SAVING THE STOCK

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

SAVING THE STOCK

*m .. A STORY OF THE OLD FRONTIER DAYS. HOW THE WAITOTARA SETTLERS ELUDED THE HAUHAUS. Written for the Ota go Daily Times by James Cowan. The latter part of the year 18(18 was a time of particular anxiety and peril for the frontier settlers along the west coast of the North ioland. After the defeat of Colonel M'Donnell's column at Te Xgutu-o-te-manu and the, death of Von Tempsky and many other great men, Titokowaru and his Hauhaus practically had South Tanuiaki at their mercy, and from Hawera and the Patea down to th< Waitotara bands of armed Maoris roam ed the country, laying ambuscades for small escorts from the redoubts, and destroying oettlers' property and driving off their cattle and sheep. There were few settlers in those parts then, and their homes were widely separated. The white nian's redoubts, such as Wai'hi, Patea, Wairoa, and Weraroa, really only commanded the country within range of their little garrisons' rifles. Most of the settlers had abandoned their holdings for the time, and had withdrawn to the shelter of the nearest town, but a few pluckyones, refusing to be scared by the reports of the Hauhaus' cannibal deeds and their unpleasant fondness for murdering incautious stragglers and bush-travellers, remained on their farms, and went about their daily work as if wars and rumors of ware concerned them not. All that time Titokowaru's young men were scouting the country from Patea to within a few miles of Wanganui town. On the north bank of the twisting, muddy Waitotara there lived at this time two young settlers named William Brewer and Charles Durie, who had a block of land, intersected by the river, leased from two friendly Maoris of the Ihupuku pa, which lay about 'half a mile from their raupo-thatched hut. They 'had

about 1000 sheep and 300 cattle grazing :, on the block, and were in a fair way , to become prosperous men. About three i miles away, and on the opposite side of the Waitotara, lived two other settlers, , young men named Josiah Richards and Mona Rees. The friendly Maoris frequently dropped hints to their white 1 neighbors to be on their guard, for the 1 Hauhaus at Oika and at Moturoa had f announced that they were

GOIFG TO CLEAR THE COUNTRYSIDE OF- PAKEHAS. and all their belongings. But the settlers remained, trusting to luck to see them safely througn, and relying to a considerable extent upon old Pirimona, the chief of Ihupuku pa, who promised to give them timely warning of a rebel raid. The raid did occur, and by some wonderful chance the four young stock-rais-ers escaped, together with one of two other whites who happened to be staying with them. Brewer and Durie —the latter was the son of Major Durie—then resident magistrate at Wanganui, just managed to bolt from their whare in the dead of night in time to elude a warparty of 40 Hauhaus, and spent the night half-naked, and more than half-dead with cold, in the bush on ! the Waitotara's banks, reaching the Weraroa redoubt next day in a woeful pickle. Josiah Richards and Mona Rees fared even worse, for they were surrounded as they slept, tied up hand and foot, and thrown on the ground outside and threatened with the tomahawk, and only a conjunction of extraordinary happenings—a storm of rain for one, and a knife in the hands of a Maori girl who loved one of the twain—saved their lives. They dodged their pursuers, and reached the Weraroa redoubt soon after Durie and Brewer staggered exhausted up to its friendly parapets.

The Hauhaus were now in almost full possession of the countryside, from the bush to the sea. But Brewer and Durie determined to make an attempt to

SAVE THEIR STOCK FROM THE REBELS. Titokowaru and his painted war-dancing, sometimes cannibal, men-at-arms were enjoying themeselvas hugely, living on the pakeha sheep and cattle and helping themselves to the goods of the driven-off whites. That mob of sheep and 300 head of cattle on the Ihupuku block were worth an effort for they represented a considerable sum of money in those days of big commissariat contracts. A few days after Brewer and Durie had so narrowly escaped that Hauhau raid, old Pirimona came to them and said: — "Xow's the time, pakehas, to shift your cattle and sheep! There's going to be a big light up there across the river"—nodding his head towards the Waitotara. "How do I know? Never mind! I tell you, in three days there'll be a big battle at the Moturoa, where the Ilauhaus have built a great and strong stockade. They are all gathered there now, and are waiting for Whitmore. Then, when Whitmore attacks them, get your stock away. Do it one day, else you'll never see them again, for I believe the Hauhaus will beat Whitmore. Don't ask me any questions, but just do as I say."

Brewer and Durie decided to follow Pirimona's advice. They had with them Mr William Lingard. a young settler who had escaped with tliem on the night of the. 30th October—and who was to win the Xew Zealand Cross a few weeks later at the Tauranga-ika stockade—and an active young lad named O'Neill, but desiring to strengthen their droving party they went to Colonel Whitmore at his camp a few miles away and asked him to give the services of a few men to help to got their stock to a place of safety. _ .

•'Couldn't think of it—couldn't think of it!" said the little colonel. It's a most foolhardy business. Your stock will have to take its chances. I can't spare you a single man. 1 want all my force; I'm moving against the Hauhaus tomorrow. I can't help you." Amongst the waggon-drivers and others about the constabulary tamp, however, the two settlers managed to pick up five or six volunteers for the risky job, and the whole party, mounted and armed, crossed the Waitotara one wet and foggy morning just at dawn and

SET AB(U:T MUSTERIXO! STOCK. It was tlie morning of November 7.IStIS, a date that Maori war veterans remember with siidiiess, for in front of the Moturoa palisades that day Major Hunter and more than a score of his comrades were killed, and more than that number were grievously wounded.

It certainly was a risky business, stock-mustering almost under the guns of hundreds of Haulmus. But it was the only chance. "The roughest day of my life.'' says one of the two survivors of thai, droving party, who tells me the story. "We were wet through from the Htart. then we had to scour the hills for our slock, doing everything at top speed, for we never knew when we might get a volley poured into us."

After fording the Waitotara the little hand of pakeiias rode northwards for four miles until they were within about three miles of the Wairoa redoubt (where the township of Wa verier now stands). Then, they circled round seawards, gathering in the stock as they went. The liivt alarm of

■■IIAniAUS IN SIftBT" ! came soon sifter they had crossed the river. A party of Maoris, mounted, suddenly came in view, riding- towards the white men. Brewer and his companions instantly prepared to do battle. They galloped up a hill commanding the Maoris' line of approach, and prepsued to open fire. Several of them had rifles, the rest double-barrelled shot-guns. Against a large force, of course, they would have stood very little show.

"It's all right!" cried Lingard. snddt illy; "they're showing the white Mag':" One of the Maoris was waving a white handkerchief tied on the end of a stick; and, much relieved, the white men rode down towards the Natives, who proved to be friendlies of the Waitotara tribe. There was a short korero, and as the white men and brown talked the

SOUND OF HEAVY Ml/SKETRY' tame rolling down on the still morning \iir. "Listen to that!" said one of the Maovis. "Whitmore is attacking the Moturoa Pa. But he'll never take it! Titokowaru will never be beaten!" With the rattle and roll of that hush battle in their ears, sounding juet like distant thunder, the settlers rounded up their stock, and worked them down towards the Waitotara. It was a difficult task, for the country was rough and there were awkward swamps intersecting it. Half the party collected the cattle, and the rest gathered in the sheep, and, with much galloping to and fro, to head off refractory animals, and barking of dogs, the whole of Brewer's and Durie four-footed wealth by the afternoon was gotten to the swampy banks of the Waitotara.

Crossing the stock was no easy matter, but it was done at last, and by nightfall every hoof and every trotter was

SAFE ON THE SOUTHERN BANK. It was a lively bit of work. Fortunately the Waitotara was low and not swift of current. The sheep had to swim over, and a couple of men got into a canoe to help. And it was a tired-to-death party that built a cheerful fire and thankfully hunted for "'tucker" that night in the Hupuku Whare. At the first peep of light next morning they were at it again. Brewer and Durie and another got the cattle moving, and took them out along the seabeach and down in the direction of Wanganui. By night time they had reached Nukumaru, and there they camped for the night in Mr Handley's woolshed. ■■■ After dark Lingard and the rest of the party joined them.' I

Lingard and his companions 'had had a terribly trying time of it with the sheep. Cattle-droving is bad enough sometimes, but those sheep, with a hungry enemy not far away, were exasperatingly slow. And the Hauhau scouts soon discovered the pakeha. Lingard and another man rode up on the sandhills skirting the beach, to keep a lookout as their comrades worked the sheep along below. Armed Maoris, obviously enemies, rode parallel with them a little distance inland, all the way to Nukumaru. One or two creeks had to be crossed, and at these and a hundred other places the little party

COULD HAVE BEEN WIPED OUT. had the Hauhaus come down in force. But the cherub that watches over the frontier settler kept his eye on them that day; and the Hauhaus evidently were unaware of the real strength—or ness—of the Europeans. No doubt they imagined there was a much larger force on the beach.

Most of the sheep had to be abandoned on that beach march. Three hundred out of the thousand were all that Lingard and his companions finally paddocked at Nukumaru, and later shifted to the Marahau Station with the cattle. The rest, very presently no doubt, went into the stomachs of the victorious Hauhaus.

That night at Nukumaru was a night of alarms. Now and again in the middle of the night the dogs barked furiously, and the men stood to their arms. None of them dared to sleep, for at any moment the Hauhaus might be upon them. The next night, after bringing in the sheep a stage further, the musterers decided t6

SEEK A SAFER RESTING PLACE than the station woolshed. Near the Handley homestead was a small lake, shallow, reedy water-sheet called Nukumaru. In the middle of this lake there was a little island, low and shrub-covered about half-an-acre in extent. On this islet the settlers and their helpers decided to seek refuge from the marauding rebels. There was a little canoe lying moored at the bank, and in this canoe they ferried themselves across, making two or three trips before all were safely landed. Under the Karaka trees, which grew in a clump in the middle of the island, and surrounded by a belting of taupata and tutu shrubs, they made themselves as comfortable as they could, but the consolation of a camp fire was denied them, for it would have betrayed their hiding place to any night-roving band. There they lay and talked in low voices, and most of them at last slept the sleep of the weary. But one or two, Dunefor one, could not sleep, for it Was obvious that the Hauhaus could easily have surrounded the tiny island and killed every soul. They were very thankful when daylight came at last and enabled them to get away. Soon those alarms and excursions were over, for a troop of cavalry, under Captain O'Halloran, arrived in a few days and .pitched camp at Nukumaru, and the place was lively with bugle calls and the clink of sabre and spur; and the stock were safe. It was a plucky bit of business, but those things were all in the day's work back in 'Sixty-eight. A pity .the younger generation of settler and the new comer to the Dominion don't know about the risks the frontiermen so cheerfully ran in those years of trouble and" bloodshed, as instanced in this hitherto unwritten episode, for it perhaps would make them appreciate more than they do these soft and peaceful times of ours.