An Old New Zealander; or, Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South.

162

This referred to an incident which occurred in 1839. A degenerate whaler named Dick Cook had cruelly murdered a native woman, Rangiawha Kuika, who was the wife of an Englishman named Wynen. The natives wished to deal with him in their own summary way, but the Rev. Mr. Ironside persuaded them to send him to Wellington to be tried according to the British forms of justice. He was charged with the crime at the Supreme Court, but was acquitted, the evidence being mainly circumstantial, his own wife (also a native woman), who saw him do the deed, not being allowed to give testimony against him. This was a delicate point which the natives could not understand, and they ever after retained the firm conviction that an injustice had been done in not punishing him.

163

Mr. Clarke, Sub-Protector of the aborigines, estimated that in 1843 there were 11,650 natives capable of bearing arms inhabiting the shores of Cook Strait. In a petition to Parliament signed by seven hundred residents of Wellington shortly after the massacre, it was stated "that it is in the power of the aborigines at any time to massacre the whole of the British population in Cook Strait, and Rauparaha has been known to declare that he will do it."

164

On the 29th June, the Wellington magistrates met at Mr. McDonough's house, and on the motion of Dr. Evans, seconded by the Hon. J. Petre, it was resolved: "That Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of Lands, be requested to go in his capacity as one of the magistrates to communicate to the native chiefs and tribes of Cook Strait their determination, which is not to take or to sanction any attempt to take vengeance for the death of the white men at Wairau, but to leave the whole matter to the decision of the Queen's Government, who will inquire into it and decide according to law."

165

Now known as Whanganui.

166

Te Ahu karamu's son was travelling with Wakefield on this journey, and under the impression that Wakefield would kill him in revenge for the massacre, Te Ahu "had furiously urged the Otaki natives to join Rauparaha and Rangihaeata in an attack upon Wellington."

167

"Some of the whalers present laughed at this, having too many friends and relatives by their wives to fear being turned out. Taylor, among the number, laughed outright, for he had lived with the tribe for many years and was a general favourite among them. Rauparaha turned to him and said, 'You must go too, Sammy'" (Wakefield).

168

Wakefield has said that Rauparaha not only rebuked the Queen, but spoke offensively of her. But it must always be remembered that he was naturally prejudiced against the chief, and that he was frequently vindictive towards those from whom he differed.

169

"Taiaroa talked to me for some time about land in a disgusting jargon composed of whaling slang, broken French, and bad English, so that I was obliged to beg him to speak in Maori, which I could better understand. I then made out that he was angry with 'Wideawake' (Colonel Wakefield) and other white people for taking so much land, and he said he would turn the white people off to the southward if he did not get plenty of utu" (Wakefield).

170

These displays had a distinctly disturbing effect upon the native mind, the Maoris regarding them as a sure and certain sign that the settlers meditated an attack upon them.

171

The entire military force in the Colony at the moment of the massacre was one weak company of infantry stationed at Auckland, and there was no vessel of war on the station (Mundy).

172

This decision was written out in pencil and handed to Mr. Clarke to read out to the assemblage. Because Governor Fitzroy did not claim the Wairau district as having been paid for with blood – a course which the chiefs fully expected would be taken, in accordance with their own customs – British prestige and power are said to have suffered considerably in their estimation, and Rangihaeata is reported to have remarked, "He paukena te pakeha" (The Governor is soft, he is a pumpkin). When the Middle Island was sold to the Government by Taiaroa and the descendants of Tamaiharanui, Rangihaeata claimed part of the payment as compensation for the death of Te Pehi and his friends killed at Kaiapoi, and his claim was allowed by Governor Grey.

173

Heke had asked the pertinent question, "Is Rauparaha to have all the credit of killing the pakeha?"

174

"From what I know of the young lieutenant, I have no doubt he laid about him vigorously. Even had burly Rangihaeata confronted him, I should not have feared the result" (Mundy).

175

It was quite the orthodox thing for natives on opposite sides to hold intercourse with each other during war, and Rauparaha, having many relations engaged with Rangihaeata, would, in accordance with this custom, keep up a certain connection with them, and they with him. This, not being understood by the British authorities, was probably mistaken for treachery.

176

Afterwards McKillop Pasha, an Admiral of the Khedive of Egypt.

177

Grey, in his despatch to the Secretary for the Colonies, describing the seizure of Te Rauparaha, states that a "considerable quantity of arms and ammunition belonging to the disaffected portion of the Ngati-Toa tribe" was also seized, though he makes no attempt to explain what steps were taken under the exciting circumstances to ascertain who the precise owners were.

178

On the voyage to Wellington the prisoners were quartered in the workshop above the boilers. During the night a great disturbance was heard in this direction, and, on an examination being made, it was found that the room was full of steam. One of the boilers had sprung a leak, but the natives imagined that their vapour bath was an ingenious contrivance to compass their death.

179

Mr. Percy Smith is my authority for saying that Rangihaeata did not actually compose this lament, as is generally supposed, but merely adapted it from a very old original.

180

In October, 1850, Dr. Dorsett, as Chairman of the Settlers' Constitutional Society, in a letter addressed to Earl Grey, complained of the inadequacy of Te Rauparaha's punishment. Sir George Grey replied by quoting two laments, of which this was one, "to show the light in which the natives regarded the punishment inflicted on him."

181

Pohi was one of the inferior chiefs arrested with Te Rauparaha and afterwards released. Subsequently, Grey discovered that this man was supposed to possess "important information."

182

For the passive attitude adopted by many of the Ngati-Toa people some credit must be given to Te Rauparaha, who had already advised his son to go to the tribes and tell them to remain in peace. "I returned on shore," says Tamahana, "and saw Ngati-Toa and Rawhiri Puaha. We told them the words of Rauparaha respecting that which is good and living in peace. Two hundred Ngati-Raukawa came to Otaki. Rangihaeata wished to destroy Wellington and kill the pakehas as satisfaction. I told them the words of Te Rauparaha, that they must put away foolish thoughts, live in peace, and cast away bad desires. They consented."

183

Ensign Blackburn, who was a fine officer and a great favourite with the troops, was shot by a native secreted in a tree, and he in turn was almost immediately brought down by an artilleryman.

184

Under the chilling atmosphere of bleak winter the enthusiasm of our native allies soon began to cool and the vigour of their pursuit to slacken. Power, in his Sketches in New Zealand, gives an amusing account of a big korero held at Otaki to decide whether or not they would continue the chase, in which he says: "Rangihaeata's sister was present and addressed the meeting in favour of her absent brother, making at the same time some very unparliamentary remarks on the aggressions of the pakehas and the want of pluck of the Maoris in not resisting them, as her illustrious brother was doing. An old chief requested her to resume her seat, informing her at the same time that she was the silly sister of a sillier brother. He then put it to the meeting whether pigs and potatoes, warm fires and plenty of tobacco, were not better things than leaden bullets, edges of tomahawks, snow, rain, and empty bellies? All the former, he distinctly stated, were to be enjoyed on the plain; the latter they had had plentiful experience of in the mountains, and was it to be expected that they – and he confidently relied upon the good sense of the meeting – could be such fools as to hesitate for a moment? The applause of the old man's rhetoric was unanimous, and it received no slight help from the timely appearance of a procession bearing the materials for a week's feasting."

185

Lieutenant McKillop, writing on this point, says: "We never had any such decided advantage over him in our various skirmishes with his tribe as to dishearten him, and had we been unassisted by friendly Maoris I have no doubt he would have held out and carried his point."

186

While the Calliope was lying at Wellington, Te Rauparaha was visited by his son Tamahana, who has left it on record that, in that trying moment of his life, his father displayed a spirit of calm forgiveness towards those who had so treacherously deprived him of his liberty. His advice was: "Son, go to your tribes and tell them to remain in peace. Do not pay for my seizure with evil, only with that which is good. You must love the Europeans. There was no just cause for my having been arrested by Governor Grey. I have not murdered any Europeans, but I was arrested through the lies of the people. If I had been taken prisoner in battle, it would have been well, but I was unjustly taken."