MOKAU MEMORIES

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1926, Page 2

MOKAU MEMORIES

STORIES OF THE CANOE MEN NAUTICAL ERRORS OF JUDGMENT. CARELESS SEAMANSHIP AND THE SEQUEL. (By J. C. in Auckland Star). Nautical ‘‘errors of judgment’’ brought down penalties upon the delinquent sailors in Maoridom just as they do today in the pakeha seafaring world. Indeed, nothing short of tomahawk play and blood-letting sufficed to atone for blunders that resulted in serious damage to the dug-out shipping of old New Zealand or injury to the "ship’s company.” A curious instance of the grave consequences of careless . canoe-handling is related in some notes on early days at the Mokau sent me by Mr. Walter W. Jones, of Tauranga, who lived at Mokau Heads for'many years. Mr; Jones, who is the son of the lateMr. Joshua Jones, popularly known as "Mokau” Jones, because of his pioneering story and his long litigation over lands in the West Coast district, formerly carried out the duties of signalman and port official generally at the mouth of the Mokau River, and it was there at the south head that I first met him over twenty years ago., He was well acquainted with all the Maoris of that part of the coast and the up-river people. A recent article, of miue in the Star, recalling the early days’ experience of the late Captain F. G. Moore, of Wellington, in the brigantine Jewess, at the Mokau, has prompted him to send the following note supplying t‘he earlier history of the four large war canoes which Moore mentioned., with admiration:

"Those canoes which Captain Moore saw in his trip in the Jewess in 1840, were still in existence in my boyhood at the Mokau,” writes Mr. Jones. "I frequently saw them go to sea on fishing expeditions, and their use for conveying large numbers of people up and down the river only ceased when the Awakino road to Te Kuiti was opended up. The canoes were of totara timber, anti were constructed ou the Wanganui River.” (Here it may be explained that most of the Wanganui canoes were carved out high up that great river, even higher up than Taumarunui, because the best totara for the purpose grew in large quantities in that region.) "They were a present to the Ngati-Maniapqto and Ngati-Tu people of the Mokau from the WANGANUI CHIEFS.

I “The war canoes were brought around by sea to the Mokau; the crews put ashore here, and then along the coast for rest and refreshment, and for shelter when necessary. All was well until they came abreast of the Tongaporutu River mouth, about ten miles south of the Mokau. A northerly breeze sprang up, a bad wind for canoes on that coast, and it was determined, as the tide suited, to run into the Tongaporutu for shelter. “In crossing the bar at the mouth of the river, the bow of one of the canoes, by reason of careless handling while running on a swell of the sea, was allowed to fall on the stern of the canoe ahead of it. The leading canoe suffered considerable damage. This constituted a very serious affront, which could be wiped out in only one way. “The canoes all landed on the shore at the fpot of the ancient island fort called Pa-tangata, at the mouth of the Tongaporutu. There, on the beach, a battle was fought between the two factions in the canoe crews. My informant, the old chief Te Oro, told me that three men were killed in the fight. “After the battle, in which injury had thus been atoned for, the crews continued their voyage when the weather improved,. and they all reached the Mokau safely. One of these fine large canoes afterwards made a voyage to Whakatu (Nelson) and back.” HOW WETERE SAVED A PAKEHA CREW. Another interesting incident- of old days at the Mokau is narrated by Mr. Walter Jones. It was a little overforty years ago, in the early eighties. The chief figure in the story was the Chief Wetere te Rerenga who led the NgatiManiapoto war-party which killed all the people at the Pukearuhe redoubt in 1869. Wetere was one of the Maori rebel chiefs whom the Government badly wanted to lay hands on, up to the year 1883, when, a general amnesty was proclaimed. It was soon after that that he redeemed his reputation among the pakeha by a- skilful and plucky deed of rescue at the Heads.

Thomas Perham, a marine engineer and surveyor, employed by the Government, was engaged in sounding and charting the entrance to the Mokau River. He was camped at the mouth of the Waipapa stream, on the south side of the river, and he had with him a party of six men —the late R. A. Paterson, A. E. Dugdale (the fisherman who once removed the celebrated Tainui anehor-stone to Waitara and had to return it), T. A. Poole, Skinner, Neke to Whare-ngaro, and Walter Jones. One tay, though the sea was smooth in the morning and the weather fine, the weather-wise Maoris advised Perham not to go out over the bar. He disregarded their advice. The Chief Wetere te Rerenga thereupon declined to allow Neke, who was his son-in-law, io take his normal place as one of the crew of the whaleboat. The surveyor put off to carry out his sounding duties. In the afternoon a heavy swell set in, and as the crew were crossing the bar on the inward trip, late in the day, a big sea swamped the whaleboat. M alter Jones was not with Perham on that trip; his position that day was that of timekeeper at the tidegauge inside the Heads, and he saw all that occurred.

Immediately the capsize occurred, the watchful Wetere put out in a canoe (one of the smaller ones, about thirty feet in length), with his daughter and her husband, Neke. They paddled swiftly to the rescue of the pakehas, and all were picked up and taken ashore safely. The tide, fortunately, was on the flood at the time, and the capsized men were intside the worst of the breakers on the bar. Wetere’s brave daughter, Ellen (Te Manawa), shared in the credit which came to the Maoris for this prompt bit of work. Wetere was awarded the bronze medal and certificate of the Royal Humane Society. Father and daughter both, too, took an active part in the release of the late Mr. Charles Wilson Hursthouse and his assistant, William Newshain, when they were captured and

chained in a whare by the notorious fanatic, Mahuki, and his men near Te Kuiti in 1883. This event occurred before tlie rescue incident at the Mokau. When the news of that exciting aflair reached the Mokau, it was narrated that it was Wetere who burst open the door of Hursthouse’z whore, ai)d, it was,the daughter, Ellen, who cut tire flax bonds by which (in addition to the chains), the surveyors were died.