POVERTY BABY IN 1858.
We have been requested by an old resident to give publicity to the accompanying tide written nearly twenty-four years ago:— Extract from the Supplement to the “ Hawke’s Bay Herald,” dated November 27, 1858 POVERTY BAY. (From our own Correspondent.) Turanga, Poverty Bay> Oct. 20, 1858. Our grand Native feast dame off on Thursday and Friday lash The line of food reached some quarW of a mile in length. It consisted of large quantities of potatoes, kumaras, baskets of dried fish, crawfish, baked pigs, some tons of flour, scores of calabashes (on stands) filled with preserved birds and pork, and gaily decorated with corned tops and fringes of features, in many cases relieved with black and white matting and red and other colored worsteds worked in diamonds, having a very neat effect. From poles at intervals floated prints, shawls, aud blankets of the brightest patterns. A num* ber of tents, picketed horses, or teams busily engaged in drawing provisions, parties galloping hither and thither as though the whole affair rested on the speed of their horses, and the presence of some thousand Natives, made a somewhat exciting scene. Franklin’s idea of paying dearly for one’s whistle was never more forcibly exemplified. Taking the loss of nearly the whole of the wheat crop that ought to have been in the ground, but which was neglected in making preparations for this enormous do, the esti« mates cannot be short of £5OOO, whereas th- j market value of the whole of the provision s on the ground would not probably hav e amounted to a tenth of that sum. Thejr have had their food and probably are satis • fied.
I do not hear that any arrangement ha s been proposed respecting the runanga ; tha t matter appears just as before. There is a rumor of a deputation proceeding to Auck> land to request the Governor (bless th e mark !) to order us to give the runang.a prices for produce. We have been rather excited lately by tl ic following occurrence :—Some time since a European here was convicted of givi) ig spirits to Natives, and sentenced to a fine of £lO. This was not paid, and some catlile were distrained, said to belong to the (defendant (they ultimately proved to be amother persons, and were restored) ; on whi ch the Natives, accompanied by the defend an t’s wife, demanded restitution. This being refused, they proceeded to the Governnu mt property, broke down the fence, and drt >ve away some 13 head of cattle belonging to <Hir Resident Magistrate and others. There the matter rests. A pretty state of things, ; ;ou will say, for a so-called British Colony. r 'fhe fact is there has been such a temporis Ing policy adopted in all matters pertaining; to Natives that the Government is (here at least) treated by them with the most supreme contempt. It is in fact a farce., a most unmitigated humbug, to place a p aid magistrate anywhere without power to enforce his decisions. He can mulct the unfortunate European who has committed some trifling fault that never would have been j noticed had there not been a Court to apply Vo ; but is fairly bullied and laughed at by the Natives if he endeavors to coerce them. Language the most insulting to him on the ben oh and to the Government, and at other tim es is used by the ’Natives both in and out of Court. Another instance of the power of the law : A store here was broken open on the 24tli Juno last, aud property taken awr.y amounting to more than £5O sterling. The perpetrators were known ; the case put into the magistrate's hands, and a decision given to amerce the parties concerned in £lso’, which of course has never been paid.
I have no hesitation in saying that wa managed the Natives better when left t& ourselves. We had then the Government to hold towards them in terrorem. That has now shared the fate of all scarecrows by being openly laughed at and defied by all parties. A sad matter happened at Piraital (» settlement near Tologa Bay) last week. A man named Fox, who had for some months suffered from delirium tremens, shot deau another European who was living with him. Our magistrate proceeded to the spot to investigate the tragical occurrence. The Queen, schooner, for Auckland, with only half a cargo sailed on the 6th inst. This is the only departure from Turanga for the northward since Angust. We have had no arrivals save the Queen from Napier. The weather lately has been exceedingly dry and sultry, with parching N.W. winds till yesterday. We are now having most refreshing showers ; vegetation was languishing for want of moisture, and we feared a failure of the potato crop, but think it will now be safe. November 10. I wrote by the Petrel on the 20th ult. That vessel having put in from the Coast to stop a leak, enables me to send you the following : — We have had quite a fleet of arrivals since my last. The Queen, Dolphin, and Rose Aim, schooners from Auckland, and Surprise cutter from the South ? but though the long looked for mails have arrived, no notice has been taken by the Government of our memorial. Strange, is it not ? Wc never before have written to the Governor on any subject without at least the courtesy of an answer. W’e must rest satisfied, I suppose, with the frank avowal (I before advised .you of) that
“ they cannot enforce the law with the Natives.” The question then naturally presents itself,why’place a paid magistrate at an expense to the Colony of at least £5OO in such a district, a district where himself and office, already scorned by the Natives, is in a fair way to be equally so by the settler, the latter of whom cannot understand why the most simple infringement of the laws on their part should be immediately pounced upon, and the graver offences of the Natives remain unpunished,—offences already comprising robbery and housebreaking, with one case of abduction, the latter actually taking place in the Court-house in the very face of the Magistrate (whither she, a Native, had gone to be married) to whom the female clung in her terror, vainly imploring that protection he could not afford. The scene that followed was magnificent, our R.M. (notwithstanding the resistance of his clerk) the would be bride and bridegroom, abductor, and one or two others rolling on the floor together. Yet the “Maori Messenger” asserts that “ such is the wish of the Natives of Poverty Bay for even-handed justice, that they have actually presented the Government with a piece of land as a site for a Court-house.” If selling the Government some thirty acres of land for the small sum of £BO sterling be a gift, then it is true, otherwise it is an unmistakeable myth. November 13th. The Queen left for Auckland this day, with 200 bags of wheat, some hides, hams and bacon salt pork and wool. The wheat was obtained north and south of this place. The first step I presume, toward the breaking of the runanga. The Queen also took I’ox (Che man for murder), and the man for stabbing one of the Queen’s crew, two witnesses and two men in charge. The same day the schooner Rose Ann sailed for the northward, empty. On the 15th Nov., the “Dolphin” called from Napier for Auckland ; left same day. A true copy. E. F. Harris. Napier, 19th December, 1882.
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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1230, 21 December 1882, Page 2
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1,262POVERTY BABY IN 1858. Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1230, 21 December 1882, Page 2
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