TE KOOTI HIS CHEQUFRED CAREER.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 343, 16 February 1889, Page 3

TE KOOTI HIS CHEQUF RED C A REER.

Tins following brief account of To Kooti's doings from the time oi his captivity at the Chatham Islands shows how his conduct may be viewed in a favourable light, and that, like a certain other Old Gentleman, he may nob bo quite co black as he is usually painted :—: — Te Kooti had a considerable grievance against the Government in having | been deported to the Chatham Islands at the outset, for ho was transported without any definite cause, arid without a trial or investigation of any sort. After the fight at Waerenga-a-hika in the Poverty Bay distiict in 1866, he was taken prisoner by the Government forces, on suspicion of being a rebel, although he was a friendly native at the time and had in fact assisted the Europeans against the Hauhaus in various ways, short of taking the field against the latter. Howpver, he was shipped off on a mere suspicion, which has since been positively ascertained to have been groundless, and detained on the Chabhauis for two yeats. As the lamentable sequel showed, this hasty action cost the colony half-a-million of money and many valuable lives. When on the Chatham Islands, Te Kooti and his countrymen, some 200 in number, were in charge of Captain Thomas (formerly of the Imperial Army, and now a well known Auckland citizen), and a guard of armed constabulary, which however proved all too small. The story of his escape from the Islands is too well known to need repetition. It showed an amount of daiing and decision, accompanied at the same time by the greatest clemency to his erstwhile captors. In face, it is doubtfvil whether Europeans placed in such a position and with such power in their hands would have shown equal forbearance. Landing from the schooner Rifleman at Whareongaonga, near Poverty Bay, Te Kooti and his companions marched straight away with peaceable intention into the interior, and if they had not been followed up by the colonial forces and compelled to tarn round and fight to save themselves from capture theie is little doubt that the melancholy Poverty Bay massacre and the subsequent fights and skirmishes would nevei have taken place. Although the horrors committed at Poverty Bay have beon popularly ascribed to Te Kooti, it is a fact that he was not | personally responsible for them, for he was | utterly unable to restrain his followers when once they had a taste of blood. After this lamentable event, Te Kooti and his band of followers for three long years kept up a desultory warfare against the Government force? and native contingent in the inhospitable Uriwera country, on the boideis of Lake Taupo, right to the foot of Tongai iro, and in innumerable other localities, being sometimes victorious, but more frequently being compelled to succumb to inevitable defeat at the hands of superior numbers and aims. His hairbreadth and marvellous escapes from capture and instant death throughout I his psviod of strife aie matters of history, and are still recounted with admiration and piide by his numerous followers and tribal relatives. At the h'ght at Pourere, near Taupo, on October 3id, 1869, Te Kooci was wounded severely by a nllo bullet, trem the effects of which he has not yet completely recovered. While in t>e act of taking a percussion-cap from his waistcoat-pocket, the bullet, fired by one of Colonel McDonnells men, struck him on the left hand, wounded the thumb and fore finger, cub the third finger completely off, and passed through the fleshy pai t ot his side. This still necessitates him at times carrying his hand in a sling. Since his pardon at Mangaoiongo in 1884 Te Kooti has been living quietly at his settlement. Otewa, on theWaipa river, -ome twenty miles beyond the "frontier" township of Kihikihi. Otewa is, perhaps, \\ ithout exception the fairest sample of what discipline and good management will effect amongst the Maoris. The whares arc wellbuilt and clean, the fertile soil is under careful and systematic cultivation, the people observe very regular habits daily in their domestic duties and in their lara/cia, and go about the labours of their hainga with commendable industry. At the settlement the greatest hospitality is shown to European visitors, and those in outlying districts near Otewa have many acts of kindness ior which to thank the erstwhile outlaw on whose head a heavy price had more than once been set. Te Kooti is a remarkably clever and intelligent man, and a thorough organiser. Ho hap, by his influence for good, reclaimed many outcast natives, and made them respectable members of society. No "loafer" can live at Obewa, as every man, woman, and child has to do eight hours' labour each day, while two hours a-day are spent in prayer after their own religion, which is partly Hauhau and partly a compilation of Karakias by Te Kooti himself.