MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 July 1938, Page 9

MAORI MEMORIES

THE COMING OF FITZROY. (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) In December, 1843, Captain Fitzroy succeeded Governor Hobson. His landing was a ridiculous farce, but of this he was apparently quite unaware. An official of the Native Department carried a crown of flax mounted on a pole, from which the New Zealand flag was unfurled. Excited by the crowd of fifty, the Captain stepped ashore, and with a wave of the ’hand, he shouted: “I come among you to do all the good I can.” The military sergeant called “quick march,” and the drummer boys and filers struck up “The King of the Cannibal Islands.” Next day at the levee, Captain Fitzroy, following the lead of a scurrilous newspaper, abused acting-Governor Shortland. This was regarded as the equivalent of publishing in the Government Gazette that Mr Shortland was an arrant fool, which, of course, caused him to resign. In January, 1844, His Excellency visited .Wellington, where he so strongly abused Jeringham Wakefield and several other settlers for their hatred of the Maoris, that some folks declared he had “gone dotty.”

The Governor then visited Nelson and publically rebuked the Justices of the Peace who had signed the warrants to arrest Rauparaha and Rangihaeata. He declared the warrants were illegal, the land and the huts being Maori property. Irritation was apparent throughout his speech, which deeply affected those people, every one of whom was mourning for the loss of a son, a brother, or an intimate friend. Fitzroy’s visit widened the breach breach between the Maoris and the Pakeha. He then crossed the Straits to visit Rauparaha at Waikanae. At the interview there were 12 Europeans and 500 Maoris.

Since the Wairau affair, Rauparaha had professed to be an ardent Christian, and likened his sudden conversion to that of St Paul.