AN EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1036, 15 August 1879, Page 2

AN EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE.

Napier, August 14. An extraordinary case is reported from the Reponare Maori settlement near Gisborne. A man named Henare, at the beginning of last week, was found lurking in the bush about the sheep run. He came out at night, and begged for food, but in the daytime again retired to the bush. This strange conduct caused Mr. Chambers to question him, when the poor fellow said he had been accused of witchcraft, found, guilty, and sentenced to death, and he was now lying concealed iu avoid the natives. Mr. Chambers communicated with the police at Ormond, and Sergeant Kidd dispatched a constable to Reponare to enquire into the truth of Henare's assertion. The result of the inquiry established the accuracy of his tale. It seems that nearly a dozen natives made a formal complaint about him, alleging various acts of witchcraft, and demanded an investigation. A runanga was held, and a committee of chiefs, including a native clergyman, appointed to hold the inquiry. Henare was found guilty, and sentenced to death, though the precise manner in which the sentence was to be carried out does not appear. He retired to liis whare, but at nightfall escaped, and soon afterwards the natives surrounded his whare and set fire to it, thinking he was inside. Henare made his way to Mr. Chambers' station. The natives found when they burnt the whare that he had escaped, and they set about discovering his whereabouts. They traced him to the bush, but as he was clearly on Mr. Chambers' land, they appear to have doubted whether it was right to follow him. and held a meeting to discuss the matter. They decided to demand Henare from his protectors, and next day requested Mr. Chambers to give him up, threatening him by force if their demands were not complied with. Constable Villiers appeared on the scene at this juncture, and Henare gladly placed himself under the protection of the law. He was evidently in great fear lest his people should capture him, and accordingly the constable took him to Ormond, providing him with lodgings at the police station.