Ohinemuri.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1966, 23 April 1875, Page 2

Ohinemuri.

A Great Mistake.

(FBOM OUE SPECIAL KEPOBTER.}

' Mackaytown, Thursday., , Native Matters. A meeting of the Natives was held yesterday at Te Moananui'* Settlement, and it was resolved to make a road through the swamp from the latter place to Puketeawairahi.. A subscription list was opened, and the Ngatitawhake -subscribed £5 14s. The other hapus are expected to contribute to a similar extent,, the labor to be solely Maori." Work was started this morning. In this step the Maori i hare shown their quickness to! imitate their European brethren, and the work is certainly one of great importance. At present the journey fromTe Moananui's! ■ Settlement to Kopata's, or Puketeawairahi; is a long way round, being a circuitous; route by the flour mill. The proposed road will cut right across country, and save a large bend, by which a great con-, yenience will be effected. It is at least encouraging to observe that the natives' appear indisposed to remain in their original condition of savagery; and it is much to be hoped (though very, much to be doubted); that their next step will be in the direction of a little more advanced cultivation of their land. „/ : Another item of native news is—that Mr H. C. Young, who sometime ago. bought the'interests of several grantees in the Komata Block; has come up here accompanied by a solicitor,- and intends setting men on to.clear the land; but the' Keriwera natives say they will not allow any work to go on, and that if Mr H. C. Young persists, there will probably be another Purukutu affair. The difficulty arises in this way. .It appears that, while the interests of several were bb* -tamed, Tukulrno -did-notr"seir~lns~~Becir" tion, and now Hoepa Te Barahihi and I others, though themselves possessing no personal interest, are siding with Tukekeno, and are supporting him in" his' headstrong opposition. It is hoped that some amicable arrangement will be come to, and that further trouble will be avoided.

; An amusing incident occurred this -morning at Mackaytown. It was in this wise. Mr Dunnet, clerk in- the Govern* ment office, was thrown into great perturbation (though he would fain hare people JJelieve that it was feigned) by something in the river, which he took to be the body of a woman -helplessly sinking. Great Heaven! thought he, a female in dire distress ; and he at once communicated his fears to those in the office. Oncj by one all the officials eraorged, and Captain Fraser levelled a spy-glass, and said he discerned a white feather in. the womaa's head. A crowd had collected, and amid the terrific excitement which ensued, any woman with or without a white feather, might havt been drowned twice. Mr A. J. Allom, however, appeared equal to the emergency, and at once roared for constables to go to the water's edge, and rescue the uufortuoate female from her perilous situation. Con* stables were to hand, and being ordered off with true military precision darted down the hill, while those on top, among whom were two ladies,, watched their descent with the "bated breath" usual on such important occasions. The white feather was *tflj,an3 appeared very much like a ghostly adornment of the lifeless body, tossing to and fro occasionally, as J if in waggish merriment. .Town the hill scampered the Constabulary, raising the dust like a charge Of infantry, and when they got there—oh, what a beastly sell— an old shag fluttered lazily upward from a water-covered rock, and gave birth to a mocking shriek, as if he had been watching the fun with a devilish delight. . . . A la writers of hot romance —It will be quite unnecessary to inform the gentle reader that the supposed drowning female was the shag, on a iairge boulder hnlf-con-cealed by the water. :