Page image
Page image

E—No. 1

No. 14.

EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER OE MR. JAMES FTJLLOON TO THE HONOURABLE THE NATIVE MINISTER. Auckland, March 30th, 1863. Sir,— • •••••••*# Tioriori sent on Friday two couriers, one to W. Thompson, informing him of what had happened, and requesting him to go to Otawhao; the other, to Mangatautari summoning the Ngatiwerokoko to attend him at the end of this week, for the purpnse of keeping Mr. G. in possession. He declares stoutly that Mr. Gorst shall not leave Otawhao, neither shall the children be taken from the school (nearly the whole of the boys belong to his division of the Ngatihaua). The Ngatiapakura also say that they will support Mr. Gorst with arms if necessary. I heard a great many of the Ngatihaua, and one or two of the Ngatiapakura say that they disapproved of the Ngatimaniapoto's conduct, saying that they did not wish to be killed for such a had 'take,' (cause); if the Governor gave them a ' take,' then they would willingly d\ e< but for such a ' take,' as Rewi's, they loved their wives, children, and bodies too much to be sacrificed for such a cause; they, not forgetting how they were served by the Ngatimaniapoto at Taranaki, especially on the occasion of the assault upon No. 3 Redoubt. This is one of the probable reasons for their being so divided on this question. But the real one is a question of propriety to the land, to te Awainutu. By what I can make out, the district was taken from the Ngatiraukawa; the conquest was commenced by the Ngatimaniapoto, under Tukorehu, who gave it over to Paewaku (?) (Potatau's uncle) who completed the conquest, when Te Awamutu was sold, the Ngatimanipoto did not share in the proceeds, they say now, that Potatau having: died, so has his gift to the Church Missionary Society died also; therefore that part of the estate that was given by Potatau should revert to them. They talked of commencing to plough on Wednesday last when they were at Te Awamutu. This is the real ngakau (heart) of the question, and explains why the Ngatiapakura, Ngatihaua, and Te Werokoko have taken such a decided stand against Rewi, because the question really affects them in a very important manner. It is not for their great love towards Mr. Gorst, or justice either. I saw Thompson on Wednesday evening; he was to start for Poverty Bay on the following morning. I also found Te Pakaroa, and some of the Ngatihaua chiefs there, trying to dissuade him from going, but without success. I gave him your letter, which he read, and was very much pleased with the contentsi I then told him of the doings of the Lower Waikato, in reference to the Kohekohe affair, and the forcible search of canoes, to which he expressed his dissatisfaction. I then urged him to stay, as it was of great importance that he should be in Waikato in such a great time of troub'e, to try and guide his people in the right path; and, should the Waikatos not follow his counsel, it would not be his fault, —they would not blame him hereafter: whereas, if be went away, and anything serious happened to Waikato, they would naturally blame him for being sbsent. He at once admitted the force of my argument, and at once said he would stay —very much to the satisfaction of the Ngatihaua. and the dissatisfaction of the deputation that had come to fetch him, they pitching into me for making them go home without their man. Thompson then told me that he had received a letter from the Ngatiruanui, saying that they would not give up Tataraimaka, that they will be "pakeke" (hard) on lhat place. It appears that when he wrote to ihe Ngatiruanui, advising them to hand Tataraimaka back to the Governor, Lower Waikato had written one also, taken by the same messenger, giving the opposite advice. The King had also received one from the same people, with the same determination expressed in it On Thursday morning, as I was in the saddle, Thjinpson gave me his answer to yours, and also one to the Waikato *•**•* w hich, in a measure, explains his views on two or three things. He said to me, "Haere, haere ki Akarana, he nohti noa iho taku; E kore e hua he whakaaro maku—i te tini o nga rarararu o roto o Waikato, i te whakakake o te tangata. E haer« ana au ko Waikato —ara, he haere kau, e kore e raanaakitia aku ritenga. Haere." (Go, go to Auckland. 1 shall simply sit quiet; I shall not form any opinion, because of the numerous perplexities of Waikato, and the arrogance of the people. I am going to Waikato, that is, I am going without an object, as my proposals are not heeded. Farewell.) And he is right, to right, as shown by Rewi's conduct. By the bye, on Wednesday night, he told me that Rewi had written to him, informing him that he (Rewi) was going to send Mr. Gorst away, and burn the buildings down. He (W. T.) had written to Rewi, telling him that he could not " pana" (expel) Mr Gorst, as h« was living upon Crown land; the only thing that he could do was to take the children away. I was also told at Ngaruawahia that such was to take place, with the date too. William Thompson will, I believe, be at Kihikihi by the end of this week, after which, he is coming to Paetai. I have, &c, - James Fulloon.

No. 15. THE CIVIL COMMISSIONER, OTAWHAO, TO THE HONOURABLE THE NATIVE* MINISTER. Awamutu, April 1st, 1863. Sir, — Wirerou Tamehana, with about twenty followers, and Wiremu Karamoa, came here this afternoon, on their return from a meeting, with Rewi at Kihikihi. I learnt from him that a large meeting of the Ngatihaua tribe was held on Monday, at Arikima, and a meeting of the Waikatos at Rangiaowhia, yesterday, at both of which the proceedings of the Ngatimaniapotos were unanimously condemned. He told me plainly that no one liked my being in the district. He had no fault to find with the school; everything about it was excellent. But Sir George Grey had said at Taupiri th a < he would dig round the King until he fell of his own accord; and, when he looked round to see where

13

NATIVti AFFAIRS.

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert