Maori and Settler: A Story of The New Zealand War

  CHAPTER IX.

  THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

  For a few days the greater part of the passengers who had arrived by the_Flying Scud_ remained in Wellington. Mr. Atherton and the two Allenshad put up at the same hotel. The latter intended to go out as shepherdsor in any other capacity on a farm, for a few months at any rate, beforeinvesting in land. They had two or three letters of introduction toresidents in Wellington, and ten days after the arrival of the ship theycalled at the Renshaws' to say good-bye, as they had arranged to go forsome months with a settler up the country. They promised to writeregularly to Wilfrid and tell him all about the part to which they weregoing.

  "Mr. Atherton has promised to write to us," they said, "and tell usabout the districts he visits with you, and if you and he discoveranything particularly inviting we shall at any rate come and see you, ifyou will give us an invitation when you are settled, and look roundthere before buying land anywhere else. It would be very pleasant to besomewhere near you and him."

  "We shall be very glad, indeed, to see you," Mrs. Renshaw said; "stillmore glad if you take up a piece of ground near us. Having friends nearis a very great point in such a life as this, and it would be mostagreeable having a sort of little colony of our own."

  "We should have liked very much," James Allen said, "to say good-bye tothe Miss Mitfords, but as we do not know their father and mother itmight seem strange for us to call there."

  "I do not think they are at all people to stand on ceremony," Mrs.Renshaw said; "but I will put on my bonnet and go round with you at onceif you like."

  This was accordingly done. Mr. Mitford had heard of the young men asforming part of the little group of passengers on board the _FlyingScud_, and gave them a hearty invitation to pay him a visit if theyhappened to be in his neighbourhood, and the next day they started forthe farm on which they had engaged themselves. Two days later there wasa general break up of the party, for Mr. and Mrs. Mitford started withtheir daughters in a steamer bound to Hawke Bay.

  "Will you tell me, Mr. Jackson, what all the trouble in the north hasbeen about," Wilfrid asked that evening, "for I have not been able tofind out from the papers?"

  "It is a complicated question, Wilfrid. When New Zealand was firstcolonized the natives were very friendly. The early settlers confidentlypushed forward into the heart of native districts, bought tracts of landfrom the chiefs, and settled there. Government purchased large blocks ofland, cut off by intervening native territory from the main settlements,and sold this land to settlers without a suspicion that they werethereby dooming them to ruin. The settlers were mostly small farmers,living in rough wooden houses scattered about the country, andsurrounded by a few fields; the adjoining land is usually fern or forestheld by the natives. They fenced their fields, and turned their cattle,horses, and sheep at large in the open country outside these fences,paying rent to the natives for the privilege of doing so.

  "This led to innumerable quarrels. The native plantations of wheat,potatoes, or maize are seldom fenced in, and the cattle of the settlerssometimes committed much devastation among them; for the Maori fieldswere often situated at long distances from their villages, and thecattle might, therefore, be days in their patches before they were foundout. On the other hand, the gaunt long-legged Maori pigs, which wanderover the country picking up their own living, were constantly gettingthrough the settlers' fences, rooting up their potatoes, and doing allsorts of damage.

  "In these cases the settlers always had the worst of the quarrel. Theyeither had no weapons, or, being isolated in the midst of the natives,dared not use them; while the Maoris, well armed and numerous, wouldcome down waving their tomahawks and pointing their guns, and thesettlers, however much in the right, were forced to give way. Thenatural result was that the colonists were continually smarting under asense of wrong, while the Maoris grew insolent and contemptuous, andwere filled with an overweening confidence in their own powers, theresult of the patience and enforced submission of the settlers. Theauthority of the queen over the natives has always been a purely nominalone. There was indeed a treaty signed acknowledging her government, butas none of the chiefs put their name to this, and the men who signedwere persons of inferior rank with no authority whatever to speak forthe rest, the treaty was not worth the paper on which it was written.

  "The Maoris from the first exhibited a great desire for education. Theyestablished numerous schools in their own districts and villages; inmost cases accepted nominally if not really the Christian religion, andstudied history with a good deal of intelligence. Some of them read thatthe Romans conquered England by making roads everywhere through theisland, and the natives therefore determined that no roads should beconstructed through their lands, and every attempt on the part ofgovernment to carry roads beyond the lands it had bought from them wasresisted so firmly and angrily that the attempt had to be abandoned. Thenatives were well enough aware that behind the despised settlers was thepower of England, and that if necessary a numerous army could be sentover, but they relied absolutely upon their almost impassable swamps,their rivers, forests, and mountains.

  "Here they thought they could maintain themselves against any force thatmight be sent against them, and relying upon this they became more andmore insolent and overbearing, and for some time before the outbreak in1860 every one saw that sooner or later the storm would burst, and thematter have to be fought out until either we were driven from the islandor the natives became thoroughly convinced of their inability to opposeus.

  "At first the natives had sold their land willingly, but as the numberof the European settlers increased they became jealous of them, andevery obstacle was thrown in the way of land sales by the chiefs.Disputes were constantly arising owing to the fact that the absoluteownership of land was very ill defined, and perhaps a dozen or morepersons professed to have claims of some sort or other on each piece ofland, and had to be individually settled with before the sale could beeffected. When as it seemed all was satisfactorily concluded, freshclaimants would arise, and disputes were therefore of constantoccurrence, for there were no authorities outside the principalsettlements to enforce obedience to the law.

  "Even in Auckland itself the state of things was almost unbearable.Drunken Maoris would indulge in insolent and riotous behaviour in thestreet; for no native could be imprisoned without the risk of war, andwith the colonists scattered about all over the country the risk was toogreat to be run. In addition to the want of any rule or authority toregulate the dealings of the natives with the English, there wereconstant troubles between the native tribes.

  "Then began what is called the king movement. One of the tribes invitedothers to join in establishing a central authority, who would at onceput a stop to these tribal feuds and enforce something like law andorder, and they thought that having a king of their own would improvetheir condition--would prevent land from being sold to the whites and bea protection to the people at large, and enable them to hold their ownagainst the settlers. Several of the tribes joined in this movement.Meetings were held in various parts in imitation of the colonialassemblies. The fruit of much deliberation was that a chief namedPotatau, who was held in the highest esteem, not only by the tribes ofWaikato, but throughout the whole island, as one of the greatest oftheir warriors and wisest of their chiefs, was chosen as king.

  "The movement excited much apprehension in Auckland and the othersettlements, for it was plain that if the Maoris were governed by oneman and laid aside their mutual enmities they would become extremelyformidable. At the great meeting that was held, the Bishop of NewZealand, the head of the Wesleyan body, and several other missionarieswere present, and warned the Maoris of the dangers that would arise fromthe course they were taking.

  "The warning was in vain, and Potatau was chosen king. Mr. Fenton, agovernment official, went on a tour among the natives. He found thatthere was still what was called a queen's party, but the king's partywas very much the strongest. For two years, however, things went onsomewhat as before, and it
was not until 1860, when a quarrel arose oversome land in the province of Taranaki, that troubles fairly began. Inthis district a chief named Wiremu-Kingi had established a sort of landleague, and given notice to the governor that he would not permit anymore land to be sold in the district. A native named Teira, who ownedsome land at Waiteira, offered it for sale to the government. Afterexamining his title, and finding that it was a valid one, the land waspurchased.

  "In the spring of 1860 the governor tried to take possession.Wiremu-Kingi forcibly resisted, the troops were called out, and warbegan. Wiremu-Kingi had unquestionably certain rights on Teira's land,for he and his tribe were amicably settled upon it, had built houses,and were making plantations; but of these facts the government wereignorant when they bought the land. Wiremu-Kingi at once joined the kingmovement, from which he had previously stood aloof. A meeting was heldat the Waikato. Chief Wiremu-Kingi and Mr. M'Lean, the native secretary,both addressed the meeting, and Potatau and many of the chiefs were ofopinion that the English had acted fairly in the case. Many of theyounger chiefs, however, took the part of the Taranaki natives, andmarched away and joined them.

  "Unfortunately, in the first fight that took place, our troops weredriven back in an attack upon a pah, and the news of this success sofired the minds of all the fighting men of the Waikato, and neighbouringtribes, that they flocked down to Taranaki and joined in plundering thedeserted homes of the settlers, and in the attacks upon the troops.Potatau and his council did all they could to stop their men from going,but the desire to distinguish themselves and to take part in thevictories over the Pakehas, which is what the natives call the whites,were too strong for them. In the midst of all this turmoil Potatau died,and his son Matu-Taera was made king.

  "In the fighting that went on in Taranaki discipline and training soonbegan to make themselves felt. The troops in the colony were largelyreinforced, and pah after pah were captured. The war went on. But thoughEnglish regiments with a strong force of artillery were engaged in it,it cannot be said that the natives have been conquered, and GeneralCameron, who came out and assumed the command, found the task beforehim a very difficult one.

  "There was for a time a pause in hostilities when Sir George Grey cameout as governor in the place of Governor Brown, but the nativesrecommenced hostilities by a treacherous massacre near New Plymouth, andfighting began again at once.

  "The native pah near the Katikara river was attacked by a column ofinfantry with artillery, and shelled by the guns of a ship of war, andthe Maoris were driven out of a position that they believed impregnable.The Waikatos now rose and murdered and plundered many of the settlers,and a force marched for the first time into their country, carried aformidable pah at Koheroa, and, although unprovided with artillery,defeated the Maoris in a fight in the thick bush. The very formidableposition at Merimeri, which lay surrounded by swamps near the Waikatoriver, was next captured, although held by eleven hundred Maoris, led bytheir great chief Wiremu-Tamehana, called by the missionaries WilliamThompson.

  "The next attack was upon a strongly-fortified position at Rangiriri,lying between the Waikato river and Waikare lake. This was successful,and the nation were next thrashed at Rangiawhia, at Kaitake, on the 25thof last March. Thus, you see, in almost all of these fights we succeededin capturing the enemy's pah or in defeating them if they fought in theopen. Unfortunately, although these engagements showed the natives thatin fair fighting they were no match for our troops, they have donelittle more. When their pahs were captured they almost invariablymanaged to make their way through the dense bush, and it can scarcely besaid that we do more than hold the ground occupied by our soldiers. Andso matters still go on. The fighting has been confined to the Taranakiand Auckland provinces, and we may hope that it will go no further."

  "Well, it is quite evident," Mr. Renshaw said, "that neither the Waikatocountry nor Taranaki are fit places for quiet people to settle at thepresent time, and I suppose the northern part of Wellington is not muchbetter?"

  "No, I cannot say it is," Mr. Jackson said. "The Wanganui tribe on theriver of that name are in alliance with the Taranaki people, and havejoined them in fighting against us, and I believe that General Cameronwill shortly undertake a campaign against them. I should strongly adviseyou to turn your attention to the eastern side of this province, or tothe province of Hawke Bay, higher up, where they have had no troublewhatever, and where, as you know, our friends the Mitfords are settled."

  "What is this that I have heard about a new religion that has beenstarted among the Maoris?"

  "There is but little known about it, and if it were not that should thisreligion spread it will add to our difficulties, no one would thinkanything about it one way or the other. There was a fellow named Te Ua,who had always been looked upon as a harmless lunatic. No doubt he is alunatic still, though whether he will be harmless remains to be seen.However, he some little time ago gave out that the archangel Michael,the angel Gabriel, and hosts of minor spirits visited him and gave himpermission to preach a new religion, and bestowed on him great power.

  "The religion was to be called Pai Marire, which interpreted literallymeans good and peaceful; and it is also called Hau-Hau, the meaning ofwhich is obscure, but it is a special word of power that Te Ua professesto have specially received from the angel Gabriel. As far as we havebeen able to learn the Hau-Haus have no special belief or creed, exceptthat their leader has a divine mission, and that all he says is to beimplicitly obeyed. Certainly the religion has spread quickly among thetribes, and has latterly taken the form of hostility to us. Still, wemay hope that it will soon die out. It is said that Te Ua has told hisfollowers that they are invulnerable, but if they try conclusions withus they will very speedily find that he has deceived them, and are notlikely to continue their belief in him."

  "Then the colonists themselves, Mr. Jackson, have taken but little sharein the fighting so far?"

  "Oh, yes, they have. There have been several corps of Rangers which havedone capital service. The corps led by Majors Atkinson, Von Tempsky, andM'Donnell have done great service, and are far more dreaded by thenatives than are the slow-moving regular troops. They fight the nativesin their own manner--make raids into their country and attack theirpositions at night, and so much are they dreaded that the natives invillages in their vicinity are in the habit of leaving their huts atnight and sleeping in the bush lest they should be surprised by theiractive enemy. The general opinion among us colonists is that tencompanies like Von Tempsky's would do a great deal more than ten Britishregiments towards bringing the matter to a conclusion.

  "In the first place, the officers and troops of the regular army cannotbring themselves to regard the natives with the respect they deserve asfoes. Their movements are hampered by the necessity of a complicatedsystem of transport. Their operations, accompanied as they are byartillery and a waggon train, are slow in the extreme, and do what theywill the natives always slip through their hands. The irregular corps,on the other hand, thoroughly appreciate the activity and bravery of theMaoris. They have lived among them, and know their customs and ways.They have suffered from the arrogance and insolence of the nativesbefore the outbreak of the war, and most of them have been ruined by thedestruction of their farms and the loss of years of patient labour. Thusthey fight with a personal feeling of enmity against their foes, andneither fatigue nor danger is considered by them if there is a chance ofinflicting a blow upon their enemy. I am convinced that at last theimperial government will be so disgusted at the failure of the troops tobring the war to a conclusion, and at the great expense and loss of lifeentailed by the operations, that they will recall the regulars and leavethe colonists to manage the affair themselves, in which case I have nofear whatever as to their bringing it to a prompt conclusion. Looking atthe matter from a business point of view, there is no doubt, Mr.Renshaw, that those who, like yourself, come out at the present timewill benefit considerably. You will get land at a quarter the price youwould have had to pay for it had it not been for thes
e troubles, and assoon as the war is over the tide of emigration will set in again morestrongly than before, and land will go to prices far exceeding thosethat ruled before the outbreak began."

  Upon the following morning Mr. Atherton and Wilfrid embarked in theschooner. They had been furnished by Mr. Jackson with a number ofletters of introduction to settlers in every district they were tovisit. "These will really only be of use to you in the small towns," hesaid, "for in the country districts every house is open, and you havegenerally only to ride up to a door, put up your horses, and walk in,and you are almost sure to meet with a hearty welcome. Still, as you arenew-comers, and have not rubbed off your old country ideas, it will bemore pleasant for you to take letters. At the ports, such as they are,you may really find them useful, for you will not find any inns. You canstrike out anywhere into the back country without the least fear ofbeing inconvenienced by natives."

  The two friends spent a pleasant fortnight touching at the settlements,situated for the most part at the mouths of the rivers, and spending thetime the vessel remained there in short excursions into the interior.They were most pleased with the Wairarapa Valley, running up fromPalliser Bay; but this being near Wellington the land was all taken up,and there were many flourishing villages and small towns.

  "This is very nice," Wilfrid said, "but the price of land is far toohigh for us, and we might almost as well have taken to farming inEngland."

  The eastern coast of the province was dotted by little settlements,lying for the most part at the mouths of small rivers, and several ofthese offered favourable facilities for settlement. Passing on, theyfound that the coast was bolder along the province of Hawke Bay. Theystopped at Clive, at the mouth of the bay, for a day or two, and went upthe Tukataki river in a canoe to the town of Waipawa. But here theyfound the farms thick and land comparatively expensive. They left theschooner at Napier, the chief town of the province, and after makingseveral excursions here went up in a coasting craft to the mouth of theriver Mohaka, which runs into the sea a short distance to the south ofthe boundary line between Hawke Bay and the province of Auckland. A fewmiles up this river was the farm of Mr. Mitford. Hiring a boat theyproceeded up the river, and landed in front of the comfortable-lookingfarmhouse of the settler.

  Mr. Mitford, seeing strangers approaching, at once came down to meetthem, and received them with the greatest cordiality as soon as he sawwho they were.

  "I am heartily glad to see you!" he exclaimed, "and the girls will bedelighted. They have been wondering ever since we got here when youwould arrive. You have not, I hope, fixed upon any land yet, for theyhave set their heart upon your settling down as our neighbours. This isas pretty a valley as there is in the island, and you will have nodifficulty in getting land at the lowest government price. There beingno settlement of any size at the mouth of the river has deterredemigrants from coming here to search for land. But we can talk aboutthat afterwards. Come straight up to the house. I will send down one ofmy native boys to bring up your baggage."

  They spent a very pleasant evening at the farmhouse. Mr. Mitford owned aconsiderable extent of land, and was doing very well. He reared cattleand horses, which he sent down for sale to Wellington. The house waslarge and comfortable, and bore signs of the prosperity of its owner.The girls were delighted at the place. They had been left in care ofrelatives at home when their father and mother came out six years beforeto settle in New Zealand, and everything was as new to them as toWilfrid. They had taken to riding as soon as they arrived, and hadalready made excursions far up the valley with their father.

  "We were at a place yesterday, Wilfrid," the eldest girl said, "that weagreed would suit your father admirably. It is about ten miles up theriver. It was taken up only last year, father says, by a youngEnglishman, who was going to make a home for someone he was engaged toin England. A few days since he was killed by a tree he was cutting downfalling upon him. He lived twenty-four hours after the accident, andfather rode out to him when he heard of it. He directed him to sell theland for whatever it would fetch, and to send the money over to England.There are two hundred acres on the river and a comfortable log hut,which could of course be enlarged. He had about fifteen acres clearedand cultivated. The scenery is beautiful, much prettier than it is here,with lots of lovely tree-ferns; and there are many open patches, sothat more land can be cleared for cultivation easily. Mabel and I agreedwhen we rode over there two days ago that it would be just the place foryou."

  "It sounds first-rate," Wilfrid said; "just the sort of place that willsuit us."

  "But how about me, Miss Mitford?" Mr. Atherton asked. "Have you had myinterest at heart as well as those of Wilfrid and his people?"

  "You can take up the next bit of land above it," Mr. Mitford said."Langston's was the last settlement on the river, so you can take up anypiece of land beyond it at the government upset price, and do as muchfishing and shooting as you like, for I hear from my daughters that youare not thinking of permanently settling here, but are only a bird ofpassage. Anyhow, it would not be a bad investment for you to buy aconsiderable acreage, for as soon as the troubles are over there is sureto be a rush of emigration; and there are very few places now where landis to be had on a navigable river, so that when you are tired of thelife you will be able to sell out at considerable profit."

  "It sounds tempting, Mr. Mitford, and I will certainly have a look atthe ground. How much would this piece of land be of Mr. Langston's?"

  "The poor fellow told me to take anything that I could get. He said heknew that at present it was very difficult to sell land, as no newsettlers were coming out, and that he should be very glad if I get whathe gave for it, which was ten shillings an acre, and to throw in theimprovements he had made; so that a hundred pounds would buy it all. Ireally don't think that Mr. Renshaw could do better if he looked allthrough the island. With a cow or two, a pen of pigs, and a score or twoof fowls, he would practically be able to live on his land from the hourhe settled there."

  Wilfrid was greatly pleased at the idea. He knew that his father andmother had still eight hundred pounds untouched; two hundred pounds,together with the proceeds of his mother's trinkets and jewels, and thesale of the ponies and pony carriage, which had been her own property,having sufficed to pay for the passage of themselves and their twolabourers, and for all expenses up to the time of their arrival atWellington. "If we could get another piece of two hundred acresadjoining it at the same price, I think my father would like to takeit," he said; "it would give more room for horses and cattle to graze.Of course we should not want it at first; but if as we got on we wantedmore land, and had neighbours all round us and could not get it, itwould be a nuisance."

  "I agree with you," Mr. Mitford said. "Two hundred acres is more thanyou want if you are going to put it under the plough; it is not enoughif you are going to raise cattle and horses. I should certainlyrecommend you to take up another two hundred. The next land on this sideis still vacant. Poor Langston chose the spot because it happened to beparticularly pretty, with an open glade down to the river, but the landfor fully two miles on this side is unoccupied. You can get it at tenshillings an acre at present. I will see about it for you if you make upyour mind after seeing Langston's place, to take it."

  "Of course I cannot settle it by myself, sir, not absolutely. I can onlyrecommend it to my father as the best place that I have seen. If it isas you describe it they will be delighted."

  "Well, we will ride over to-morrow and have a look at it. The onlypossible objection I have is loneliness; but that will improve in time;the natives here are perfectly peaceful, and we have never had theslightest trouble with them."

  "We are a good large party to begin with, you see," Wilfrid said."Having the two men with us will take away the feeling of loneliness,especially if Mr. Atherton decides upon taking the piece of land next tous. Then there are the two Allens who came out with us. I promised towrite and tell them if I found any nice place; and they saidparticularly that they wanted ground on a river if
they could get it, asthey are fond of boating and fishing, and fancied that if there wereother farms round that they could, until their own place paid, help tokeep themselves by taking their neighbours' crops down to market."

  "Yes, it might pay if they got a large flat-boat capable of carryingcargo; but as far as light goods, letters, and groceries from town areconcerned, the Indians could do it cheaper in their canoes. However, atpresent there is no market for them to come down to. I keep what I calla grocery store for the benefit of the two or three score of settlersthere are on the river. I do not make any profit out of the matter, buteach season get a hogshead or two of sugar, a couple of tons of flour,some barrels of molasses, a few chests of tea, and an assortment of oddsand ends, such as pickles, &c., with a certain amount of rum andwhisky, and sell them at the price they stand me in at. I do not knowwhat they would do without it here. I only open the store on the firstMonday of each month, and they then lay in what stores they require, soit gives me very little trouble. I generally take produce in return. Mybills run on until they get up to the value of something a customerwants to sell--a horse, or two or three dozen sheep. That suits me justas well as money, as I send a cargo off to Wellington every two or threemonths.

  "In time no doubt a settlement will spring up somewhere near the mouthof the river, and we shall have a trader or two establishing themselvesthere; but at present I am the purveyor of the district, and manage mostof the business of the settlers in the way of buying and selling atWellington. So, you see, if you establish yourself here you will have nochoice but to appoint me your grocer."

  Wilfrid laughed. "It will be a great advantage to us to be able to getour things so close at hand. I was wondering how people did in the backsettlements."

  "They generally send their drays every two or three months down to thenearest store, which may, of course, be fifty miles off, or even more.Here, fortunately, you will not be obliged at first to have a dray, butcan send any produce you have to sell down by water, which is a farcheaper and more convenient mode of carriage. You will not have much tosend for some time, so that will not trouble you at present."

  "Oh, no. We shall be quite content if we can live on the produce of ourfarm for the next year or two," Wilfrid laughed.

  "It is," Mr. Mitford said, "an immense advantage to settlers when theyhave sufficient funds to carry them on for the first two or three years,because in that case they gain the natural increase of their animalsinstead of having to sell them off to pay their way. It is wonderful howa flock of sheep or a herd of cattle will increase if there is noselling. You may take it that under favourable circumstances a herd ofcattle will nearly double itself every two years, allowing, of course, alarge proportion of the bull calves to be sold off as soon as theyarrive at maturity. Sheep will increase even faster. If you can dowithout selling, you will be surprised, if you start with say fiftysheep or ten cows, in how short a time you will have as many animals asyour land will carry."

  "But what are we to do then, sir?"

  "Well, you will then, providing the country has not in the meantimebecome too thickly settled, pay some small sum to the natives for theright of grazing your cattle on their unoccupied ground. They cultivatea mere fraction of the land. In this way you can keep vastly largerherds than your own ground could carry. However, it is time to beturning in for the night. To-morrow we will start the first thing afterbreakfast to inspect Langston's land."