TRAIN HELD UP.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1926, Page 4

TRAIN HELD UP.

y MAOUIS AND THEIR TIMBER. exciting .moaiexts. AUCKLAND, May (i. I here wore exciting happenings ii i rii-fia. King Country, on Tuesday afternoon. when Ellis and Burmind. Ltd., attempted to gain entrance to iimbei i blocks which bad been closed bv the Xative owners, following alleged breaches of agreement by the company. As a result ot a message from the company that it intended to send a locomotive to remove logs from 'the block under police protection, the owners assembled on Tuesday morning at a gate they had erected across the tramline. Alter four hours the locomotive iiith a train of empty trucks arrived, steaming to within a few feet of the gate. The mill manager and business manager alighted, accompanied by a constable, and demanded in the name of the po. I.ice that the gate he opened, and the train allowed to pass. Questioned as to his purpose and authority for being present, the constable said he was there to prevent a breach of the peace. The agent of the owners then refused to open the gate, and reminded the manager that the Natives had formally re-entered the property. It' the company persisted in forcing the gate, the results would probably he disastrous, and the responsibility would he upon the company. Several Native women lay upon the rails, and were apparently determined that the engine should only pass over their bodies. Upon being appealed to by the manager, the Natives’ leader, Chief Taroa te Rangitana, stated that through a similar act by the company some months ago he had sustained a broken log. He refused to allow the engine to advance another inch.

The mill manager then ordered the gate to be forced. However, attempts to jack out the gate posts were frustrated hv the passive resistance of two Maori women, one of whom interposed her body between the post and the jack.

After two attempts, had failed, the company’s official asked if they would be allowed to take the trucks through, and leave them at Paemako Siding. To this the Natives agreed, and the manager promised that if the owners would declare a truce, and leave the gate open, the company would not attempt to remove any logs until after the sitting of the ATaori Land Board. The owners accepted this promise, and a truce was declared on these terms.

A representative of Ellis- and Burmind, Ltd., stated at Hamilton to-day that the trouble at the firm’s sawmill at ATangapehi was not nearly so serious as reports emanating from Te Kuiti would lead people to believe. AVhat trouble there was, he said, was confined to a very small section of the Native owners of the land through which Ellis'and Burnnnd’s tramline passed, and it was stated that the dispute was being engineered by outside influences. Representatives of the Em;

have visited Abngapelii, and have informed the Natives concerned that if they have any grievances they have their remedy, which may be obtained through proper and constitutional channels. It was stated that the whole matter would come before tho Native Laud Court which sits at To Kuiti to-morrow.