has doubtless beeii well earned by them, but is an expenditure without profit a return 1 (A Maori can no more exist on roots than can a European, or half as well.) The expedition is forced to return without meeting with the enemy, covered with loathsome sores, many constitutions undermined, and the men obliged to recruit, their services are of course lost for a month or more—and it would not be just to. strike them off pay at once. Is even the value of these rations sav'ed otherwise ? I say no, for we read on—'Ropata deserves some substantial recognition of his services' beyond the Major's pay he has been drawing, and we trust the Government will see fit to rewat'4 him with some pecuniary or honorary distinction." Ropata is recommended as deserving of pecuniary compensation for sufferings endured in endeavoring to carry out instructions for which the means to do so were not given, rendering it impossible for him to succeed. A sum of money is to be given to Major Ropata, as the 3s a day and the pay of a Major is not sufficient for the "intense suffering" they underwent, and all owing to the absence of a few paltry rations. Half the sumt hat Ropata will get—l say will get, for is he not a Maori ) —would have, if expended in rations, enabled the expedition to fulfil its object. This country does not, I take it, wish to starve the men who fight its battles,

Orie effect of this expedition is said to be the desti action of many of Te Kooti's cultivations (by other accounts Te Kooti had none) ; this is the "stuff." The other good said to be gained is the "moral effect v ; this is the "nonsense." The real effect has yet to coire, and I will tell tax-payer* what it will be. All the natives who have had cause to grin with pain at the boils intliete.d on them will fron< this and the other privations they ha%e gone through discover that from rheumatism and debility they are unable to support themselves, and will then collectively and individually petition the Govern nient—first for a big pension for the tribe, then for smaller pen-dons for the men comprising it, and lesser ones for the women and children, whom their husbands and brotheis will advance are not able to support themselves. A commission will be appointed with power to bribe the chiefs, who will take all they can ..get in this way without tailing in their duty to the tribe, and if any man who has applied for a pension does not get it he will pick up his Government rifia, and, with his cask of ammunition, join Te Kooti on the ranges, or become his successor.