TAWHIAO'S VISIT TO WAIKATO.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 173, 22 July 1881, Page 3

TAWHIAO'S VISIT TO WAIKATO.

[Auckland '< Star."] There can be no doubt that a very great change has been experienced in the feelings and plans of the natives in regard to their relations with their white brethren. By whomsoever brought about, and it is no doubt the result, of long and anxious debate among the wiser members of the race, the change is as pleasant as it is unexpected. The natives seem by their manner to have cast aside all their prejudices against us.and to be becoming imbued with a desire that henceforward we Bhould live as one people. At the last, if one may place reliance on the opinions of people acquainted with the intentions of the natives, they were a iictle apprehensive that •we, on our part, would not be over-ready to meet them half way; indeed, the party were not altogether persuaded that they would be welcome. Great delight was therefore manifested amongst them when on reaching the Alexandra bridge they discovered the members of the Alexandra Band drawn up ready to play them into the township. This act made, I am told, a gr^at impression on the Native mind, and h*s tended in a considerable degree to cement the bonds of amity in the forging of which the King himself has at length come to assist. The eighty stand of arms presented to Major Mair were not a mere formal offering, but a bona fide gift to the Government, and they will in due course be forwarded to the Government. Tawhiao, describing the situation afterwards in the figurative style of his people, drew two parallel lines on the ground wi?h a stick eaying that was the relative position of the Maori and pakeha formerly. Tben nailing the ends of the lines he, said, "Now the circle is complete." The king was in anything but good health, having been suffering for some time from a severe bronchial affection ; but although on this account pressed to delay his visit, he would not be deterred and is determimd to go through. After these formal proceedings the nßtives, numbering with the women and children, over 600, set about preparations for encamping. The rrembera of the two tribes, the WBikatos and Ngaumaniapotos, divided, the former, tbe most nom c rons, taking up ground in front of the Alexandra Hotel, and the latter locating themselves in the Government paddock. The Public Hall was placed at the disposal of the Ngatimaniapotos, but the m-jority, as well as the whole of the of the Waikatos, passed the night, which by the-bye was an exceptionally cold one, in the open air, with the blankets alone fop a covering. On the following day, Tuesday Tawhiao continuing to suffer from his complaint, he removed from the hotel to a morn in the house formerly occupied by Mr Hill. A guard of about a dozen young "men of the tribe, all armed with double-barrelled fowling pieces, was posed in front of the house, in which at the time I visited it, -was also Wabanui, and several women of the latter engaged in culinary occupations. Wahanui is a remarkably fine man, of immense stature, with fine intelligent features. He is an influential chief of the Kgatimanipotos. and has not before Monday crossed the confiscation line since the war. His settlement lies between lvawhia and Mokau on the West Coast, and it is only very recently that he left that locality and came to res : de at Hikurangi with Tawhiao. He will be remembered by some as the host of the scien- . tisfc Professor Hochstetter, when the latt< r was prosecuting his work along the coast. Tawhiao appears to have aged considerably during the last five or six yea»s, but he is still a fine looking man. Tv Tawhiao, his son, who is with him, would be accounted a personable young fellow judged even by the strictest European standard. Newspapers, containing accounts of their movements, were eagerly sought after by the natives and translated for them.