THE LATE BISHOP PATTESON.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 249, 7 November 1872, Page 5

THE LATE BISHOP PATTESON.

Tne Rev. F. Langham, Wesleyan Missionary at Bau, Fiji group, has written the following letter to the Fiji Times .•—Sir, — Will you kindly publish the following particulars, which i received from a gentleman planter last week, and whicli seem to settle the question in dispute as to whether Bishop Patteson was imvrdered in. retaliation for some act of kidnapping oa the pa.vt of socalled " In bor vessels" at Santa ruz. It has been stated, on what seemed to be good authority, that no labor vessels had been able at any time to obtain laborers from that island, the natives showing *uch a hostile ■disposition as to render it unsafe to land among them ; and, it has been said, the Bishop acted very imprudently in landing among such a treacherous people. Those, j too, who have ventured to suggest that the killing of the Bishop was iv revenge for the ! doings of some of our labor vessels upon this island have been held up to ridicule, and their statement regarded as a libel upon the labor traffic. If. however, the following account be correct, and I see no reason to doubt its accuracy in the main particulars, it will be seen that these gentlemen have not deserved the reflections cast upon them, but the Fiji and Melbourne (the vessel spoke or I hailing from Melbourne, or being partly 'owned by a late Melbourne nierch-mt) share in the responsibility incurred by the murder of Bishop Patteson and his companions. The gentleman referred to above informed me that he had in bis employ a short time back five natives of Nukapu (the island on which the Bishop was killed). Theßc natives stated to him that seeing a vessel which they thought might be the Bishop's schoonc* — I am not sure that a party from the vessel had not gone on shore— they (the five) started in the canoe for the vesitl, taking with them a basket of food as <i present for the Bishop, intending also to ask liim to come on shore. On reaching the vessel and inquiring for the Bishop, they were told he was down below, but would be on deck presently ; they were then asked to copie on board, which they did, and four went below with the food. Just then a gentleman, dressed, in clericals, came on deck, and went towards the fifth, who at the same moment was seized by some Tanna men and thrust dnvn the hold, the hatches being immediately put on, and the vessel sailed away. These ative3 further stated that on the way to Fiji they were compelled to hold up bottles at arm's length, as targets, while their captors displayed their skill with revolvers, by which two, they think, were wounded, one received a bullet through th« roof of his mouth, which was dressed \\y my informant. One of the men died ou the plantation, the other four made their escape in a whaleboat a short time ago, and have not since been heard of.

By referring to the Fiji Times of November 11, it will be seen that the Margaret Chessel, the vessel from which these five men were obtained by my informant, visited Santa Cruz, among other inlands, about two months before the murder of the Bishop, but nothing is said of anything done there, and that she had a crew of Tauna men.

It will be remembered that in the published account of the death of the Bishop, it said, " That when the body was brought en board the vessel, there was a palm frond, tied with five knots, thrust into the breast," which was probably meant to signify that five of the islanders had been killed or taken away by the vessel : that this was the cause of the attack, and that this was their revenge.