A PEEP INTO ANCIENT HISTORY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2080, 4 January 1908, Page 4

A PEEP INTO ANCIENT HISTORY.

CONCERNING TiliS LATE TE KOOTI.

Am to-morrow, tho 3th of January, is tlio UOtli anniversary ol' tho taking of Ngatapa. (tho stronghold of tho Into To lvooti .Rikiningi) at tor u stubItorn siogo of live days, a low facts loading up to tin' siogo .itself, may bo ol iutorost to your readers, many of whom know nothing whntovor of that, fearful lifo-aml-doath struggle with ,is bravo and capablo a foe as oyer faced British load or stool. A lito-and-doath struggle, indeed, that shook this last-growing Dominion to its heart's core for seven Jong years 1 \\ o are indebted to -Mr J. I’. Ward, a well-known resident of Gisborne, auu himself an actor in most of the stirring scenes herein alluded to tor the information given. It is a matter of history, that To lvooti. beyond merely being suspected of carrying information to the Man Hans i'n the field (which suspicion was never veritied) was willy-nilly deported away with the prisoners taken at To Waeranga-a-bika and elsewhere to Wharokauri (the Chatham Islands), and that whilst a prisoner there, he planned and success!ully carried out the escape of himself and co-prisoners, overpowering the European guard of lf> men (under Caplain Thomas), placed oyer thorn. The Maoris, 'l(il) strong, seized all the rilles ami ammunition and a lot of other moveable loot, also the schooner "Rifleman" then lying at Wnitangi, Chatham Islands, compelling the s'kpiper and his crow to bring him ('1 c lvooti) and bis fellow-prisoners over to the mainland, where they all landed at Wluireongaonga about the l.ltli July, 1808. At the three engagements following his landing as above be beat us badly with heavy loss of men, arms, and stores —viz at To Paparatu (22nd July), Te lvoneke (25th July) and Te Riiakaturi (bill August), all within a period of three weeks of his landing from the Chathams. On the 9th November following he raided

"The Bay” destroying some ,'3l Europeans (men, women and children), and 38 .Maoris, together with all the European houses and native villages from Patutalii to within a mile or so of what is now the prosperous and progressive town of Gisborne. Lie,:t. Gascoigne and Jiis Natives met To Ivooti’s rear-guard at Patutahielevon days after the raid, killing (it is supposed?) three of them. The Ngatiposod) three of them. The Xgatiotller chiefs followed up To lvooti, engaging him at To Karatu from about the 23rd Novi'inber to the Ist December. Our allies lost live killed and thirteen wounded. Amongst the former was the gallant young chief Te Ivarauria himself. The llau Hau loss was supposed to be four killed. About the Ist December .Ropitn and To Hot cue arrived at To Karitu with some 1300 Ngatiporou, and instead of the desultory engagements of the previous week llopata stormed and curried tho Hail Hau entrenchments, killing some 135 of the enemy, amongst whom was To Xamu and other notable Hau Hau leaders. Eive of our men were killed and eight w;oundcd in this truly dashing affair. llopata and Hotene followed the Hau llaus up vigorously and on the oth December made the first attack on Xgatapa, but as all his men. except some b-3 and the whole of tile Ngatikaliungu, deserted, llopata hung out right- under the outer parapet of Xgatapa with his bo men until he had not a cartridge left, lie was compelled to retire and under <over of night, did so, and inarched straight back to Waiapu for fresh men, never after employing a man of the 200 odd who deserted him 1 On the Oth December Colonel Wliitniore, with the other trooxis. about 240 Europeans, arrived in the Bay and we all took part hi the extraordinary inarching and countermarchings all over "The Bay" Hats that at last culminated in us fellows of No. 0 being hastily packed aboard the steamer Sturt, then in tho Turunganui River, with orders to put hack at once to tho Taranaki coast as Te lvooti had burnt Xgatapa and retired on Mangapoliatu! But the tide didn’t suit that morning and bill o’clock tho same day tho nows arrived that the Messrs Fergusson and Wylie also a native, hail boon murdered in tbe Pipiwhskau Bush. The Sturt went straight across with us

fellows, landing us somewhere near Otono Pilau’s village (Paldrikiri). We soon picked up Te Kooti’s spoor, hut that active chief was too smart anil we only exchanged a few shots with his rear-guard in the Patutalii

Valley where our company. No. 1. A.C.. lost a splendid soldier. Sain

Reed, a half caste; but had Captain Tom Xewland "hung on” for another 13 or 20 minutes to Te Ivooti's advance guard up tho Batutahi Valley, a.s we wore pushing bis rearguard mighty hard, although “out of pulf” ourselves with a 7 hours’ forced mari'li at the double almost, No. 1 and us fellows would have brought To lvooti to an immediate anil decisive action, as we were 140 seasoned bush .fighters, all Europeans and fit for anything. But Captain Xewland and h’s 20 fellows made off the track through the fern, and so Te lvooti got safely back with his column to Xgatapa. On the 23rd the entire fighting line of us fellows, 300 Europeans and about GOO Natives, started for Xgatapa, wliieh was reached on the 31st- and fell by starvation and want of water on the oth of January 18G9.