A MORSEL OF ANCIENT HISTORY

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1971, 5 January 1907, Page 2

A MORSEL OF ANCIENT HISTORY

(By J. P. Ward, late Von Temsky’s Forest Rangers and No. 6 A.C.) Thirty-eight years ago, on the 4th day of January, Ngatapa was entered by us colonial forces, alter a siege of six days. , , Ngatapa, the chosen stronghold of the late ferocious but brave and capable leader Te Kooti Rikurangi. The history of the gallant struggle made by the so-called rebel Maoris against us pakehas, who with the Bilile in one hand and the bayonet in the other, came into this beautiful country as mighty land grabbers. The history as 1 say of these brave Maoris, who for ten long weary years baffled even the war genius of mighty England to beat them, has yet to be written, and written by a pen, too, not envenomed by the lust of land greed. And when this history is written no mean place will be given in its pages to Te Kooti Rikurangi, one who mayhap had his faults, as so. many of his countrymen even of to-day have—a young, careless, free-living and free drinking Maori—yet who was no rebel in outward action anyhow, but who nevertheless was wrongly exiled to Wharekauri (the Chathams) amongst undoubted murderers and captured rebels. And who' on arrival there at once made it his business to plot the escape of himself and his fellow prisoners to the mainland again, seized the schooner Rifleman and did escape, without shedding a drop of blood save that of an idiot who ny himself fancied he could resist 100 determined men. No woman was insulted or a child maltreated on Wharekauri; this was on the 4th July, 1808. About the 20tli July they landed at Whareongoanga, and from what i was enabled' to gather many years afterwards from Te Rangi Tahau, one of Te Kooti’s most reliable leaders, if proper steps had been taken by the Resident' Agent in the Bay, poor Major Biggs, in the way of separating the goats from the sheep, the trio of disgraceful defeats inflicted on our arms by this self same Te lvooti ato Paparetu, Te Konaki, and Te Riiakaturi would not have to be 1 scored up; or, saddest of all, the dreadful events of the night of the 1 Bth of November, 1808, would not have happened. My division of A-C., No. C, ar- . rived in the Bay "oil the 13th December, 1868, and for some eight or ten days afterwards a series of most extraordinary marchings and counter- ' marchings was experienced by us. 1 hirst it was up the Waiapao, beyond ; Te Wairanga-a-hika, back to Makaraka, then over to Te Arai, and so - on. At last the intangible mass of “bungle” was reached, when us fellows (No. fi) were embarked aboard tlio p.s. Sturt, to get back to Wliangainii as quick as possible, as Te Kooti had burnt Ngataja, and was making all haste into iUaimgapohatu. Fortunately more reliable news came to hand that afternoon. Te lvooti was well posted in our extraordinary marchings and countermarchings, and that uay had himself, with a chosen few (Te, ltangi Tahau was one of them), swooped doSvn on two unfortunate settlers in the Te Arai and Bipiwliakau bush, the Messrs Ferguson, and I think Wyllie. The Sturt hastily landed us at or near Oteno l’itau’s settlement, Te Pakirikiri, and by’ a rapidly executed forced march we joined hands with our comrades, tlio right wing of No. 1 A.C. (the left wing was in Patea, West Coast), at Patutalii, and worried up Te Kooti’s rearguard for three or lour miles, killing three of them. Gallant S. Reed, of No. 1 A.C., was killed in this skirmish, No time was now lost in concentrating the scattered parties of the colonial forces, and at daylight next morning No. 1, No. 6, and No. 7 divisions A.C., all tried and experienced bush fighters, commenced the victorious march oh Ngatapa, and on the evening of the 2Sth December we got the first glimpse of the weird-looking stronghold from the intervening ridge oil winch Fort Richmond was afterwards built. Next morning, tlie 30tli, at daylight the then dreadful gorge between Fort Richmond and the giant peak on which Ngatapa stood was negotiated. The wing of No. 1 and my own division occupied the rear and left rear of the pa; gallant Ngatipourou touched our right flank, whilst No. 7 A.C. occupied a large portion of the front proper, and so the mighty Ngatapa, a series of three pas, one. inside the other, was almost invested—almost, but not quite, for, true' to Pakeha-Maori warfare, therewas left a “get away” for To lvooti when he felt he had had enough of it. •T he hundred-weights of lead rained on Ngatapa for the five nights and six days we were trying to get into it would, 1 think, run into some tons. It is 38 years this morning (at daylight) that a few fellows from No. "l a nd my division—l iyas amongst them tired, cramped, and wishing anything. even death, to the frightful monotony of our trenches, sneaked up the hillside—against orders, of course —and got into the rear proper ol : Agatapa. A\ e met with no obstructurn. There was not a Maori within signt. Tes, there .are some 10 or 12 yonder m the dim light, huddled to- : gother, and look ! '! nose are bits of J white rags fluttering on sticks slunk - up on tlio centre parapet, of the i,* ; (the lust had been sapped under and captured by gallant Ropata yester- 1 day). Hurrah! hurrah! Ngatapa is ours! And in a twinkling of an eye <■ hundreds of us, Maoris and Euro- 1

pea ns, are swarming over Te lvooti’s Sevastopol. But Te Kooti, where is he.-' I have taken up far too much of your valuable space. Suffice, some 130 odd of the brave defenders of Ngatapa were captured in the bush and gorges below the pa, where they lay asleep, drunken so to speak with a surfeit of cold water (they had had no water for two days and no sleep), marched up the hill side again under the outer wall almost of the pa they had defended so long and heroically stripped of every vestige of clothing they possessed, and shot. Shot like dogs. No word of trial, or whether cyieh or all of them had been in the Bay raid or not. This did not matter to us ope straw. They were shot, and their bodies left to swelter and rot in the summer’s sun, and their bones to bleach unto this day. And' all' this —-and very much more 1 could write °* was done beneath the meteor flag of mighty England. January 4.