A MAORI GORDON

Dunstan Times, Issue 1164, 20 June 1884, Page 3

A MAORI GORDON

The following sketch ot the celebrated New dealaud fighting chief. Major Ropaia, about the reduction of whose pension there lias Li en a tiood deal of discussion of late, is given by one who has known-him for ye rs. At ihe commencement..gf, the tig'-t at Waiapil, he knew Mflj r Ropata iv-ist lull rebels when he had but a few rh n and only seveo guns Ho never harried , a weupo •, only at limes, wbeiilie woul i carry a pistol or a walking stick. At T kniki, win t: the eonleiiiiing pames on ■ aeb side of a ravine, one of tbe enemy cam ■to the opposite auk deymg Hopaia’s m-n. Ropata saw him and went after hj m, and deliberately Hashed his brains out, whilst both parties were looking on This w*a one of his earliest exploits. Ropata came down to Pu epapa, whore some 40(1 to 500 rebels were entrenched, and among whom were flume of his own tribe. Ho had 200 followers, and soon overturned the pan Those who had d-serted him, hj« de'iberaie y sh it, iiy walking behind them with a revolver. After this wo walked down ami took Tnkitahhiipo, where, amio-t in the midst of on enemy, he dashed a man’s brains out. Ropata was a man who would not. swerve from his purpose. He once took a pits hut and shot him because he wou d not Live him information, though urged not to do so by Colonel Lam ert an I other European officers. At Ngatapa he came with a small body of men, ove turned tbe pah, and drf ate.l the re els. The men deserted him, but he charged the last tench with only tbiity fo M owers, earned it, and helo i ad light. For that h> received the New Zealand Cross and a pmsion of LlO a year. After this he j lined tbe forc-a of Col mel Whitmore, woo, it is known, ins the credit of the entire defeat of the rebels, but it is a tact t lat Colonel Whitmore could not have defeated them without Ropata’s valuable assis ance. When he was in the middle of the Urewhera country he was surrounded by rebels ou all sides, who asked him to retire, promising to let him go unmolested. The odds were fearfully a.ainst him, hut he wou d outturn from his purpose. He said hj« had got so far and he would go right through H" wen' forwaid, and the rebels pursue I him. hut cave it up after a day or so, and bo got thmugh aaf ly. He sai lhe knew if he went hack he would have been massacred. These wore only a. few of his numerous exploits ; he (the speaker) o.>uld recount » great, many more if time i ermitte 1. Mflj t Ropata had done an immense amount of work for the Government. He was as g.eat a general as many of those of the B iidsn army, and if newspaper correspond cuts had been present to give accounts of his fighting, he would appear a most won derfut man. And so be was. When fighting he never took shelter; he always remained in the open, and yet he was n.-ver struck. He never cringed to Government or Ministers, or even to any one, but wont honestly forward. He was certainly a creature of Providence."