TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 30, 6 August 1952, Page 1

TAUPO-NUI-A-TIA

TALES OF THE TAUPO COUNTRY

(By

R.H.W.)

I'n 1869 and 1870, following Te Kootrs surprise attack at Opepe, engagements took place, ending with Te Kooti's defeat at Te Porere, near the present Wanganui River bi'dge 011 the National Park Road. During this period the Maori people of Taupo assisted in the campaign, and amongst their leaders was the chief Paora Hape. The return of his war party to Taupo, following an expedition south of the Lake, was rnade the occasion for celebrations, which included an impressive haka. 1 At the height of the war dance a brother-in-law of Paora Hape, in front rank, accidentally discharged his rifle and the ball struck Hape, lodging in his spine. Dr Walker, the surgeon of the Armed Constabulary, was sent for, but found that nothing eould be done to save the chiefs life. The dying chief lingered for a day or two, and the people hastily gathered to hear his last words to them. As he lay on a stretcher under a flax awning, Paora Hape declared that his Tirst word vvould be his last, which was to be strong, as he had been strong in battle. Aher recounting evenrs m his ' '*e in which he had showed his stiength and courage, he came to the main points of his message. Te v.rged the people to be true to the pakeha. and said that no good would come by fighting. The day of the Maori law had passed jaway, and ihe law of the pakeha must be the law of the country. If any inferior pakeha has come amongst them and did wrong, they should report them to the Government, who had good and righteous laws. He finisbed his plea for peace and cooperation with the words with which be had begun, "Be strong and be true to the pakeha," and with these words he turned over and died. To-day Paora Hape is commemorated in the name of Paora Hape Street, one of a number of street n airies in the town of Taupo which recal! men who played a brave part in the troublous times which later led. to peace and partnership between the Maori and pakeha peoples. In Kobe: n Street and North xott Street are commemorated two men who 'ong su^vived rhe w^r period, Colonel J. M. Roberts and Captain, H. W. Northcroft, both of them holders of the New Zealand Cross, the decoration instituted by the New Zealand Government at a time when the Victoria Cross could liot be awarded to colonial troops. Colonel Roberts had joined the Forest Rangers in 1863 and later served as a subaltern under famous von Tempsky. In the WTest Coast campaign he was present at the disastrous battle of Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, where his gallantry in reorganising his men after most of their officers had been killed in fighting in heavy hush undoubtedly saved many lives. Later he commanded the Taupo dist'rict, and his residence was in ihe area later known fvs the Old Orchard, on the river bank below the present Public . Works' Camp. For many years he was the Resident Magistrate for the Bay of Plenty. In 1869 he = was in charge oi the men who fy'uilt Redoubt at Taupo, adjacent to the present PoJice Btation. In his retirement, in Rotorua, he told the writer how he once rode, in 1869, from Opepe, eleven miles from Taupo on the Napier Road, to Otumoetai, beyond Tauranga, in one day. His

route was via Tapuae-haruru (the present Taupo), Oruanui, Puketarata, Atiamuri, Ohinemutu, over the Oropi Ranges to Tauranga, where he arrived in moonlight. He had left Opepe early, and changed horses at Taupo, Puketarata, Atiamuri, and other Armed Constabulary posts. Of Captain H. W. Northcroft, who began his military career at the age of sixteen as a guide to the Imperial troops in Taranaki in 1860, it is recorded that he took part in nine engagements, apart from minor skirmishes. At Pungarehu, another of the battles where the pakeha troops suffered heavily, a wounded man had, in the confusion of a retreat iunder Jieavy fire, been left ! behind. When Northcroft found | this, he handed the rifle he was i carrying to one of his men, and un- [ der heavy fire ran some sixty to 1 eighty' yards, picked up the wound- j ed man and ran back with him to ! cover. As he laid the dying man down the latter said to Northcroft, "I knew all along you'd never leave me to be toma-hawked." For many years after the wars Northcroft, like Roberts, was a magistrate, and later served for some time as New Zealand Government Resident at Rarotonga, i.j ■ i .......