TREATMENT OF PRISONERS — PROPHETIC — RIFLEMAN — REVOLT — FOOD FOR
THE FISHES — WHAREONGAONGA — A GENEROUS SEAMAN — WELLINGTON.
It has been shewn that the Hauhau prisoners were considerately
treated on their arrival at the Chatham Islands. But few and trifling
restrictions were imposed upon their movements from the first;
gradually even those restrictions were withdrawn, and they were always
allowed to communicate with the main land. Moreover, a promise had been
given, contingent on their good behaviour, that they would be permitted
to return home at a specified period, which the writer understands
to have been two years. In letters written by the exiles to their
relatives in Poverty Bay, constant mention is made of the kind way in
which they were treated.
By-and-by the small guard of 25 men was reduced to 15. This was
ordered by Ministers from pitiful motives of economy. Mr. Stafford had
promised to save £240,000, a sum which will perhaps be added to the
heavy burdens of the colony before the subsequent mischief that ensued
has been repaired. However, the reduction of the small guard most
likely caused the prisoners to meditate an early escape, and a leader
was soon found capable of executing the project.
In September, 1867, a waiata or poem was composed by Te Kooti, the
burden of which was to the effect that Te Kooti was inspired and a
prophet, and he appears to have been accepted as such by his brother
Hauhaus without question. Being sent to prison for practising Hauhau
rites, he affected, after his discharge, to have been delivered by the
angel Gabriel. He was a man originally of no importance, and bore a
bad character in Poverty Bay as a thief and drunkard.
By the end of June, 1868, Te Kooti appears to have matured his plans.
All the prisoners had become privy to the intended escape, which three
of them declined to share. Information was even forwarded by a settler
to Captain Thomas, the Resident Magistrate, of which he took no notice.
On the 3rd July, the schooner Rifleman arrived at the Chathams; on the
4th, the prisoners rose upon the guard, and clove the skull of the only
one who offered resistance. The prisoners next secured the Resident
Magistrate, the guard, and the male European residents, but left the
women and children uninjured and free; they then boarded the Rifleman,
and imprisoned the crew—her captain was on shore. On the afternoon of
the same day, the prisoners, 187 in number, shipped their women and
children. They next plundered the island, cut the cable of the only
other vessel at the Chathams, in order to prevent pursuit, and set
sail for Poverty Bay on the 5th July—to which place the mate of the
Rifleman said he was compelled to navigate them on pain of death.
During the voyage, armed guards paraded the deck day and night, the
crew were forbidden to cook, and a sentry with a drawn cutlass stood
by the man at the wheel, to see the right course was kept. On the 9th,
when in sight of New Zealand, Te Kooti ordered his uncle to be thrown
overboard. The victim was one of the three prisoners who had objected
to the escape and informed the authorities. He had been secured by
Te Kooti before leaving the Chathams: revenge was the motive for the
murder. The Rifleman arrived at Whareongaonga, six miles south of
Turanganui, on the evening of the 10th. That night and the following
day were occupied in landing the cargo, women and children, and
everything portable: finally, two casks of water were shipped for the
use of the Rifleman’s crew, and the mate was told to go where he liked.
At this time the wind blew fair for Turanganui, six miles distant,
and it is noteworthy that, with a head wind, the Rifleman sailed
for Wellington, 250 miles distant, leaving the inhabitants of an
unprotected district to the mercy of a band of desperadoes who had
committed two murders.