CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 235, 30 September 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

•»• We sre dcfliroiis ot affording 1 every reasonable 5 tacility lor the diacußHion o( public subjects; but it must be understood lliat we are in no way i (.-sponsible ior the opinions expressed by correspondents. To the Editor op the Nelson Evening Mail, '"ir— Your correspondent in Friday's issue 3 tisning himself " < »lii Settler " gives a description f of the appearance ofthe two old savagps, Rauparaha _ and Rangibaeta as seen by h'mself after the Wairau massacre. The ore wily and treacherous, the other fierce, daring, and muscular, wbich 3 picture is pretty correct; only the event as des--3 cribed never took place, and his statement must ? be attributed to a very deficient memory, or the " effects of a highly imaginative disposition, whieh has adapted the time to suit his ideas. I well 3 remember tbe visit of Rauparahaand Rangibaeta i to Nelson hef'ore the purvey of the Wavau, when ? ftauparaba disputed the purchase of the land, and 3 upon the late lamented Captain Wakefield informing him that he would proceed with tbe survey notwithstanding, and should bring down 3 100 men to take him prisoner if he interfered with it. 'J he old chief replied, "De would then j lay liis bones there." The end we all know re- . suited in the death of many of our best early settlers Rnuparaha and Rangihaeta never landed 7 here after the Wairau massacre. The former it t is true was a prisoner on hoard the Calliope, when e she called at Neison, and numbers of the settlers went to see the old savage in his cage, but the latter never was seen or heard of near here after r the dreadful massacre, and both were too much \ f afraid of the punishment they might receive after 0 this event ever willingly to attempt a landing. I am, &c., B C. F. Waiss. Nelson, September 29.