The Latest Victim of the Maoris.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3712, 17 November 1880, Page 2

The Latest Victim of the Maoris.

A Fsw Sketches of thi Lira ov

Moffitt.

Being well acquainted with the histery ; of Moffitt, recently murdered bj the natives of the Upper Wanganui, I take the liberty of writing these few lines hoping that they will be of interest to the readers of .your widely oireulated journal. ,- William Moffit was—l hud it from hit , own lips—a nephew of the celebrated Dr... Livingstone, and likewise of Or Mofitt, «»-. the African missionary. He was a clever and well informed man. end eoulddo anything with mechanical tools, and built mills, and manufactured ploughs and - other implements of husbandry for bit Maori friends. He was, likewise m fad . with the arts of war, and manufactured powder, besides instructing the natires in many of the tactics of European warfare. Well, to proceed to my narrative. Twenty „ long years ago I had business i* 1m - ••' Waikato dUtrict—not the Waikato of to-day, dotted- with its smilinan English homesteads, and well cultivated farms, but an expanse' of trackless bush and fern land, with intervals of swamp, ■ native Tillage, here and there being the, sole representatives of human habitation. It was at this time I first made the acquaintance of Moffit, who was then a very big man with the Maoris. * I enjoyed his conversation very* much, hot > from the first he struok me as being a most eccentric character, and from bis manner it was apparent be had, much m his mind, as during intervals of abstraction a troubled look would cross his face and . he would mumble inaidibly to himself. .. We slept in the same hut together one night, and daring the small hours I was startled by my companion speaking in his sleep. I reached my hand over to; hip left breast, and pressed on the;region of the heart. I adopted this plan to iaduea in Moffitt a kind of semi*wakefulneu, and was successful. < I put several questions to , him, and > we carried on am , inteirogatory conversation for some time. The replies I received induced me to re* main with hint dill, the following day. During his semi somnolency,,! discovered that he was employed by Sir Donald McLean, the then Native Minister, as a sort of spy, and that he was allowed to supply the natives with arms, and ammunition so long as he obtained certain information for the Government On the . following morning I turned over in my mind what I had heard; and obtained sufficient from bin! to convince me that I ebuld place explicit eonfidtaee in what h* li"1 had said the previous night; I advised Moffitt to leave, showing.him the effect on the native mind that his action would have, but could; find no means to induce „ him, and.l subsequently.spoke on the saMe, matter to the celebrated Wiremu Thompson with whom I had considerable influence. The chief .however, could do •■ nothing, as he found that the catives.had become so excited that they would not listen to his advice to send the spy away. Still I managed to retain the. man's confidence and remained with him taking notes of all that occurred. Two ▼ears after my first acquaintance, with him I discovered that he was manufacturing powder for the Maoris x, and I took some of it t-> Governor. Bir ' Thomas Gore Browne, who consulted tile Attorney-General, but. that gentleman : discovered that nothing could be done. -, Notwithstanding that, the Governor did - all he could to remove Moffitt, and I urged on the natives the advisability of expelling him, showing them that his resideuoe with them, might create strife between the two raoes. At this time he was residing at Wbatawhata, while I lived at , Waitetuna. On the commencement '• of - ■ ; hostilities I left the Waikato, but before going reoommended Moffit to go toTuhua where I had heard from some native* 1 friends that gold existed. 1' He promised to go, and I gave him the precise locality, -I on the condition that he should give no and my native friends an interest; Dnring the next few years I visited Tuhua, and discovered rich gold there, in fact, from the results of panning off in the creeks, I am convinced that the district referred to will ultimately prove theriohest goldfield in the oolony. In 1869 Moffitt went south to Tuhua, and got gold; indeed I subsequently heard that he had erected a rode crushing mf^K'!»4% , and was doing well. Having left his native wife and daughter at, Ngwnsju - whia, he took another native woman, '"' and tried to , ingratiate himself with the Maoris. He would never ag?eo h with the Tuhua Maoris, however, and had with them a series of continual diapptes until arrested and thrown into gaol for ■applying the natives with emmumtton--a fact whioh will doubtless be well re* > membered by your readers. WelL noor Bill Moffitt has now crossed the bourne,

and wlien calling to my mind remembrances of him, I cannot help thinking that " The way of transgressors is hard."