Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/63

The following narrative of the Maori massacre was published in the Auckland Herald. It was written by a Canterbury resident, in reply to a tale told by John Marmon, a celebrated “Pakeha Maori,” whose history of the affair was published in the northern capital. The compiler of these stories gives it space here, because he wishes to place before his readers everything that is known on the subject:—

“In your weekly issue of Jan. 20, I notice your comments on one of the most shocking stories in Maori history, as told by the late John Marmon, and which you believe to be substantially accurate. You further state that Captain Stewart, the well-known discoverer of Stewart’s Island, New Zealand, was master of the vessel that took Te Rauparaha and his party to Banks Peninsula, and that his name will always be infamous for his connection with the atrocious massacre there. In justice to the memory of the dead, I feel it my duty to correct your statement, and not to allow the name of one of our earliest pioneers to be handed down to posterity in connection with that sad affair.

“Now, sir, Captain Stewart, the well-known discoverer of Stewart’s Island, and Captain Stewart, master of the brig Elizabeth, were not one and the same person. The former was for many years master of a trading and sealing vessel, sailing out of the port of Sydney. In one of his sealing expeditions he discovered the island which now bears his name. In his old age he retired from the sea, and took up his abode with an old friend, a Mr Harris, of Poverty Bay, with whom he lived until the day of his death, which occurred in the year 1843 or 1844, He was a man much respected, and on his visits to