PIONEER DAYS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 692, 18 June 1929, Page 10

PIONEER DAYS

MAORI WAR VETERAN REMINISCENT SURVIVOR OF NGATAPA With vivid memories of stirring days of and pioneering effort behind him, Mr. Walter Rutherford, of No. 8 Third Avenue, today celebrates his 89th birthday. Enlisting at Liverpool in 1863, he came to New Zealand in the ship Light Brigade the following year. Landing in the colony at a time when war was being waged, Mr. Rutherford, who served with the 43rd Regiment, soon found himself in the midst of the adventures he craved. The first duties were at New Plymouth, and although he missed the late Pa engagement, Mr. Rutherford Ylaims to have fired the first shot at Ngatapa. Poverty Bay. in the battle against Te Kooti. The British forces were * besieged, and Mr. Rutherford, with four others, made an escape by climbing a steep hill and taking shelter among rocks SOO yards from Te Kooti’s stronghold.

Mr. Rutherford, obtaining bis discharge from the Army in 1866, prepared to follow pursuits of peace, and was the first man to go into the bush at Normanby, Taranaki. In the Taranaki district Mr. Rutherford was brought face to face with some of the grim perils of pioneering. He had seen the butchered bodies of fellow settlers, one with his heart plucked out. Another whose body had been cut in half, the upper part being taken away by the Maoris. AN HISTORIC FLAG The personal possession which Air. Rutherford prizes most apart from his service medals, is the tattered ensign which was the cause of the first New Zealand war. Air. Rutherford's story of the flag takes back its history to almost 100 years ago. Under it, he claims, Samuel Marsden first preached. Later, when Archdeacon Henry Williams was holding a church parade at Koror; reka. Friendly Alaoris had joined in, and these men were fired on by the Hau Haus. The flag in Air. Rutherford’s possession was used at that fateful parade, and it is also said to be one that blew from the staff cut down by Hone Heke. Air. Rutherford has offered it to the Veterans' Home, but so far his offer has been refused. “If nobody wants it,” he said, “it will do for my pillow when I move on to another planet.” Fate alone brought Air. Rutherford to New Zealand. He and his brother were determined to fight, and at one time had thoughts of going to America to join in the Civil War. Shortage of money, however, prevented that adventure, and both Rutherfords signed on for New Zealand service.

For the past 50 years Air. Rutherford has lived in Auckland, ar.d although deprived of sight, lie has a cheery, personal philosophy for the present, and a blood-quickening set of memories of the past to entertain those who listen to his story-telling.