NOTED MAORI FAMILY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1098, 19 September 1912, Page 4

NOTED MAORI FAMILY.

George Taiaroa, who was drowned in Otago recently, bore a heroic name. Not only were his forbears among the first Christians in the South, and the first to meet the first ship at the Heads, but be had a pedigree longer perhaps than the most ancient house in England. So let not grandeur bear with a disdainful smile the short and simple annals of the Maori. About the year 1830 the Taiaroa was visiting his friends at Kaiapahia, a famous pah on a tongue of land jutting into a lagoon six miles north of Kaiapoi. He and his following, including a son, then a child, had but gone a day’s journey homeward when he was overtaken by a breathless messenger, who said that the terrible Te Rauparaha from Otaki had arrived with a great force and laid siege to the pah, killing and roasting all who were coming unsuspiciously home from fishing. Taiaroa at once led his party back, and arrived late at night at the danger zone. Several wanted to kill the child lest he should be the means of betraying their presence, but Taiaroa would not consent. They crawled unseen through waving tussocks to the lagoon. Taiaroa took his boy on his back, and stealthily and slowly they waded and swam through the black water to the pah, where they were received with tears of joy. Taiaroa took a brave part in the defence. One of his bold adventures was to lead out a sortie at night to destroy the invaders’ canoes that lay on the beach two or three miles to the north. The night was so wet and stormy that they could not burn the canoes as they wished, but with such tools as they had they hacked and chopped all they could, and returned before dawn.

The besiegers plan was to cut a zig-zag trench up to the gate of the pah, throw bundles of manuka against it, and set it on fire. The besieged hindered the cutting of the trench all they could by night sorties, but they had very few muskets compared with the enemy. Part of Te Rauparaha’s force was kept busy getting innumerable bundles of manuka, and when the trench was finished they carried the bundles along the trench and threw them at the gate. The defenders found opportunity to slip out and throw the bundles away, but not farenougn, and they never thought of burning them by instalments. Every night a fresh lot was brought, and though they were thrown back, the space began to fill and the stack to grow high. Things were now desperate, and food was running short, so it was agreed that Taiaroa and his party should leave, which they did, taking the boy with them. The southern chief came home, and began to prepare the forces of Otago to seek revenge. Meanwhile the defenders, during a nor’wester, which would carry the flames away from the pah, set fire to the pile of manuka. It was a good scheme, but unhappily the wind chopped round to the south just as the fire got hold, and the pallisade was burnt. The rest need hardly be told. Some escaped through the lagoon, but it was carefully guarded. Many hundreds perished. There was great leasting, and the first settler buried cart loads of human bones. Taiaroa organised a great expedition to go and beard the lion in his den. It was a gallent enterprise. They nearly caught the wily old warrior somewhere in the Blenheim neighbourhood, but there was no battle. A treaty of peace was concluded, and some captives were returned, and the southern fleet brought home peace and honour. I think the boy liued to be a member of Parliament. A later member of the family won more fame among us as a footballer than we give to his grand old relative for his gallant deeds. —Dunedin Star.