| Our Empire Story|
|by H. E. Marshall|
|Vivid and picturesque account of the principal events in the building of the British Empire. Traces the development of the British colonies from days of discovery and exploration through settlement and establishment of government. Includes stories of the five chief portions of the Empire: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and India. Ages 10-16 |
THE HAU HAUS AND TE KOOTI
 NOW at last the war seemed ended. Many chiefs yielded,
giving up their lands in token of submission. Sir
George Grey kept one quarter of them as punishment for
rebellion. The rest he returned.
But meanwhile new trouble had arisen. A wicked and wily
native priest had begun to preach a new religion to the
people. This new religion was called Hau Hau, because
this priest told the people, that if they went into
battle shouting Hau Hau, the angel Gabriel would
protect them, and they would overcome all their
enemies. He also said that the religion of the white
people was a religion of lies, and that he had been
told in a vision that in the year 1864 all the white
people would be swept out of New Zealand.
Although few of the great chiefs followed the Hau Haus,
many of the common people did. They did many wild and
horrible deeds. Now here, now there, fighting broke
out, and so although peace was proclaimed, the land was
not really at rest.
The Hau Haus were not gallant and generous foes as the
Maoris usually were. They were treacherous and cruel,
and their own countrymen often waged war against them.
They were driven about from place to place. Many were
killed, and many were taken prisoner and sent to the
Chatham Islands, which the government had begun to use
as a sort of prison-house.
 Among the friendly Maoris who helped the British was a
young chief called Te Kooti. Now suddenly he was
accused of being a traitor. He was seized, and without
trial of any kind he was shipped off to the Chatham
Islands. There was never any good reason for believing
Te Kooti to be false. When Sir George Grey seized Te
Rauparaha because he thought he was false, what
followed proved that he was right. Only evil followed
from the seizing of Te Kooti.
Upon the Chatham Islands there were about three hundred
Maori prisoners, most of them Hau Haus. For two years
they behaved very well, for they had been told that if
they were good they would then be set free and allowed
to return home. But the two years came to an end, there
was no sign of freedom, and they began to grow
They longed to escape, and one day a ship called the
Rifleman came to the islands with a cargo of food. Here
they saw their chance. Te Kooti was their leader, and
quickly he made his plans. Two boatloads of Maoris
rowed out to the ship. They swarmed on deck, and almost
before any one knew what was happening, the ship was in
their hands. All the guards were gagged and bound, only
one man being killed in the struggle.
Then Te Kooti took command. He gathered the crew
together and ordered them to steer for New Zealand. If
they refused, he threatened to shoot them all.
And so the Rifleman sailed away, carrying every
prisoner and all the guns and ammunition to be found on
Beside the helmsman stood a Maori armed with gun and
sword. Night and day Maori sentries paced the deck. The
crew had no choice but to obey their new masters. And
so they sailed until they reached Poverty Bay.
 Here the Maoris landed, took possession of all the
cargo, and told the crew of the Rifleman that they
might now go where they liked, as they had no further
use for them.
Soon the news of the escape of the Chatham Island
prisoners, and of their landing at Poverty Bay reached
Wellington, and a force set out to retake the runaways.
But Te Kooti was a warrior. He had plenty of guns and
ammunition, and again and again the British troops fell
back before him. From his forest fastnesses Te Kooti
flung defiance at the foe. But in the wild hills where
he had taken refuge there was little food to be had.
Soon the provisions taken from the Rifleman were all
done. Te Kooti and his men were starving.
Then all the savage awoke in them, and they swept like
hungry wolves down upon the peaceful settlers of
Poverty Bay, and slaughtered them all unresisting in
their beds. Men, women, and children, none were spared.
With fire and sword they blotted out the settlement,
scarce a soul escaping to tell the tale.
A thrill of horror ran through the country when the
news was spread. Quickly a force was gathered and sent
against the daring chieftain. But he, safe in a
fastness perched upon a rock two thousand feet high,
with rugged cliffs and wild gorges all around, defied
every attempt to take him.
At length, however, with the help of a native chief
called Ropata, who had won great renown as a soldier,
the pah was one night surrounded.
The besiegers made sure that the next day they would
seize their prey. But during the night Te Kooti and his
band escaped, sliding down the almost sheer precipice
and fleeing to the wilds.
Then in the morning, when it was found that the pah
empty, the chase began and was pitilessly pursued. Many
of the Hau Haus were killed, many more were taken
prisoner, and they, as soon as they were led before
their conquerors, were mercilessly shot, and their
bodies thrown over the steep cliffs. Many others died
among the lonely mountains, but Te Kooti, wounded,
half-starved, weary and desperate, escaped.
With a few faithful followers he wandered for two years
a wretched exile. With the price of £5000 upon his
head, he was hunted and hounded. Living on fern root,
often near death from hunger, he at length gave himself
up, was pardoned, and henceforth lived in peace.
All this fighting took place in North Island. In the
meantime South Island was at peace, growing daily
richer and greater. And in 1871 peace came to North
Island too, and since then there have been no more
In 1864 the Parliament had been moved from Auck≠land to
Wellington, Wellington being nearly in the centre of
the islands, and so more suitable. In 1868 an Act was
passed by which Maori members sat in Parliament as well
as white people, and that helped to sweep away many
differences. The old days of fighting and
misunderstand≠ing are, we hope, gone for ever, and now
Maori and Briton live and work side by side. For
although of the eighty members of Parliament only four
are Maori, every man and woman, over the age of
twenty-one, whether Maori or white, has a vote.
In the last thirty-five years many things have happened
in New Zealand—things which will be more interesting to
you later on. New Zealand has grown and grown, and, in
1907, it was declared no longer a colony but a
dominion. Like Canada it is a confederation of
self-governing states. It has its own Parliament and
Law Courts, yet remains a part of the British Empire.
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