ESCAPE OF TE HAU.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 315, 13 October 1875, Page 2

ESCAPE OF TE HAU.

On Saturday afternoon last, Te Hau, alias Wi Karauria, who was lately committedfor trial; for, brutally assaulting Constables Walsh and Villers, and also sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for larceny, effected his escape from the loek-up, attached to ‘the block house au event which will not surprise anyone who knows the insecurity of; this place of confinement.' About 11 o’clock, when the storm was at its height, the cellin whichTe Hau was confined was found to be so inundated with water as to render it impossible for the prisoner to remain in it any longer. The bedding was saturated with water, and Te Hau’s clothes were also drenched with rain. He requested to be allowed to take refuge in tte cook-house and the constable on duty, from a sense of humanity towards him, granted his request. Shortly after two o’clock Constables Dudley and Gibson, who were then on duty, left the premises leaving Te Hau in the cook-house. On their return, between two and three o’clock, he was missing ; and in making search for him it was discovered that a large portion of the fence by which the premises are enclosed had been blown down by the storm, and that the prisoner had escaped. Constables Dudley and Joyce startedlnt once in pursuit of the prisoner, across the Waimata, whither they expected him to have gone; but although they searched several whares, and made every possible inquiry concerning him, they did not succeed in capturing him. Two other constables went up the Waikanae after him, and these ascertained from a female native that Te Hau had called at a wharo near Mr. Tucker’s, but only remained there a few minutes. On Sunday he was seen at Waerenga-a-hika, and Constables Villers, Fenton, Young, Froggart, and Dudley scoured the country all round,,but without success.; It is, however certain that he will shortly fall into the hands of the police, as he is well known in the district, and bears such a bad character as to render his bapthre most desirable ; and this being so, the natives—even the more friendly disposed towards him—are not likely to afford him protection in any shape or form. He is a native of Tologa Bay where his tribe resides.