"KING OF WAIOU."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 128, 28 June 1909, Page 4

"KING OF WAIOU."

PERSONAL SKETCH OF THE ORIUIXAL CLAIMANT.

SIR JOHN LOliiAX CAMPBELL'S ' REMINISCENCES.

In his fascinating sketches of early I days in New Zealand, Sir John Logan Campbell, "the Father of Auckland, ilevolcs a whole chapter to tile "King o Waiou," quite the most important pukelia in the llauraki tlulf when be I landed in 1840, and none other than William Wclistcr, whose successors ale prosecuting their big claim against the (lovernment of to-day. "The King of Waiou was not a Maori king—lie was a Yankee one known_ as liij, \V by the pakchas, and as Win peha by the Maoris'," writes Sir John L. Campbell, "Wnipeha reigned supreme, not only in the harbor of Waiou, but along the whole shore of Te llauraki, and in not a few places utterly unknown to pattellas the name of W.iipeha was a power. Wnipeha was a big man; he was, though a Yankee, as burly as a veritable John Bull, lie was not only .big in body but also in brain, whence came the retaining of the power he wielded, though not the power itself. Under the shadow of the great Tunewha, who 'was known by the soubriquet ft •Old Hook Nose,' from n certain resemblance to Wellington—under his shadow lived and reigned Waipeha. "But be ruled through the talisman:? effect of two words, and throughout . dominions 110 two words were more often repeated by his subjects than the 'wliare hoko' (trading-house) of \V.ii- ■ peha. llis strength lu,v in an unpretend--1 ing-looking little building in one corner ■ of Hcrekino beach—this 'wlmre lioko.'

"Tell me not of missionaries as civilising agents' compared to a 'whnrc hoko.' The poor missionary could only raise 011 high his Bible and threaten the casting out into outer darkness, which the 'Maori in his early days of childhood had not learned to fear. But Wnipeha, if a tribe offended him, simply shut the door of his 'wliare. hoko' in their faces; he tabooed all his blankets and guns, his' calico and spades, his cotton prints anil tomahawks. It was terrible enough to have to stand this dire punishment, but when there was also included the ambrosial weed and the clay pipe, human nature could stand it 110 longer, and the proscribed humbly sued for pardon at the '.wliare hoko' door of Ilerckino that they might again lie admitted within its dearly loved precincts and be at peace with its master. "Although Waipeha was' a king of his own creation, he nevertheless did pay a small tribute—a sort of blackmail On the sly—to his father-in-law, who in consideration of his da tighter being allowed to remain Mrs. Waipeha periodically invaded Hcrekino whenever his stock of tobacco ran low or he had broken his clay pipe. 111 fact, had King Wnipeha adopted aboriginal customs and gone in for polygamy, an equivalent from out the 'wliare hoko' would hare secured a plurality of wives, as well as' covered any .breach of tile proprieties. "Very nearly up to the date of which I am writing, Waipeha had hospitably entertained any pakelias who had found their way to his small kingdom. But Her Majesty, in taking possession of Poenamo (New Zealand), had caused such an exodus of landsharks from Sydney that the King of Waiou all of a sudden found himself inundated with visitors to such an extent that keeping open house became 'too much for him./ .... And so lie solved the problem of keeping open house by opening the barrack door to all comers who chose to have the privilege of occupying a bunlc therein, and a seat at th» table d'hote, and paying six dollars a week.

"The current coin of his realm was the dollar. Waipeha being a Yankee, the whole thing fixed itself of! in quite a natural way.

"An untimely blow had been dealt at the rising prospects of the table d'hote at which Waipeha presided, and by the time T took, my seat at it there was' no for places. J n fact, the bulk of the sitters—Sydney landsharks—lutd been completely dished by a proclamation issued by the Government declaring that all purchases made from Ihe aborigines after the date thereof would be illegal, null and void. This thunderbolt had fallen shortly before my arrival, and evidently must have created a most dis'organised and reckless frame of mind amongst the would-be laadpurchasers by latitude and longitude, lhe recklessness I have alluded to made a deep impression on my juvenile mind, f"r J was yoii'dg ;j»d verdant-verv. I had seen little or nothing of the world. It wan a small eye-opener to me when ! 1 put my foot on shore for the first time ,on Ilerckino beach to be greeted by the sight of a knot of young fellows* tossing for sovereigns? 1 ani sure it Was not more than five minutes after I had landed from the chip's boat that I might have been seen .with not only my eyes, but moitfh 100, wide open'- with 'astonishment when a (sovereign fell upon the verandah t hatch over The barrack-door., i lie owner of that sovereign, too 'w- J esled in his game, did not take the I trouble to stop and look for the lost! coin!

"Snch wa.v my introduction to Here-, kino, the royal domain of King Wai- ' ?' y , tll . u w " v ' il **s his* black iii'iillier-iii-law s prerogative to ti&li out and pocket that sovereign tossed on to the thatch. Xot such bad di'min"* for him!" "

"I speak of him as I liiul him," writes the author in another part of the chap. /\i * rae easy-going, kind fellow, with plenty of brains, and knowing how to use them. He had worked himself into quite a fine trade such as' it was in those days, preparing eargo(s of timber, buying pigs, potato 4 * and maize from the natives, and shipping this produce off to Sydney and to feed the too-rapidlv-arriv-nig -immigrants who were Hawing into Australia in J 83940."