NEW PLYMOUTH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 550, 10 February 1858, Page 6

NEW PLYMOUTH.

(From the Wellington Independent, Feb. 3.)

The great obstacle to the progress of ]NTe\v Plymouth has just been removed— Kotatore is dead—foully murdered by one •••^rsion, a sacrifice on the altar of retributive justice according -to the other. The native troubles of New Plymouth have long been a household word, and unless advantage is taken by the Government of the death of Katatore, they are likely to continue so.

When Colonel Wakefield was engaged, in buying lands in this neighbourhood for the settlement of the people then daily expected from England, he deputed Dr. Doi'sett to proceed to Taranaki and purchase thut district, and so well was the purchase effected that it -was almost the only one which Mr. Commissioner Spain afi3rv.-jr.-Js confirmed—seme trifl-ng prei>,;ui in Leu of a case of lnusk'^-s, promised but no', ••■iv.^n ti the time of :.a!e. boin rjn the only iditionai payment awarded. Co.ptui a Yiv/a-oj, rrs is well known, upset the Commi: loner's awjrd and suffered himself t>: V-o bullied oy Katatore into returning to the natives all the lands comprising; the iNev/ Plymouth settlement, reserving only three or four thousand acres immediately around the town. With the openly avowed intention of breaking up the settlement, all the outlying settlers weie ordered to remove into the town block, or take ship for Auckland, where, we believe, they were to receive compensation in land equal to the value of their deserted homesteads.

Prom that day to this, little progress has been made in re-purchasing these lands, only a few .small blocks having been adued to the charmed circle round the town, and this at the cost of producing a native warfare which has been goin^ on at the very doors of the settlers for several days past; Katatore almost invariably resisting the overtures of the Government -and the rights of other tribes.

Ainj-ng th» ; chiefs most desirons for the spread of .European civilisation, was one liainod llawiri, from whom Mr. Bell, then

the New Zealand Company's Resident Agent, purchased the first of the few blocks that have been obtained. From his beingfriendly in every way to the British rule, the Government made Rawiri an Assessor; this honour naturally increased his willingness to serve the settlers, and three or four years since, in consequence of his agreeing to sell other lands, he was set upon by Katatore and others, and inhumanly murdered. It was expected that this murder of a magistrate would have produced some decided action on the part of the Government.. The feud having been confined by the natives to their own tribes, the Government had not hitherto directly interfered/ but had contented itself with stationing troops in the town, as a safeguard to the settlers should the warfare extend to them. Those j who expected that justice would overtake Katatore were mistaken. The proceedings that took place after the Wairau Massacre of 1848 were dupled ; the visit of Sir Everard Home to Bauparaha was imitated b}' Colonel Wyrryard, who shook hands with Katatore and otherwise expressed his intention of looking over the past, and the relatives of those who were butchered in cold blood on the banks of the Tua Marina did not meet with a more steady refusal for redress at the hands of those in authority, than did the relatives of Rawiri.

The old law of eye for eye and tooth for tooth has greater force among the New Plymouth Natives than it had among ourselves. We learnt—though unwillingly— to forgive' and forget, and suffered the guilty to go unpunished; but they have taken blood for blood. Aware of Katatore's intention to visit the town unarmed on the 9th instant, his party, consisting of himself and four followers, was attacked on its return by seven natives, who shot and tomahawked Katatore and another, the remaining three making their escape. Looking at all the circumstances of the case, and remembering' that Maori laws and customs sanction the severity of Moses, we have no alternative but to express our belief that the fate of Katatore must be considered in the light of retribution and not in that of murder.

We are aware tliat a picture can be drawn of Katatore very different to that which we have sketched. He can be held up as a chief contending for the inheritance of his -fethers, resisting the encroachments of the grasping European, and at last falling a sacrifice to his amor patriot; but his whole career belies such assertions. The very land he murdered Rawiri for selling, he himself offered to the Governor shortly afterwards. As the c Herald' observes, v he sacrificed his friends and foes to no fixed principle, and was devoid of those promptings which in a manner excused Heki for his mis-deeds at the Ba} T of Islands."

Now that the great obstacle—the obstacle of sixteen years standing—to the acquisition of land at New Plymouth has been removed, we hope that prompt efforts will be made to secure the reconciliation-of the . contending parties. The probability is that after the loss of life which has been occasioned by these disputes they will be willing to throw away the bone of contention by selling their lands to the Government. Their language will probably be that of an intelligent chief in our own neighbour- ! hood; — " Why should we spare the land-— has it life ? We are living creatures " We perceive by our late Auckland files that H.M.S. Iris has arrived at that port, and it is placed at the Governor's temporary disposal. We hope his Excellency will think it conducive to the interests of the Colony to visit New Plymouth. His I presence might be of incalculable advantage in bringing about amicable relations, for so long as the present system of centralisation is pursued, no one can possess an influence on occasions such as these so great as the Governor himself. It is now two years since His Excellency left Auckland for the South, and we think it is due to the welfare of the colony that the natives of one province should not. monopolise the whole of his personal attention.

The following account of the late native murders at'nev/Plymouth, given1 by an eye witness, is taken from the "Tara- ! naki Herald" of the loth Instant. To the Editor of the "Taranaki Herald." S'r > —I beg to send for your information the following particulars relating to the tragedy enacted on Saturday evening last. Upon the evening in question I had occasion to visit the house of my neighbour Mr. R. Street. I observed as I entered six armed Natives lying in ambush in the rear of his workshop. Tamati Tiraurau was seated in the house j he rose and passed

out v pon ray entering-. The natives Were1 repeatedly ordered to withdraw, but"•••refused, having- taken up their quarters there during- the greater part of the day. About 7 p.m. five maories 'rode up and' halted in the cross roads. They were Katatore, Tamihana, Rawiri Karira, Meihana, and a youth'named Wiremu. I shouted out to them to " make haste as there were natives lying in wait to shoot them." There was a moment's pause'and then the fellows ran to the hedge and1 fired a volley at those in the road. One of them presented a gun at Rawiri's breast and fired ; lie was badly wounded, rolled from his horse and struggled-with his enemy for a short time, and was seized by his hair by Tamati and tomahawked in an j awful manner. It was a sickening sight' to see the poor fellow imploring mercy, the blood streaming* down his face in torrents, and the ruthless savage protracting" his agony by a pause between the blows; twice did he succeed in getting* from him, but weakened by loss of blood, and much ineapacited by drink as well, he fell an easy victim. Katatore dismounted, but finding himself so closely beset, and i seeing his relative mortally wounded, he fled up the road leading to the bush, protected as he went by Tamihana. He was shot down about 800 yards on this line and his head'"fearfully beaten with a gun, which was broken in the attack; he was also tomahawked. Tamihana fled through the fields to the left, and after a narrow escape in the swamp, eventually reached his pa, tog-ether with Meihana and the youth "Wiremu.

I saw "the body of Katatoi*e borne away by his own people; Rawiri's corpse was first taken into my neighbour's workshop, from thence to the Half Town, and in the night removed to the pa. The whole affair was a deeply laid plot.: Once in the road leading to the bush and the fate of the victims was sure, as another party of Hcamoana natives were in ambush at the lower end. Men may call it what they please, but to an Englishman, and an eye witness, it was an atrocious murder and nothing else. The death of Katatore may be considered as an act of retributive justice. Be it also remembered it took place within a few paces of our doors and under the eye of our wives and children.

I am, Mr. Editor, yours &c., E.W. Hollis, P.S.—Nothing lias occurred since. 104 natives from the Hua and other pas in the locality came down on Tuesday morning according to the native custom—a reconnoitering party was told off, who approached within gunshot of Ihaia's pa, but quickly decamped when its defenders made their appearance. Bell Block, loth Jan. 1858.

The following version of the affair is from the 'Taranaki News' of January 14. On Saturday evening, the inhabitants of the town were startled by the report that fresh disturbances had broken out among the natives in the Bell and Hua district, and that two of them had been killed. Further inquny proved the report to be correct to the extent of the number slain; but the particulars disclosed—not a fight, but as craftily designed and determined a plan of assassination as could well be conceived. The victims were Katatore— whose career for the last four years has • occasioned so much disturbance to the settlement, and trouble to the Government— and Rawiri, his half-brother, said to have been an inoffensive man, but,we have heard, concerned with Katatore in the murder of his namesake three years ago. The assassins were Tamati, brother to Ihaia of the Hikamona pa, and half-a-dozen or so of his people. Ihaia is also known to have been personally aiding in training the victims of this atrocity to the ambuscade prepared for their destruction.

As explaining the causes which may have in part led to this massacre, we must refer to previous occurrences. Since the destruction of Rawiri and his followers, three years since, Katatore bas not, until very lately, ventured fi#m his pa into town, and never, we have heard, until this last occasion, without arms and armed followers. Ihaia and Tamati had nothing to do on either side in the affair of Rawiri's slaughter, and did not show any interest in the matter. The true aim of the actors in this as in Rawiri's tragedy is doubtless a determination to get rid of favoured and powerful opponents, whose position circumscribed their influence in the land dealings of the province, for which end every new atrocity is made to furnish additional excuses. Beyond this inducement there already existed another cause of hatred between the two chiefs, namely, that Ka-

tatoro was instriVmentflMn bringing up the ' Ngataruariui to avenge1 the death; ot one of their tribe killed by Ihaia or by his direction in a lit of jealousy; in Avhich struggle he lost some of his people, and his' brother Tamati was very severely wounded: after which time, Ihaia joined his strength with Adam Clark's, and inflicted upon them great loss, and ultimately drove them back smith: From that time Ihaia has sworn the destruction of Katatore the first opportunity, and, from what has transpired, must hay been long watching- his opportunity, although conducting himself so as to lull suspicion. On Saturday last, both chiefs were'in town, ( with several of their _men, and all1 doubt of each other's intentions appeared at an end. Ihaia laid :himself out during; the day to propitiate his enemies, and. dispel airy shade of suspicion by treating them with food and spirits; so that, when they left town, some, of them1 were the worse for drink, and returned, dogged, it! should appear, by Ihaia, in scattered parties along the road.

Near the end of the Bell Block, at the turn from the Devon line which leads to Katatore's pa, behind a furze hedge on the land of Mr. Street, a party of Ihaia's people, 6 or 7 in number, remained from 2 o'clock in the afternoon until shortly after 6, when Katatore, Rawiri, Tamian, and a boy, all mounted, arrived at the turning-. A shot was fired, which struck .Rawiri in the chest, and tumbled him from his horse, Upon which, Katatore dismounted to his assistance, but, finding" him dying, made his way down the road, rapidly leading his horse. Tamian, at the first shot, leaped his horse over a fence into a cornfield, and, being thrown, made his escape through the standing crops. The boy galloped down the road and also escaped. [Meanwhile, Tairiati, who was waiting-con-cealed at another spot, where they might have passed, came up and despatched Rawiri with his tomahawk, with every refinement of savage ingenuity,- and, while this occurred, the rest of the party gave chase to Katatore, and he was struck by two shots, one in his hip, another in the chest, when he fell, and was despatched. ; The whole affair occupied but a short time, and the bodies were left on the public highway by the assassins.