MEMENTOS of the NATIVE WAR.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 149, 15 June 1876, Page 4

MEMENTOS of the NATIVE WAR.

ii The correspondent of the New Zealand Herald, who accompanied the Governor and Sir Donald M'Lean on their, visit to the Bay of Islands, thus describes some mementos of the first native war at Kororareka over thirty years ago : — „.,?' It was my good fortune to fall in wfth a gentleman intimately acquainted With the historic reminisoences of Kororareka, and he waa good enough to. act as ; guide in order to point out one or two famous spots. Our first visit was to that remarkable post which I mentioned in a previous letter. It stands at the corner of the Church of ; England oemetery, and tradition says that .Commander Bobertson, of the Hazard, when pierced by four bullets, j clung upright to this post while surrounded by a crowd of foes, the blows j of. whose long tomahawks he warded ' off, so that they glanceJ downwards and struck that wonderful post. Sup- ! posing this story to be authentic, and itis too respectably vouched for to ; doubt it, there must have been some rare hacking at this corner. lam per- ; fectly sure it. would be impossible , for me j with a good axe, to do so much J Execution upon that hard puriri in the ' c.ourse of a quarter of an hour. But j there are the marks, and no man here Can account for them otherwise than io the manner described in the tradition. I; next visited the graves of some who tall in the fight on this very ground over thirty years ago, and I saw the places in tbe church where the round shot from H.M.S. Hazard had passed through. The damaged timbers have s been replaced, but a - semi-circular piece out of one marks where the ball struck. Musket-ball holes are plentiful enough. They have been plugged up with 'corks, whioh can be removed in summer, thereby affording a simple means of ventilation. On the side of ft slope a little further on lies one of the howitzers used in the little battle which took place on this ground. The gnn was spiked when the Hazard men were compelled to retire. For over thirty years it has lain here, whither it was ! rolled down from the hill. As for its intrinsic value, I suppose that is small, but as an historic relic of some of the earliest and most chequered iv the history of New Zealand, it is perhaps worth preserving. The gun appears to bave been cast in the reign of William the Fourth." ■*___________________________________________•