REWI'S HOUSE-WARMING AT KIHIKIHI.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1393, 7 June 1881, Page 3

REWI'S HOUSE-WARMING AT KIHIKIHI.

The Chief Rewi, accompanied by his nephew, Rangi Tuatea, met by invitation a number of the Kilrikihi settlers -at dinner in his new house here yesterday. i There were present Majors Mair and Jackson, Major and Mrs Minnctt, Mr W. H. Grace, Mr and Mrs Corboy, and Messrs Anderson,' Ross, Farrell, Maunder Elmsley and Moncrieff. The spread was an excellent one, and reflects much credit on the caterer who so well and tastefully supplied the table. Dinner being over, Rewi rose and said : " The statements that have been recently in the newspapers respecting himself were incorrect, and required contradiction from him. He would in the first place tell them that it was not his intention to leave Puniu, and secondly, he did not intend to give back his house and property in Kihikihi to the Government. (Applause). Although in a certain sense he had been asked to do so by the Kingites, as they said he was setting them a bad example. " After this the European guests retired to the ante-room and verandah, so as to allow their native friends to dine, among whom were several influential chiefs of the Ngatimaniapoto tribe, and at the conclusion all the guests re-assembled in a large, hand-somely-furnished room. Rcwi was the first to speak. He repeated to the natives what he had said to the Europeans at fcheir dinner, and then went oil to say that it was his intention to go up to Kuiti, there to meet the leaders of the people for the purpose of consulting together and devising some means for a better state of affairs for the native people. In doing so he would impress on those present that it was only for a time, and although absent in body he would be present m spirit with them. He would remind them that prior to hi<j coining to live at Puniu, natives used to come across the border and commit many petty thefts among the Enrope.ins, but since his sojourn in their neighbourhood this, to a great extent, had ceased. Of late there have only thiee thefts been committed. One was the taking of some plough harness from Mr Kennedy ; another was something from a. saw pit, and the other was from the premises of Mr Maunder. He regretted that he was unable to discover the culprit. And now during his absence at Kuiti, he would appoint a responsible person to take his place at Puniu. Rangi Tuatea, a chief of considerable influence, next addressed the meeting. He approved of what Rewi said, and that it was not his uncle, Rewi's intention to leave these parts and abandon his house. It was true the Hauhaus had driven off Mr Ross's cattle, but if they did, the cattle were scattered all over the country for miles. He assured them that his consideration and love for Mr Ross, who had acted To him as a parent, would not suffer through the action, of those natives. That he, Rangi, was responsible for the cattle being on the land, and that if the H.uihaus uhed harsh measures it would make him resort to means for resistance, but if they were temperate and acted with leniency, he would do his best to fall in with their views. Rewi said the natives came down to see him about Ross's cattle. He told them the fact of the cattle being on the land was his doing and that of his nephew. Mr Ross, he added, had the privilege of occupying a piece of land for a term of ten years, as a return for the great kindness he had received at his hands. He had come over to see Mr Ross at the wish of the Hauhaua respecting the copy of the grant of the land. Whilst at Ross's the person who had acted as interpreter used an expression that offended him, upon which he left, and determined not to produce the document. He was offended, and he told the Hauhaus so. He would now tell his nephew to take things quietly. Major Mair, who represented the Government, replied, and said that he thought it was a matter for congratulation that this meeting had taken place, as it was the best possible answer to the reports in circulation that Rewi intended to give back his house to the Government and retire to Kuiti. Of course he and those present were aware that those rumours were exaggerated, but people at a distance and unacquainted with native affairs were easily mislead. It was true that this house had been taken possession of by Rewi on a former occasion, in accordance with European usage, but the Maori mode of taking possession was but witnessed to-day, namely, the partaking of food with one's friends. The settlers were aware that it was a great advantage to have a chief of Rewi's influence living- near them, it was wellknown that before ho came to live at Puniu disturbing rumours were constantly flying about the frontier, and industrious settlers weie often prevented from following their peaceful occupations, thefts, too on the part of the natives were very common, but now they were comparatively rare and it was owing in a great measure to Rewi having 1 come to live ho near them. With reference to what Rewi said about going 1 to Kuiti, he was glad that he was not tfoing for a lengthened period, and that tho' absent in body he would be here in spirit. It was a fact that Tawhiao, Rewi, and other thinking men amongst the Kingites were anxious to devise some measure which would be beneficial to both races, and he knew that Rewi was g">ing to Kniti both in the interebt of his own people, the Maoris, and his pakeha friends and we have reason for hjping, that the result will be the establishment of even a better state of feeling than that which existed at the present time. Tukoßehu spoke next: he said, " Manga is our parent, and the source of all our actions ; on our return from the meetings of Hikurangi Kopua, Manga Orango and latterly at Puniu we naturally come to our parent and whatever he does we bow in acquiesence. He said he intends to live at Puniu and keep his house, therefore we cannot say anything- against it." Rangi Tuatea : The advice given me by my parent, Mr Ross, haa always been to the effect not to squander my land ; that of Mr Grace was also to the same good purpose, so that the contact I have had with the Europeans has not been of a had character, as the Hauhaua intend to make out. He considered no harm has been done by him in having- Mr Ross' cattle running on the land, as he had taken no money as a remuneration. Mr Ttoss, in rising to reply said Rewi had told him that he could have the use of a piece of laud for the term of ten years, but at the end of that period it should go back to the natives with all improvements. He had fenced the cattle down to the swamps, but the season being an exceptionally dry one the cattle broke out when the swamps dried up and strayed all over the country. Hia advice to the natives was that they should lease to Europeans. He had never made overtures to them to buy. Mr W f H. Grace, late native agent, and the interpreter to the meeting, said, that ifc was only last night he arrived in Kihikihi, but from what he had read in the Waikato Mail repcrts in Cambridge, and from what he hud heard also from EuropeaHS, ho was led to believe that things were in a bad state on this side of the district. That Manga was about to abandon his settlement and become a strong opponent of the Europeans, but from what he had seen to-day,'and from what is being enaotcd at the present; time,

and also from expreesions made use of by Rewi, he now knew that these newspaper reports were incorrect. He then went on to say that his occupation has been since he left, the Government ; service, that/of a native land purchasing qgentf and m that capacity "many Europeans and Maories came to him, for the purpose of buying or selling lands, but up to the present time, and during his residence in this district no natives on the, other side of the boundary have made direct overtures to him to buy their lands, except one native, and he was a Ngatipaua, he being of that tribe he knew he had no right over here, and therefore took no notice of him. Mr Grace concluded by saying that it was most important that Rewi should live on the borders, and his dojng so would be a sign that a friendly feeling exiits between both races. Rewi, in conclusion, said again that he was about to go to Kuiti, and when he returned and things were all right he would be in this house. He was one of the settlers of Kikikihi, he would have a meeting to which he would iuvite people by name, and specially, Sir George Grey, the administrator of affairs in ( the old days, and afterward during the war with us. He knows all our views in matters [ which effect the two races. Major Jackson on behalf of the settlers of Kihikihi, expressed the pleasure it afforded him to see such a friendly gathering. It gare an emphatio lie to the reports recently circulated that Rewi was about to abandon his house.' He considered it most unwise on the part of the natives to shut up their lands and not lease them, were they to do so, uudor proper laws and regulations, they would be very soon in receipt of a handsome revenue and the land, with all improvements would revert to them or their children again. Te Potahi : What Major Jackson has said is good, but the natives found it very difficult to come to any unanimous conclusion respecting the leasing of land. They will not agree one with another. He considered that Rangi Tuatea in his speech here to-day, made use of expression s that were uncalled for. Apovo (the chief who was concerned in the breaking up of the press at Te Awamutu m Mr Gorst's time) said Manga is the relic of all that transpired in the old days, and he is the barrier now. Regarding the land, he wished the Almighty would put it into the head of Tawhioa to lease. He compared New Zealand to a fish that we were cutting up, that we were destroying its vitals and sinews by surveying and selling it through all the hills and mountains to the far South. Rewi now said as it was getting dark the meeting would close, and before going he would tell the natives that this is his house, and they must not be running through it and making common use of it in his absence. The thanks of the meeting is clue to Mr Grace for his courtesy in interpreting.