"Then Williams spoke, and at the close of his speech a fine man in a piupiu (flax waist-mat) orated, and then came forward to hongi (rub noses) with me. After which there was a little fraternisation, and we came away. Even old Kātené looked very white while the row was on, but I did not know enough to be scared. It was a narrow escape; I, of course, know now what I did not know then. I thought at the time Titokowaru was protecting me, but I think now he was making sure that I did not get away."
Titokowaru died at his village near Manaia, on the Waimate Plains—the scene of his olden battles against the whites—towards the end of 1889. To the end he was a sturdy enemy of the Europeans, and though he did not actually fight against them after 1869, he was the leader in many obstructive movements against white settlement, surveying, and road-making.
REWARD FOR TITOKOWARU'S HEAD
Under address and date Downing Street, February 26th, 1869, the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G., Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote to Sir George F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., Governor of New Zealand:
"I see it stated in the newspapers that you have offered a reward of £1,000 for the person of the Maori chief Titokowaru—I infer alive or dead—and £5 for the person of every Maori rebel brought in alive. I do not at present pronounce any opinion as to the propriety of these steps, but I must observe that they are so much at variance with the usual laws of war, and appear, at first sight, so much calculated to exasperate and extend hostilities, that they ought to have been reported to me by you officially with the requisite explanation, which I should now be glad to receive."
In the course of his reply to this despatch Governor Bowen said:
"It is contended that this passage implies that the Maoris now in arms ... are foreign enemies, or at all events belligerents, with whom the usual laws of war must be strictly observed."
On this, Earl Granville remarked in a despatch of November 4th:
"I think you would have done well to point out to those who thus argue that my despatch nowhere hints that the Maoris are foreigners, a doctrine which I had never heard of before I perused the Attorney-General's opinion; and that the legitimate inference from my despatch is the direct contrary to that which is drawn from it.... I do not clearly understand how you justify this notice as a matter of law. I understand you to disclaim the application of martial law; and viewing Titokowaru merely as a notorious, but untried and unconvicted rebel and murderer, I am not aware of any Colonial enactment which would make it lawful for any chance person to shoot him down."