A LETTER FROM MR. BELL, RELATIVE TO THE MURDERS AT TARANAKI, ON THE 4TH MAY 1863.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume III, Issue 5, 1 June 1863, Page 1

A LETTER FROM MR. BELL, RELATIVE TO THE MURDERS AT TARANAKI, ON THE 4TH MAY 1863.

Taranaki, 7th May, 1863. To Matutaera, to Te Paea, to

Wiremu Tamehana, to Patara, to all the tribes: Salutations. This is the word of the Governor to you all about what has happened here. On the 4th April he went quietly on to his own piece, upon the words which he had declared publicly to the Ngatiawa people, and to the Taranakis, and to the Southern tribes. He welcomed there by the people anSijjr Hoani and Ins pebjfre. Letters were written to him from Wiremu Matakatea, from Arama Karaka, and from all his people, to say, that there would be no disturbance from them;"the Ngatiawas also consented, that ther« should be no disturbances about Tataraimaka. The] Governor then proceeded he had been long considering, to put an end to the quarrels of the Ngatiawa, and let in peace together at Waitara. : While he was upon this workof~peace, : he suddenly heard that Parenga Kingi and Patukai had planted ambuscades—-some said to cut .off our some said to capture the governor, and to hurt no one but the Governor or the General. ] But Tamati One had sent down and dispersed the ambuscades. This was/on Sunday, the 2sth April. 4th May the murderous work of Paoutaka wias accomplished. partyof soldiers cohsistitig of five escorting tarts with provisions for soldiers at Tataraimaka, left the Pouteko on that morning. Anqfernar^y^eftTa^Kdmaka &t<^.&me&m*m&ly.. on I ffiwd^y morning, wJs^Bcar^ i/: coming. ; Jn ; to ~ party gpt;iw'to Oajspa, thjey heard a

At "that moment the Tfttarainiaka "party, they were coming along the beach, had been fired into by an ambuscade, and eight men were murdered and a ninth man wounded. This ninth man returned to Tataraimaka. Among the murdered men were two officers arid two sergeants; their bodies werfe brought into tbwri; arid have been buried to-day. They were tomahawked after they had been wounded by the volley. The officers were stripped of their clothing, the carts were taken up by the murderers to Farenga Kingi's pa on the Range. Immediately the Governor heard of it, two hundred soldiers were sent out to Oakura, and they have built a Redoubt there. Consider now this work of murder committed upon unoffending men, and without the slightest pro vocation, ; and , after the Governor had been welcomed, when he went in peace upon his land. Consider also that this work is professed to be done in the .name of Matutaera. Consider that ;the Governor. was not at war with any tribe, and had told the Southern people that he did not wish to touch, their land. Consider that the Whole World will look with horror upon this crime, which isthe second that these people have committed. Now is the time for you to show the truth of your words of peace, and to declare in the face of all the world that you will not par • ; ticjpate in, this course of secret , muffler. ii (The Governor knows that you tried to prevent. violence at the Awamutu, and he knows how your words were trampled upon at first, but that in the end you allowed it &> take place. But to-day a dark

aH $ treacherous -act has been done, and the Governor solemnly calls upon you, his old friends, and the children of his old and tried friend Potatau, as men and Christians, to separate yourselves now once for all from the people who have committed it, and leave them to the just retribution which will assuredly visit them. All who take part with these murderers, he will treat as murderers : -MJheyiuust choose between the two. The Governor has not stopped in his peaceful work about Waitara. Yesterday, Honiana, Tamihana, Erueti, and many others from Mataitawa, came to see him, and declared their abhorrence of this proceeding of Taranaki, and their willingness to come to an agreement to return peaceably to Waitara; Mahau and all Taylor's people also desire that a friendly agreement should be come %Oi The Governor has said that he does not wish to keep any land there, if Ngatiawas will live in peace upon it. There is no more any real quarrel about Waitara, if the Ngatiawa consent to be re-united there. I send up your friend Rogan to speak to you; let him know your thoughts quickly, that he may send me word. From your friend, (Signed) F.D.Bell.^