ANOTHER OF THE NIGER'S CREW

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 87, 8 May 1909, Page 6

ANOTHER OF THE NIGER'S CREW

JXTEKVIFAY WITH ALU. C. 11. POLFY, OF AWiaAXD. Ur (jeorgc Henry Powley, of Aiii'klniiii, wlmi is in town ill connection with the llnsimic f!riiml Uxlgo meeting, was :ilsi> fniinil to have been olio of 11.J1.5. Niger'* complement nt tlic time, and to be quite ready to tell us of what, lie saw of the Waireka trouble. "I joined Her .Majesty's Ship Niger.' lie said, "in Jiuniiirv,.lHliO, as a boy, in Auckland. At tlin't time there was among the buys in Auckland a fever for joining' the iiavv, and nftpr sonic little trouble thirteen' Auckland liny*, or, to be strictly truthful, twelve of us from Auckland anil one, voting (Ireaves, from Xew l'lynioiith, managed to join the Niger. After about a couple of niontlis we Here alarmed one Sunday nioning by news of an outbreak of hostilities ill Taranaki, and the ship was ordered from Auckland to Vow Plymouth. We came down in pretty fast time. too. For sonic few weeks we were kept running between the Munakau and Xew Plymouth with I loop- and stores. A detachment of bluejackets was landed under Lieutenant Wake, ami thev tool; up a position, I believe, out near Fort Niger. T.i ship happened to be lying'hi the oiling with our boats alongside as is the custom, when a ginu from .Marslaud Mill (!« ve us the signal for a party to be landed. Captain (rncroft went ashore with them, taking a rocket lube, and, as fains I can remember, the party comprised fertv men or thereabouts. They se.t out at the double for the Waireka pah, anil we mi board heard no more of them until they came back. We heard then that. Lieutenant, Hake had been wounded, and one of the Royal Marines killed. I believe he was buried here, or at Onehiingn. In the morning at 8 o'clock three captured flags were flying from out

iwd boon out down by liodges, who_after-1 wards got the Y.C. for this. r Jhis flag, was of a red ground, with a dark bin. i cone in the centre, tipped with whit?. | We took it to be an emblem oi' Moiuil i Kgmont. Another was a red llag, 'taring the letters "M.X." which we tookflo mean ".Maori nation." The third 1 can't describe. Leaving a detachment here, tin- Ni«t»r then proceeded on special service between here and Oneimnga. When we got to Manukau, Captain C'nicrol't was desirous of presenting the llags to His Kxeelleucy the Governor, Mr 'l'. (iore-Hrowne, lie was un.ihlc to send a detachment of the ship's company in ] charge of the trophies, owing to his i having left a body of bluejackets at Now Plymouth and to the fact that the Nigers ( were being kept busy in working the ' vessel as a cargo-boat. So lie decided to let the New Zealand hoys on his ship be the bearers of the flags as representing the ship's company. We were conveyed to Auckland iu brakes, were met by a detachment of volunteers in Auckland, and were given all the honors that would have been accorded a full naval detachment. The presentation ceremony took place in front of Government House, and lor some time the Hags remained on view in the vestibule. [ can remember the banquet given on the occasion, and that we were present as guests. Of coui'M', we didn't have anything to say. Captain Craeroft attended to all that. We were on the coant for some time after that. 1 remember we were seat by the authorities here to the other side of the Sugarloaves, where we shelled 'a pah for three or four hours. Lieutenant Blake was invalided home, and died when on service abroad as the result of his wounds reeeiveed here. I went Home on the Niger, and served for some years in the Navy in various parts of the world, being finally invalided out of th j service in 18tH>. In 1808 I came out here, and became attached to what was the nucleus uf the Ist Artillery Battalion in Auckland. l r roni my knowledge of gunnery J was eagerly accepted, and was quickly promoted to corporal, sergeant, and sergeant-major. I was one of the volunteers from that,battalion when we went to Tauranga with three guns an 1 occupied Fort Monmouth. W t » were there for >i\ or eight weeks. Captain Featon was in command, and Lieutenant Isaacs was left in charge of the detachment remaining iu Auckland. When we returned home the numbers were so increased that a second lieutenant became necessary, and I was promoted to thiU jxi-ilion. At that time Mr. .1. C. Da-vies, of Xew Plymouth, was a member of the company. About. 1809 or 1870 J retired from the volunteers. Now I am a member <>t" the Xaval Veteran*' Association in Auckland, and like the rest of the members of it, am always interested in | the doings of the navy, past and present."