THE GREAT NATIVE MEETING.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1072, 8 May 1879, Page 2

THE GREAT NATIVE MEETING.

FROM OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.

Alexandra, May 6, 1879. Tuesday — a. an early hour this morning, an invitation was sent, fcr the third time, to Ngapuhi, from the King, to request them to pay him a visit. It was again refused, on the same ground as before, viz.,, that np visit 'would be be paid, without the Premier and Native Minister were also invited. To Ngakau, a little later on, ' visited Ngapuhi, on tho same errand, but was, himself, unsuccessful. It is quite remarkable, the firmness of Ngapuhi, m reference to this matter. They must feel quite as anxious, with their old. enemies the Waikatos, as the latter tribes are to make friends with them, yet they show an unshakeahle front, and nothing can move them. It was certainly a good stroke ot policy on the part of Ministers, to bring these chiefs with them. The anxiety of the Waikatos to see them, is almost feverish, and the condition that they must see Sir George Grey and Sheehan at the same time, shakes them m any .hostile resolutions they may have formed to'the projects of the Government. It is probably owing to this, that the invitation to which I shall presently refer, was sent to the Government party. While writing about Ngapuhi, a rather curious fact came to my knowledge, m reference to some of them. Mr. Spencer Von Stunner tells me thatmanyof tho chiefshere, can trace their j ancestry back for over 200 years, and prove themselves relatives of the King himself, showing at once the strength of the traditionary element m the. Maori character, and the close relationship ef even tribes that sire so far distant from, each other as Ngapuhis and Waikatos. Years upon years of warfare have separated the two people, and alienated them m their tastes, habits, and even to some extent, language, and yet they have , never forgotten that they are blood relations, and dan point to the individual m which, 200 years ago, their lineage united. At about 9.30, A HEBALD 1 Went round the encampments, proclaiming to each tribe, m a stentorian voice, that the meeting would take place tomorrow, unless prevented by rain. The writing from which his authority was derived, was signed by Tutua, the new name for TE NGAKAU. Who, at 10.30, oame m person, to Thompson's house, to interview Mr Grace, The ostensible object of his visit waa, to complain of a statement that had been made to Rewi, that he, the Hauhau Premier, had been selling land. After some little discussion with Mr Grace, on the subject, Te Ngakau went m and saw Mr,,Sheehan, and Sir George Grey coming m afterwards, interviewed him' also. The subjects on which he touched were, the sitting of Courts and sale of land. He also gave an invitation, to Sir George Grey and Mr Sheehan, to visit Tawhiao, at his camp, . which they refused to do, on the .ground that ifc was against etiquette to pay such visits, until the korero was over. Later m the day. „ A DIBEbT INVITATION was given to the Ministerial party to be present at the meeting to-morrow, this ifc is presumed settling the "eti quetta" question. - '. -TOUR PABSONS during the day tried their hand at the obdurate Maori Potentate. The way had previously been paved for the advance by a withering volley of Bibles and tracts. Last night a missive was sent demanding admittance to the " Prince " and a gracious reply havingbeen received, they all sallied forth and proceeded to the sacred spot. They were well reoaived and ushered into the presence of the Monarch. But to speak seriously as the subject demands — On their presenting themselves Tawhiao advanced to meet them, greeting them cordially, shakins: hands with them Ahipene and .Hiri Turoa ahd another Waikato chief being 1 present at the interesting interview. Rev. Messrs Buddie, Lawry, Schnackenburg and William Barton the four Ministers, with one of whom I had a long and instructive conversation state that tha points they urged upon the Royal . Mind were first the necessity of educating the risings generation of Maorift and secondly, the folly of harboring and nursing grievances advocating the old Maori habit of talking out any matters that might be m dispute and lie heavy on their minds. They state that their arguments were well re ceived, and seemed to produce considerable effect upon the minds of their hearers. During the interview they were ordered by one of the body-_ruard, who entered the whare, to retire, but on appealing to Tawhiaojhe bade them stay. A second time, later on, the same command having been gvien, and their korero having been finished, they deemed it prudent to obey it, and retired. Then general impression seems to be, that while the chiefs received them as old friends and Ministers, with great cordiality, they Still harbour bitter and angry feelings towards aU Europeans, and more particularly towards all Governments generally. There is one noticeable feature m this interesting and curious interview, and that is, that whilst these gentlemen were, presumably, guests of the King, the younger men should come into the Royal presence and order them summarily to depart. Does it mean that Tawhiao has no real power to check the fierce spirit of Hauhauism, and that his followers, taking the bit m their teeth, refused to be guided by him, thereby rendering him powerless to carry* out his promises at Hikurangi? To-morrow will, probably, throw some light upon the mystery. Very little of^nteresfc occurred to-day. I almost forgot to mention that last night I interviewed WAHANUI the great Mokau {chief. He was sitting on a mat m the centre of his tent surroundod by his followers. He is an immensely corpulent man, weighing; I

believe about 24 stone. lam told 10 or 121bs of food a day is only a " snack " for liim. He has a large massive head inlicative of great strength of purpose, and power of influencing, others at will. Ho is a, man well advanced m years, and posseses probably as much real power as any man jn the ground. Cansiderablo sensation was caused at Thompson's by the appearance of Saturday's FBEE LANOB. which contained soire very severe strictures on some members of the party. THE BOSITION OP AETATES May be briefly 'summed up thus: Three results are possible, first, Tawhiao may hold out against any settlement on' the question, and Rewi at the la&t moment may disappoint the hopes of the Government, and may remain loyal to Tawhiao and Hauhauism. Or the converse may prove to be the correct version, Tawhiao and has party surrendering at discretion to tremendious pressure put upon them by Rewi and Morehu, backed by their powerful sections. Or thirdly, the King may remain obstinate and the Rewi and - Morehu sections wiU draw themselves from him for ever. The first of the possibilities is, I think, npt very probable, although, if the . statements of many presumedly weU informed persons are to be believed, may be quite on 'the cards.* The second, I can hardly hope, will be f ußy realized, though, still on the cards. The thirdj I ihink, the most likely to come to pass, and it would certainly be a great point gained. It might cause a considerable amount of trouble, as we should have to back up Rewi, m reference to the railway and his land and Tawhiao, and the Hauhaus might object and make serious difficulty, but in.the end, the territorial right would prevail, and the King party be forced to terms . Which of the three will turn out to be correct will be seen to-morrow. The day will be full of interest and importance to this part of the country m particular and New Zealand as a whole, 'I shall send you a full and correct report' of the whole of the proceedings. At 8 o'clock this morning a Ngapuhi guardsman passed his head through the dpor of the tent and told us to get up quickly as an order had come from tho King that all hands were to proceed to his quarters where the meeting would take place. We .rose accordingly and found that the rain was still faUing with very little hopes of a fine day after breakfast the Herald's " special" and myself visited Paul and Ngapuhi to find out if it was there opinion that the talk would commence. We found, the loyal old chief m bed which looked very unlike a meeting. No preparations were visible. Since then the sun has come out and wa are m momentary expectation of a summons from Tawhiao quarters. All the tracks are ancle deep m mud, rendeaing locomotion a most disagreeable proceeding, provisions of all kinds are running very short both with European and natives. The question of the result remains unaltered. No one san say what the upshot will be with any degree of certainty. Tv Tawhiao and a friend were here last night, closeted with the Native Minister. He appears very friendly, but Ido not think he has much influence m tho direction of affairs. It is now said that there are two days given for the korero, bnt I doubt not, many of the natives will clear out to-morrow. I think it "likely that, if it cemraences m reasonable time, it will finish to-day. many and fervent are the prayers that it may. 11 a.m.The natives are just beginning to move towards the scene of action. The Taupo natives have just left, and Te Wetere, the Mokau Chief, is giving his crdersjto his men to depart- Rewi is collecting his forces. Ngapuhi are displaying signs of activity. In about an hpur, baring the return of rain, proceedings wiU commence, 12.15 a.m. A regular stampede took place from Thompson's. Rewi came to the house, to conduct Sir George Grey and Mr Sheehan. his guests, to the place of meeting. We, the reporters, obtained a table, through the kindness of Mr Sheehan and Mi Thompson, the owner of the house. (By the way, a mistake occurred m my lasfc report. I stated that Mr Rickd. Thompson was the proprietor of the place, it should have been Mr Alx. Thompson.) each Knight of the Pen then shouldered his chair, and Very iuany they looked waling through the mud. The enterprising proprietor ol the "Thames Advertiser,' was observed lugging along an empty brandy case, to serve as a support forhis journalistic persoi. On arrival at the seen?, the natives had not assembled, but about 1500 to 2000 were present. Te Whero "took up his stand at the ooinfc where the party where to take up their stand. 12.45 a body of men were observed advancing towards the assemblage which turned out to be Ministerial party. Paul headed the proceesion mounted on a white horse. Sir George Grey and Mr Sheehan were m front and they were escorted by lSgapuhi. The natives were formed m a semi circle, the ministerial party occupying a position toward the westward. At this juncture there were cerfcainfcly not more than 3,000 present the Avonen and children were really absent. Paul of Orakei was seated on the right of Sir George Gray. , . The pi-oceedbigs were carried on m the foUowing manner. The chiefs spoke, of course, m Maori, which was translated by Mr Grace to the Ministerial party, Sir George Grey replying m English. At ,this time Tawhiao had not arrived, and I did not see Wahanui. The -\yeafcher is beautiful, and' the whole scene is fraught with interest. While looking at the great body of natives assembled we could not help reflecting that, by what seems to be an inevitable law of decay, twenty years would probably render it impossible to gather such a large number together. It seemed like the last expiring effort of a noble race, to arrest the downward progress, and preserve their people and name as one among3t the nations and races of the earth. But lam moralizing, and Tawhiao (1 o'clock) is arriving upon the ground, attended by an armed body guard of 150 men. Rangihokia, who appeared to act a Brigadier-General, was attired m a military frock-coat, and had on a helmet, with a red plume, given to him by O'Connor, of fenian notoriety. On the. south-west flank of the main body, they went through a form of hauhau prayers, commencing with a genealogical chant, m whioh they traced their ancestral pedigrees. Then they all squatted on their hams at an order given by Pikari, who did the part of the native policeman, Tawhiao and Wahanui led the procession, marching side by side. Tawhiao got up flrst ; he said : Listen, listen,listen,my grandfathers and children listen! People from the South to the North Cape listen ! Listen people to my words! Chiefs of this country listen! There is nothing to disturb the country from one end to the other. My word is this : Potatou alone is the ancestor of all the people. He only is the chief of this country and you all. If you have a claim to this place the whole of this belonged to Potatau. Manga is there; he is one and lam another. Where is he ? Thcsa are my districts (now) I say the land is mine, so it is for me to do what I like with my own. I shall not conceal what I havo to say. I will spell it out m front of you, Listen carefully. A letter was received byPofcatau, from the Queen telling him that Europeans are ooming. He replied tell them to stop away. _ That is the reason I say listen attentively. There-" fore I say Sir Geogre Grey bas n,o, right

to manage the affairs of this country, but I have solo right all over.jthe country. It is for me alone. I don't want all their customs brought into niy district. Thafc is the reason I say this thing called fighting, dont bring ifc into £his country. Let it be taken away. There is no fighting hero ; there will be no fighting for leases, none for roads. Ail those things must be returned. I do not want any left behind. Let them all be returned. Grey has no right \o conduct matters in ' niy district. All things must be returned. There will be nothing evil to-morrow, or next day, or at any time. He then sat down. Prayers were again chanted by the hauhaus, as the custom is, after Tawhiao has done speaking. The conclusion of this invocation was by Kereopa, saying, " God, make us clean, this day." Wahanui: I wish to say something m reference to the words of to-day. Consider the words. This is all that will be said. Mahi Rangihakia (Arawa) sang a chant m Old Maori kavakia, to the effect, " stop fighting, and all evil deeds, make one of us. Let us'all become one. Who gave us these things? Ifc was our ancestors; . There was a chorus to this chant of a guteral sight. He said we Have heard your words and will think of them. Te Heuheu : lam not going to interfere.. Tawhiao' s words m the days of Potafcau to 'the present time they have not been changed. Hold fast to these words. Major Kemp said aU have been to church, the Bishop on Tawhiao' s side lias sprayed and preached. , Our Bishop has not spoken. We are talking !in the presence of Grey, and this is the day on which all things *.re to be finished. Speak. Tewheoro (mohuhu) said if the visi,tors (Maoris) wish to speak they can dd so. Te. Nakau : Let the talk be done for to-day, and let each tribe consider what has been said, and come to-morrow and have it out. , The meeting then broke up. At the conclusion of Tawhiao' s speech Rewi got up and walked across to the vacant seat, taking' his seat alongside Wahanui. Various interpretations are put upon this action. Some say that ifc was meant as a distinct declaration that he embraced Tawhiao's -ide ; others, thafc he went to Wahanui to consult with him as to the programme to be followed out. It is impossible to say which of these' is the correct one. To-morrow may show. As for Tawhiao's speech ifc seems to mo a hard nut to crack., It tells plainly that he intends to keep everything m his own hand, and disavows all intention of permitting interference inside of what he is pleased to consider his domain. Some of the very best men here, however, say that as Ngapuhi and other tribes are now here for tha first time Tawhiao intended to throw out a feeler as to their views upon the matter, and therefore asserted his sway from the North Cape to the South of the Island. I cannot lielp thinking that Te Ngakau who is certainly a most bitter opponent of Europeans has influenced Tawhiao strongly against any compromise and he will except none. I think, howover. that Rewi may to-morrow make his expected declaration m favour of Sir G. Grey's proposals. On the whole I think the latter of the three issues is the utmost 'we can hope for. the whole meating lasted only 46 minutes. To-morrow the korero will be resumed, but probably not finished. There will be some -tall talking when Ngapuhi, Kemp, Paul, Te Wheoro and others get to work on our side. The curious feature to one who is uot thoroughly conversant with the nature of Maori etiquette, was that the speakers addressed then 1 remarks to the assembled people alone, and there was no greeting to the white visitors. Kemp alluded to this m his speech -when he said ft Grey is present." 6 p.m. There is nothing more important to chronicle. I do not believe any man m camp, not even Tawhiao himself, knows what the real upshot of to-morrow's meeting will be. Ngatimaniapofco just now brought an offering of meat and flour to Ministers, which Mr Sheehan presented to Ngapuhi, Ngatiwhatua, and Ngatipoua