THE WAIRAU MASSACRE
Sir-There are those who would whitewash the Maori War Chiefs Te Rauparaha, Te Rangihaeata, Te Kooti, and Tetokowaru, who were bloodthirsty men who killed*members of their own tribes to eat at their‘ diabolical feasts. A letter in your issue of December 9 by one of our most esteemed writers on the Wairau Massacre, needs elaboration, and another side should be told of the awful facts of that incident. When 1,200 refugees went to Nelson from Taranaki in 1860 the Wairau Massacre was still being discussed and I heard long ago from my father’s lips at our pioneer’s home in the bush at Taranaki what he said he believed to be the true story of it as the settlers knew it, apart from, high officials who shielded the culprits for their own purposés. "After destroying Cottrell’s and Parkinson’s houses the Maoris fired the first shot as the Europeans were retreating over a stream. The pakehas, finding the position very bad,
decided to surrender. They shook hands with Te Rauparaha and delivered up their arms, a token of peace:"Then the Maoris, killed 23 of the helpless sparty in cold blood and 26 escaped.-The local residents were terrified. The two chiefs hoodwinked Governor Fitzroy ‘and showed .a penitent-mood when he interviewed them, and that was the incorrect report he sent to»England."
W.K.
HOWITT
(Devonport).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 22, Issue 548, 23 December 1949, Page 5
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224THE WAIRAU MASSACRE New Zealand Listener, Volume 22, Issue 548, 23 December 1949, Page 5
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