EARLY DAYS.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 675, 14 October 1921, Page 5

EARLY DAYS.

(Written Specially for the Times).)

THE WAIKATO WAR, (Continued). f

While |the Flying Column and the irregular troops weire cfearing the Maoris out of the dense Hunu<a forest,, which then covqreid' jnearlv the whole of what : is ’ nbw ? F.ranklin County, except in the few places v where adventurous bands of pioneers J had made small clearings to settle in, General Cameron had been collecting men and stores at 'the Maungatwhiri River, which was the frontier of enemy territory. The difficulty of transport was great,-and it-was some months before he felt able to make a forward move and attack the natives in their own strongholds. The Great South Road had to be made for this purpose, but the distance from Auckland and the difficulty of the gradients made this an inadequate ’route for transport, and it had to be supplemented by the use of the Waikato River, via the Manukau. Several small steamers were put on the river, manned by bluejackets from the four cxr five small men-of-war on the New Zealand station. At last General Cameron found himself in a position to attack. A reconnaisance of Rangiriri and Meremere showed that the Maoris lay in these pas in great force. He embarked seme 800 men on his lit/tie fleet of steamers and boats, and passed up the rivet* a few miles beyond' Meremere. The natives there, finding themselves out-flanked, evacuated the pa and concentrated in Rangiriri, a place they jlteemed impregnable. Cameron, reinforced by 200 of the Naval Brigade, marched \there at once, and proceeded to attack the pa. The stormiim party consisted of 200 men of the 65th, who made a gallant dash across lite open under a very heavy fire, and took the out-works. But the steep sides of the central redoubt were unclimbable, and their ladders were too short to reach the top, so, after suffering heavy casualties they were forced to retire to ( the shelter of the outer palisades. In the meantime a detachment of the 40th attacked the rear of the pa and drove the defenders from the oufter works, but they had no ladders at all, and could do nothing more. \ Then followed one of those terrible blunders which occasibnally occur in warfare. How Cameron could have expected a handful of artillerymen to succeed' where. 200 picked infantry hai failed is a mystery, but he ordered Captain Mercer, RA.. to make a frontal attack the Lancers, when ordered to make thei'a* hopeless- charge on the massed Russian guns at Balaclava, they instantly made the attempt,... only to retire with the loss of half their number, including their leader- One man alone, Sergeant 'Hamilton, managed to scramble up the slippery glacis and fife his revolver in the faces of the enemy, only to roll down again badly wounded. Undisturbed by the fate'of the two first storming parties the General now* flung in Captain. Mayne, R.N., and 90 of his bluejackets, who fared but little better than the gunners. Half a dozen managed to ; claw their way to the of course were too few to accomplish anything. By this time it was nearly dark, and General Cameron realised that any further frontal attack would be fruitless. He disposed his troops for the night in the best way possible to prevent the escape of the garrison, determining to try in the morning to mine beneath the earth-works and blow a breach in (them. But . when the engineers had been at work for an hour or two the next day the enemy, evidently comprehending what was intended, surrendered. So ended the first serious engagement of the Qampaign. Success was only gained at a heavy cost, for out of fewer than five hundred men engaged we lost in killed over fO officers and men, with nearly 100 wounded. This unfortunate result, however, modified the commanding officer’s views on the subject of frontal attacks without artillery or heavily garrisoned earthworks, In his succeeding attempts to reduce nas very different tactics were adopted.