BRAVERY AT THE FRONT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3019, 5 March 1917, Page 4

BRAVERY AT THE FRONT

■ _ . — A \'OUNG MAORI HONOURED. By Telegraph—Special Correspondent. Marton, March 3. •_' Tail' Paruibi, a young Rangitikei l Maori, was personally. decorated with, the Distinguished Service Medal at Marton by Colonel Sir James Allen, Minister of Defence. The honour was for conspicuous bravery at Anzac on August 6, 1915, during an attack on No. 3 post. Tho circumstances surrounding tie incident are that Tail was cut off from- his comrades, and was encircled by. five Turks, who niado a desperate effort to get their man. The New Zealander, however, was not to be caught.-. With celerity, and effectiveness he drove his bayonet through one of the enemy, but was unable to extricate it, tho Turk having caught it in his grasp and hold it in tho hope of stabbing the Maori with a knife. The "other four Turks then tried to got the Now Zealander alive, but with a heavy blow ho landed one a tcrrifio smash oh the jaw ; and bowled him over. Another received a kick,in the stomach, and before the fourth and fifth could disable him he was succsesful in getting the .rifle of an enemy who had fallen. With expert handling he placed another Turk out of action for all time by a 'crack on the skul' with the butt of the rifle. In tho end he had accounted for four, and with one remaining he had.a real pugilistic encounter. The Turk got so much the worst of it that eventually he was glad to surrender, and Tail had the extreme- satisfaction of bringing him as a prisoner into the British lines. The Maori boy's bravery and great achievement were observed, and as a result King George recognised the courageous act by bestowing upon him the Distinguished Service Medal.

During the presentation Sir James Allen paid a great Compliment 'to the work of the Maoris, and said that nothing bettor had ever been done in the history of New Zealand than that performed by the Maoris who had left these shores for the battle front. Their courage and devotion. to duty had been such that .the Pakeha held out his hand to his Maori brother and said that if anything' had separated him in tho past it had gone for ever, and tho Maori was now one with tho white race in helping to -make New Zealand the finest country on the face of the globe.