MAORI CHIEFS KIDNAPPED
INCIDENT IN THE EARLY DAYS. In 1793 Lieutenant-Governor Kjng, or Norfolk Island, had set his convicts to work to manufacture the island’s plentiful supply of phormium tenax into “a very different and coarse kind of canvas,” . . . “but I do not think it will arrive at a desirable perfection before , a New Zealander can be brought here.” A visitor in quest of timber, promised a hundred pounds for two New Zealanders obtained “by fair means,” simply kidnapped two Maoris. They were chiefs and knew little of the Maori manner of treating flax, because they had always left such work to women. King was so anxious to see that his guests were returned to their homes without mishap, that he travelled with them to New Zealand cn the Britannia, earning a reprimand for deserting his post. King appears to have been genuinely ’interested in Tookee and Wcodoo. as he called them, and during their six months on Norfolk Island had lodged them in his own house.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 May 1939, Page 3
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167MAORI CHIEFS KIDNAPPED Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 May 1939, Page 3
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