AN EXCITING EPISODE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2743, 23 February 1910, Page 6

AN EXCITING EPISODE.

MAORIS TO THE RESCUE. The “Sydney Daily Telegraph” recounts an exciting episode which occurred last week at Clontarf, where the Maori village, (the inhabitants of which left yesterday on their return to New Zealand) was located. A picnic was iri progress, during the course of. which three constables attempted to arrest a man for drunkenness, and were assailed by the crowd. 'What would have happened to the police had assistance not arrived from an unexpected quarter, is hard to say, but, just as ; the. mob was about to- “deal it out” to them, a blood-curdling, war-cry rang clear above the din—the Maoris had come to the rescue. Nearly a dozen stalwart warriors, who were preparing to give a liaka for the amusement of the public, rushed in full array from their village, and were soon in the thick of the fight. At first it) was uncertain which cause they intended to embrace but, much to> the relief of the police ana law-abiding citizens, all doubts were soon settled, and with many fearful cries arid bellicose gesticulations, they fought their way to the side of the guardians of the law, and formed, a cordon to protect them. Their weird cries and ferocious appearance blunted the zest for battle previously shown by the ring-leaders of the mob, who did not care to match their bottles and' other impromptu weapons against the murderous-looking granite meres which the warriors deftly wielded. At this stage the police again arrested their prisoner, and while the Maoris covered their retirement and held the crowd at bay, managed to haul him to the wharf. The wharf gates were then barricaded, and the prisoner was safely shipped to Sydney.'