A Maori Image.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 3, Issue 90, 22 March 1883, Page 2

A Maori Image.

(BY TELEGRAPH.) (UNITED PRKSB ASSOCIATION.) New Plymouth, March 21. The correspondent of the Tavanaki Herald at Ohinemuti telegraphs as follows: — ; 'A seizure was made nt Lake House Hotel premises yesterday afternoon, under a search warrant, of the cebbrated stone image Matba, a ron>;a Paid to have been brought by Maoris m a war c*no3 to Maketu from Hauraki, and afterwards brought by Tuhorangi to the island of Mokora, and buried there. Sir G. Grey is said to have been the only European who ever saw the image until it was discovered on the 14th by employers of, Mr Graham, who, on the evening of the 15tb, brought it over to the Lake house. The figure represents a human being squatting on the haunches with ) the knees drawn close up to the body. The forearms are flat against the chest, and tbe hands are extended upwards with th palms against the body, and fingers resting under the chin. The height of tbe figure is about 4ft Bin, and the girth (greatest) is over 7ft. It weighs more than a ton. There is great excitement both among the Maoris and tbe Europeans, the former because they look upon the dmnterment as a jrross outrage against their most sacred relics, the latter because the illegal actiou of Mr Robert Graham jeopardises the relations between themselves and the Maoris here. As the news of the outrage spreads among the different hapus the excitement is likely to increase.