HOW WE FOUGHT THE MAORIS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 47, 24 February 1881, Page 4

HOW WE FOUGHT THE MAORIS.

(All the Year Round.) In the border war at Wanganui, which preceeded the Hau-hau outbreak, General Cameron had given orders to pitch the camp, when a colonial officer said — " Don't you think, General, we are too near the bush ?" General Cameron replied — "D« you imagine, sir, that any body of natives will dare to attack two thousand of Her Majesty's troops ?" "It would not surprise me if they did,"-— was the reply. Nevertheless the camp was pitched, and all were busy when a volley was fired out of the high grass, which killed an adjutant and ]5 men. Much more mischief would have been done had not the suspicious colonial officer ordered his men to keep their horses saddled and bridled. They charged through the grass and drove the Maoris back. It was time, for one was shot within twenty yards of the general's tent. Many a time the troops would have suffered terribly but for the sharpness aud promptitude of natives like Rawata, or forest rangers like M'Donnel. We get a notion of the difficulties of Maori Avarfare and we learu that, in spite of many attempts, only one resolutely-de-fended pah was ever taken by assault. This was when General Chute was in command, the pah being Otapawa, the stronghold of the Tangahoe tribe. As usual, tho march began about 3 a.m., for the Maoris are heavy sleepers, and never would keep good watch ; so many a pah was taken in the grey dawn before its defenders were stirring. Here, however, the natives were on the alert, and bo the general would not even wait for tho Native Contingent (kupapas) to get round in the rear. He brought up an Armstrong gun, and shelled the place, setting several huts on fire. Not a soul, however, showed himself, and then the soldiers were ordered to storm the stockade. They were old Crimean veterans, and moved on, with a cheer, over ground which the enemy had cleared and levelled so that there might be absolutely no cover. The Hauhaus let them come within fifty yards of the stockade, and then gave them such a volley out of their ■■ rifle-pits that for a moment they halted, till Colonel Butler steadied them with the words, " Go on, Die-hards !" and they rushed to the palisade tearing it down with their hands and tomahawks. In a few moments they were in the pah, and killed everyone who had not had time to escape. Our loss, howevor, was heavy — eleven killed and twenty wounded, Colonel Howard mortally. General Chute had one of the buttons shot off his coat. He remarked, " The niggers seem to have found me out. Go on, Colonel Butler.'' This was the grand style of [fighting, but it was far too wasteful of English lives to be generally adopted. The usual plan was to manage a surprise, set a guard over each hut, and call on the inmates to surrender on pain of being burned alive if they refused to come out. This sort of thing practised on Arabs in Algeria gave Marshal Pellissier an infamous reputation ; but Maoris are not Arabs, and the men who " stopped" the Maori earths in this effectual way were not regulars, but bushandforestrangers, helped by loyal natives. The methbd did not always hinder bloodshed. At one large village those in the central hut answered tho summons to surrender by a volley. Our men at once set fire to all that would burn. "The roofs" (says Quartermaster Gudgeon, who tells this, as he does all such stories, with intense gusto) " burnt liko tinder and the Hauhaus had to run the gauntlet. Twenty yards was the utmost length of their tether. None escaped." Some of the huts, however, were of turf, and would not burn. The men in one of these surrendered j but as the

i . | first of tn'erh was coming out, our loyal j natives " fired such a volley as fairly lifted him off his feet." In this fight (if fight it could be called) one-fifth of the whole fighting men of the hostile tribe were killed, and our loyal contiil- . gent, under Ensign Poma, went round tomahawking the fallen. Our losses were only one killed and a few wounded. This/ therefore, was the most profitable way of attacking a pah ; but surely something better could have been done with brave men like these Maoris, than either to pound at them with Armstrong guns or to shoot them down like rabbits.