(57)

and the Provincial Government, a garrison was first stationed in Taranaki. By the arrival of the Ngatiruanui the friendly Natives, besieged in the Ninia, were reduced to severe straits, and Arama Karaka besought the aid of Ihaia, which was given, on the condition that the latter should receive the land at Ikamoana as the reward of his services. Shortly after a battle took place between the Ngatiruanui on the one side, and the Ninia Natives and Katatore on the other, which terminated in the defeat and retirement of the former.

After the departure of the Ngatiruanui, the belligerents, exhausted by a long continuance of hostilities were anxious to terminate the feud, and in a short time peace was apparently established, but the element of discord still existed to burst forth again with renewed vigor. Ihaia held the land at Ikamoana, the price of his assistance to the Ninia people, but his claim was not assented to by Katatore, for the land in question was the common property of the tribe, and Katatore himself was a minor claimant, and was at war with the majority when the cession was made. After the establishment of this hollow peace, Katatore, who for many years had maintained his influence by opposing the sale of land, suddenly changed his policy, and became a most enthusiastic advocate on the other side. He at once took the foremost place in the consideration of the Government, while the men who had only remained consistent were thrust aside for the new man, and the negotiations for the purchase of land, which ensued immediately on the establishment of peace, depended mainly on the influence of Katatore. Ihaia still held the land at Ikamoana. His position had not been considered in the peace made by the Puketapu family, and his war flag still flew from his pa. Several of the Ninia people, who had been adherents of Rawiri, and had fought side by side with Ihaia, now conceived the infamous project of destroying by the same blow Katatore, who had slain their relatives, and Ihaia, who had rescued them from imminent danger. They induced Ihaia to join with them in a conspiracy for the assassination of Katatore, and after the perpetration of the deed rose in arms against him. Ihaia, betrayed by his associates, maintained himself in his pa at Ikamoana for some time, but at length retreated to the home of his people at Waitara, where he was immediately besieged in the Karaka pa by the followers of Katatore, by his associates in the murder, by Wiremu Kingi and many of the Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes. The number of his opponents may be rudely estimated at 500 men, and the immediate supporters of Ihaia at 100. Ihaia in his hour of danger besought the aid of his allies in Waikato and upper Whanganui, and many bodies from those distant places have reached Waitara. Some of these people have merely endeavoured to effect a peace between the contending parties, in the interest of Ihaia; but Wiremu te Korowhiti, a Whanganui chief, is now involved in the feud by the death of a relative, who was shot by Ihaia's opponents. Ihaia has been recommended by his allies from Whanganui and Waikato to secure himself by a retreat to either of those countries, but he has refused to abandon his land. Emissaries from Potatau have likewise assailed him with importunities, but he has refused to listen to them, and says he will still rely on the justice of the Government, and is supported by the sympathy of the settlers.

A short time since, when the position of Ihaia seemed desperate, and even his principal opponent, Wiremu Kingi, had evinced a determination to slaughter without regard to sex or age the whole of the inmates of the Karaka pa, a memorial was addressed to His Excellency, praying him to rescue these unfortunate people. That memorial was responded to by the offer to remove Ihaia with his followers to the Chatham Islands, which was at once refused, for Ihaia could at any time have secured his safety by retreat to Waikato or Whanganui.

It cannot be a matter of wonder to your Honorable House, that your memorialists and the settlers have always evinced a deep interest for the welfare of those Natives, who by their efforts to sell land have been plunged into a harassing war, and have been refused the assistance of the Government. Every act of the Government has hitherto been prejudicial to them, and, had they not been upheld by the sympathy of the settlers, they would in all probability have long since succumbed to the power and the arts of their opponents; and the two bodies, united by the common feeling of race, and embittered by the mutual losses they had sustained, would have sought satisfaction by despoiling the settlers.

Ihaia, the chief now besieged in the Karaka pa, has always had most intimate relations with the settlers, and his friendly and honest character has ever gained him a foremost place in their esteem. His claims to land at Waitara are considerable, and at a time when other Natives looked with no friendly eye on the progress of the colonists, he made the most strenuous exertions to locate settlers at Waitara, but he failed in all his efforts to secure the cooperation