120
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Letter of Proceedings.

H.M.S. "Eclipse," at Auckland, N.Z.,
18th March, 1865.

SIR,—In compliance with your orders I left
Auckland at 5.20 p.m., on the 10th instant, and
anchored off Tauranga at 10 a.m. the next morning.
The N.W. gale rapidly moderated after we had left,
and since then we have had fine clear weather, to
which we are greatly indebted for the successful ter-
mination of our cruize, as it would otherwise have
been impossible to communicate with the numerous
places on the coast, at which we were enabled to pro-
cure information.

Having communicated with Colonel Greer, and
procured instructions from him (and Mr. Rice as
Interpreter), at 5 p.m. we left for Poverty Bay, in-
tending to call at Kawa Kawa on our way. At
11.20 a.m., on Sunday the 12th instant, we anchored
in Kawa Kawa roads, and communicated with the
natives. We got little information from them, as
they seemed more than half believers in Pai Marireism,
but we heard the same report that was current in
Auckland, to the effect that the main body of
murderers who had killed Mr. Volkner, were gone on
to Poverty Bay. At 1.45 p.m. we sailed for Poverty
Bay, arriving there at daylight on the 13th. On
communicating with the shore, we ascertained that
the fanatics had actually arrived within two miles of
Bishop Williams' house, and had announced their in-
tention of celebrating their rites in his presence that
morning. Having procured horses, I rode up to
Turanga, which is nine miles from the landing-place,
accompanied by Bishop Selwyn and Mr. Rice. We
arrived there about 9.30 a.m., and found the house
surrounded by from 300 to 400 armed friendly
natives, who were dancing war-dances, yelling, and
making a noise.

The Pai Marire party had not arrived, although
they were momentarily expected, and the excitement
was at its height.

We remained there all day talking to the natives,
and Mr. Rice tried to persuade them to take Kere-
opa's party prisoners; but they were rather luke-
warm, and talked about Hori Tupaia's being given
up in exchange for Mr. Grace, saying that they were
"neutrals, and did not want to fight." At the same
time they said that they would not have their Pakehas
interfered with, and would send the Pai Marire party
back by the way they had come.

Bishop Williams appeared confident that he was
safe, and knowing that the steamer "Lady Bird"
would arrive in Poverty Bay in a day or two, we did
not feel very anxious about him; and in the evening
we returned to the ship.

We ascertained that Mr. Grace was not with the
party who murdered Mr. Volkner, but had been left
at Opotiki. I did not make out if they had Mr.
Volkner's skull with them or not, but there was a
white man with them, who might, I believe, have got
away from the party had he liked; he gave his name
as Brown, late of the 57th Regiment.

I agreed to stay till the next morning, as an endea-
vour was being made to induce the Turanga (Poverty
Bay) natives to write to Opotiki, demanding Mr.
Grace's release. The great difficulty seemed to be
that they always insisted on saying that Hori Tupaia
should be exchanged for Mr. Grace, and for this pur-
pose they wanted us to go and fetch him from
Tauranga. We were of course anxious to avoid any
delay of this sort, or making any terms with mur-
derers, which would have tended to compromise the
Government.

At 11 a.m. on Tuesday, the 14th instant, a deputa-
tion of two Turanga natives came from Turanga with
a letter from a Runanga of Chiefs, requesting the
Opotiki natives to give Mr. Grace up; but the ob-
noxious Hori Tupaia clause had been inserted after
all. We took them on board, however, and weighed,
reaching Kawa Kawa at 9 p.m. that night, com-
municating with the shore there. At 4 a.m. on
Wednesday we sailed for Omaio, about 20 miles from
Opotiki, where we hoped to find some means of com-
municating with Mr. Grace.

At 6 a.m. we met and communicated with the
"Lady Bird," told them of our news, and found that
no further information had reached Auckland or
Tauranga relative to the prisoners at Opotiki. At
4 p.m. we reached Omaio, landed, and communicated
with some natives, who were very friendly; and one
of them promised to convey a letter to Mr. Grace,
which, however, never reached him. From Omaio
we went on to Tunapahore, only seven miles from
Opotiki, where we hoped to get further information.
No one came off, however, and about 8 p.m. I
anchored there for the night. At daylight the next
morning we weighed, and anchored close to the beach
off Opotiki at 6.45 a.m.

We saw that the "Eclipse" schooner was still in
the harbour, and at 7.30, a.m., I landed our two
Tauranga deputies (who had agreed to ask for Mr.
Grace's release unconditionally) through the surf
abreast the ship, as I thought it imprudent under the
circumstances to enter the harbour. At 8.10, a.m.,
Captain Levy, of the schooner "Eclipse," came on
board in his boat, who told us that he had just left
Mr. Grace, and that very few natives were in the
town, as they had gone into the country to celebrate
some of their Pai Marire rites, for which we could
observe them erecting flag-staffs.

I wished to go in at once with my boat's crew and
take away Mr. Grace, who was only half-a-mile from
the shore; but Bishop Selwyn was most anxious I
should not do so, as he feared that the attempt would
only result in the sacrifice of his life, should it fail,
and we thought it more prudent to communicate with
a friendly native whom we had observed meet the
Turanga natives on the beach, and endeavour to get
him to procure Mr. Grace's escape. Captain Levy
having agreed to go in and do this, at 9.30 we were
surprised and delighted to see the prisoner come off
in his boat. It turned out that he had been left
quite alone with an old woman, and as nothing pre-
vented his escape, he came down to the boat by a
back way, and quietly embarked.

I immediately despatched our cutters (manned and
armed) to tow out the schooner, which we feared
might be detained, and in a short time she was
anchored alongside of us.

Tiewai the friendly native came off in her, as he
said his life had been threatened directly Mr. Grace's
escape was discovered, and there was evidently great
excitement on shore.

Our only anxiety after this was for our Turanga
deputies, who did not come off that evening, and
Tiewai agreed to land again and look after them.
That night we had boats patrolling constantly, as we
thought it probable our friends would endeavour to
effect their escape by stealth during the darkness.

The next morning, Friday, the 17th, we observed
a large party of armed Pai Marires abreast the
ship, and we determined to endeavour to communi-
cate with them; accordingly we pulled in, with a
flag of truce flying, and remaining outside the surf,
asked for our Maori friends. After some time,
Tiewai swam on board, but there was a great hitch
about the Turanga deputies, the Opotiki people
proposing that Mr. Rice should go on shore for
them, which we, of course, would not agree to; and
having almost given them up, we were just weighing,
when they were seen to come down on the beach.
A boat was immediately sent in for them, and at 12