KISSING GOES BY FAVOR.

Evening Star, Issue 3435, 24 February 1874, Page 3

KISSING GOES BY FAVOR.

Captain M‘Donnell, of the Armed Constabulary, writes to the ‘New Zealand Herald : “ I have heard that a Commission nominally appointed by his Excellency the Governor to inquire into the recommendations for the New Zealand Cross have come to the conclusion {that none of the acts of valor mentioned were of such account as to entitle any (excepting the Agent-General, JJr x eatberaton) to be worthy of the decoration ; but knowing what has taken place, I hope you will allow me space for the followmg I was leading a party of scouts some miles in the forest one morning—I think in October or November, 1866, It was just before djtfhght, Vfhep I stumbled against a,' tree that had b,een felled by the enemy across the track that led to the Dauhau village of Popoia. I put out my hand to steady myself, when I touched a fence or palisade that had been erected on the trunk of the fallen tree, and a volley tyas fired at us from the other side of it. My clothes were burnt by the discharge, and I fell shot through the hip. The iNatiyes with me retreated once to the column, about 200. yayds detank a,ad %yho, in obedience to orders, not having been ahje to surprise the village, had coramppcpd to march for the open country, It fs but just to say that no one knew I was hit and left behind at the time X fell. But Sergeant Austin, formerlv a color-sergeant in her Majesty’s 65th Bernment, and Sergeant White, since shot dead, missed me, and concluded I was wounded and left on the ground. These two men. in company with Wiremu Katene (a Maori) ran hack to the barricade in search of me I heard the Hauhaus groping about in the dark for the man they had shot (myself), and every instant, as Hay helpless. I expected to be tomahawked, when they suddenly retreated behind the fallen tree against which I was lying, and commenced firing. A moment or two after I heard Austin’s voice, saying. kjL re ’ Ckptfia?’ Sergeant Austin and White then lifted me up between them and earned me away from certain death* and may be a worse fate, and at the very greatest risk and price of their lives the Natives from behind the palisades on the log firing at us all the while, but from prohably, their crouching position, firing too high. Colonel M'Donald, the offic r then in command of the district, recoinmended that the Victoria Cross bp given tor this act, but owing, I Relieve, to the force not being pndef an Imperil officer, it could # b , e |ranied. This is'one of the acta of

bravery and devotion recorded by the commission—whoever it may have consisted of —as ‘ not of so exceptional a character as to merit the New Zealand Cross !’ I am tempted to say more on similar subjects, but 41 I shall say for the present is, that I owe my life, under God, to the act of these two men, one of whom is now in his grave, the other still living ; and I should like to know what ;n the name of goodness was this Vew Zealand Cross or Order of Merit created for, if not to reward noble deeds and unselfish acts like the one I have mentioned ? Many a brave man wears the V.C. for less. What did Colonel M‘Keil get the cress for? for rescuing a trooper named Vosper, and assisting him to ride away. It is also a fact that the same person or persons have refused the decoration to my brother, Colonel M Donnell, though he was recommended hy hia senior officers, and very lately by General Sir Duncan Cameron, who commanded out here. But when, in this country, it is desired not to do a thing, or to avoid doing justice, it is easy to find a way.”