DEATH OF A VETERAN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2161, 10 August 1920, Page 2

DEATH OF A VETERAN.

The Hawera Shir announces the death ol' Mr John Flynn, one of the earliest seltiers of ;the town, in his seventy-ninth year. He look part in the Te Ngutu-o-te-manu engagement against the Maoris on Ist September, 18G8, when Major von Tempsky and many brave men fell. Mr Flynn was born in Comity Roscommon, Ireland, and at an early age came to the colonies, taking part in the various goldfield rushes in those exciting days, with varying success. Arriving in New Plymouth in. the early sixties, he was one of a party which took provisions to Mataitawa to the exhausted expedition under General Chute, which started from Normanby on 17th January, 18GG, through the bush to New Plymouth. In the ill-fated engagement of Te Ngutu-o-te-manu he was early put out of action, and was propped up against a rata tree. He could see his commanding officer, Major von Tempsky, and comrades falling close to him, but was powerless to render assistance, expecting at any moment to be (deft in two by a enemy tomahawk. The, late Mr Flynn, oil the termination of the war, ran coaches between Hawera and New Plymouth, and had many trying experiences. Subsequently he went into business in Hawera, where his late wife and his daughters were musical leaders in the town. Towards the end he was totally blind.