Page:Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand.pdf/39

Mr. John Flatt.

What was the Extent?

It was very small.

Did the Natives encroach upon that Part which was purchased?

Not at all. We suffered a Native of the Name of Ngakuku to plant upon it, to plant a Part with Kumara Potatoes (Potatoes termed sweet by Europeans), and Maize; he was employed on the Station as well.

When you had made the Agreement with the native Servants to work for you, how many Hours work did they perform in a Day?

They worked Eight Hours a Day.

Receiving from you Potatoes for Food and some little Articles in the Nature of Wages?

Yes. When we paid them monthly, they received nothing except their Food in the Week, except Tobacco and Pipes.

How many Englishmen were there at Matamata at the Time you were in the Country?

The Reverend A. N. Brown, Mrs. Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, myself, Mr. Clementson, and James Farrow, making Seven.

During the Time you were there, being a small Body, were you at all injured or annoyed by the Natives?

I received no personal Injury, but I was stripped once of every thing; I was robbed.

At what Period of your Residence was that?

The 19th of October 1836.

How did that occur?

Previous to that, Waharoa the Chief took a large Party over to Rotorua, where there is a large Lake; but it was on account of a Relation of his having been killed at that Lake in consequence of a Circumstance which occurred in that Place, which was Adultery; they could not secure the Adulterer, and they took the nearest Relation to him, which happened to be a distant Relation of the head Chief of Matamata (Waharoa). Waharoa took a large Party over; he went off, it is said , with the Intention to go to this Lake, but finding he was not sufficiently strong he went to Makatu on the Seacoast instead of going to the Lake; they altered their Minds and went to the Bay of Plenty. They arrived at Makatu the Beginning of 1836, and cut off this small Tribe, Thirty in Number, for Payment of this single Offence; and they stripped Mr. Tapstall, the Agent for some Gentlemen in Sydney,—I think Messrs. Jones,—who was employed in purchasing Flax; he had just received a large Quantity of Goods from Sydney, consisting of Blankets, Powder, Guns, Axes, Flour, Bullets, Razors, Knives, and various other Articles, amounting altogether to 1,500l. After this Party had destroyed, that is to say killed, all the fighting Men, the whole Tribe at Makatu, they remained quiet for that Day. They stripped Mr. Tapstall on the following Day; then they returned home to Matamata, where I was living. I saw them upon their Return. They then prepared for an Attack from Rotorua, which was connected with the Party which they had just destroyed. Nothing occurred for some few Days, until they heard that the Party at Rotorua had been to the Tuma, a native Fortification on the Seacoast, and cut off Sixty Natives, who were connected with the Party of Waharoa, and eat that Part of their Bodies which is their native Custom to eat; it is native Custom to eat their Enemies killed in Battle, and only their Enemies. They attacked them at Break of Day, in the Morning; 200 made their Attack in Front of the Fortification, and 400 more remained at some little Distance; as soon as the 200 drew the Attention of the Natives to the front Part of the Fortification the others rushed in immediately upon them, and killed all that could not make their Escape. Waharoa, in return, got up a large Party at Waikata, including his own, and proceeded to the Lake at Rotorua, and he remained there Two Days before he could make the Attack. Then Waharoa planned a Scheme by fixing 100 Natives on each Side of a long Hill, with a Footpath upon the Ridge. Waharoa fixed them, with their Guns loaded, and then sent a Challenge to the Fortification outside of the Lake. They had another Fortification on the Island to retire to in case they were beaten. Waharoa sent a