The Mao i Relio.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4435, 22 March 1883, Page 4

The Mao i Relio.

,«, - :. New Plymouth, Tuesday. The; .correspondent !of the 1 Taranaki Herald at Ohinemutu telegraphed to-day •i follows :—A seizure was made at Lake Home Hotel premises, yesterday, tinder a . search warrant, of the celebrated stone image, Atatua a Tonga, which is said to hare been brought by the Maories in one of the original canoes to Maketn, and afterwards brought by Tubaorangi to the Island of. Mohoro, and buried there. Sir George Qrej.is said, to have.been the, pnjy. European'who ever'saw the. image until it was discorered on the 14th, by the employes of Mr Graham, who, on the eveniag of fhe,lsth, brought it over to the - Lake^Hbase* ,The figure represents a human T being sitting,-on the haunches, with 4he knees .drawn close up to the body; the forearms are fiat against the chest, and- the hands are extended up- . warda.^with.ihe t palnis against the;body ; and the fingers resting under the chin, The height of the figure is about 4 feet 8 inches, and the greatest girth is over 7 feet. It weighs more than a ton. There is great., excitement. both among the Maoris? and Europeans; The former, because they look upon the disinterment as a gross outrage against their most ■acred relics; the latter, because the action of tMr Graham jeopardises the relations between themselves and the natives , here, as the news of the outrage spreads amongst the hapus. The excitement is likely to increase. - • v -- • ' "<