BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 231, 29 September 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOYS' OWN COLUMN.

NEW ZEALAND IN THE OLDEN DAYS DEFENCE OF A CHURCH Dear Boys,— la 1863 a little church, not many miles away irom our city, was the scene of a lively skirmish. It was during the Maori War, and the settlers, under an aMe commander, who, by the way, was the only trained soldier among them, having sent their womenfolk to the city, set about defending the little white church, perched on the shoulder of a hill. There was little protection in the building itself, and a stockade was essential, so, toiling as only pioneers can, these men dragged logs from the forest and commenced their defence. It was planned that the stockade should be seven feet high, but when the logs, which were piled on their sides and spiked to uprights, had reached the somewhat insufficient height of five feet, the Maoris attacked, and the men. dropping their tools, seized rifles and stood by to defend. The Maoris, firing from the cover of the bush, which grew to within a hundred yards of the little garrison, -were urged on by a native fighting woman, one Rangi-Rumaki, who, rifle in hand, and cartridge belt strapped about her waist, raved about the battlefield yelling her fierce "Riria! iria!"—"Fight away! Fight away!" However, all her urging could not make the natives rush the stockade, for the defenders had fixed bayonets, and cold steel bristled from every loophole. The battle raged from 10 in the morning till 1 o'clock in the afternoon, when reinforcements, sufficiently strong trf put the Maoris to rout, arrived. There was much excitement during that defence, and once some of the more daring Maoris forced their way into the stockade, and dashed away with the cooking pots containing the white men's dinner. One small party of reinforcements reached the stockade just in time to save the day, for ammunition was running short; however, the party was not strong enough to be of much assistance, and it was not until a detachment from the First Waikato Militia arrived that the besiegers were put to rout.

During the encounter soma 70 Maoris were killed, yet no defender was hit. Actuallly there was only one soldier wounded, and he was one of the relieving party, and was shot m the knee.

One could talk for hours about the gallantry of this heroic defence, but time is limited, and permits but a short talk. Let us, the residents of Auckland to-day, remember these

pioneers—the mn who made New /5\ -g Zealand a place fit for Europeans ■ a to five in. It was Dominion Day /Ti/ /T . J last Wednesday. I wonder how V^tT many Aucldanders gave a thought to the bravest of all—the pioneers.