THE MAORI WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 250, 31 March 1915, Page 5

THE MAORI WAR.

CLAIMS FOR NEW ZEALAND 7 CROSSES.

HEROES 01-' BRAVE DEEDS.

(From the Lyttelton Times.) ■ l^iT The military commission which has 'i 4 * been inquiring into old soldiers' 'claims -'ijS for the New Zealand war medal and ■ ■ ■;■]? the pension of £3ll a year attaching at thereto, now finds another duty de- '$ volving upon it. This is the inves- ~'>* tigation of claims for the New Zea- .* land Cross. There cannot he many of '-' * these, but it is known that there cr» ft several cate-i in which the cross was yt well deserved, although the author!- ■)« ties of the day did not recommend ;ti its award, and these long-standing ' ■■'■ claims, all dating bark more than forty- ■"'.;: five years, will at last receive tardy : '". reconsideration. The New Zealand, -,■£ Cross has ever been a jealously guarded - "* honor. Less than a score in all were "'■'} granted, and only ten wearers of this r" ; decoration for valor in the Maori wars ti now survive; two of them—jCaptain ■ ;'j Gilbert Hair and Captain George Preece ■*.-"<j —are members of the commission now ' . : ? sitting to overhaul the records of- . '-j urave deeds performed by the" colonial " " soldiers in the campaigns against Te .' .-.* Kooti and Titokowaru. The rarity of '" ;,ii the cross, of course, adds greatly to ■¥¥ its value; not even the Victoria Cross ..-";* exceeds it in prociousness when the re- '^-"j* lative fewness of the numbers awarded . ~T ; &| is taken in account, ' : '?ii The report from Wellington whjch .''.^ states that the commission is entering ' ■;? upon its new mission of investigation -rf; does not indicate the particular claims .'■ ;p that are to' be gone ; nto, hut one or ,"' two cases suggest themselves M> likely -^A ones, and certainly worthy of the Now ' .'^ Zealand Cross. It- may be explained -'i'tj that these honors arc, or should be, '/h unsolicited; a veteran may claim the ' '%.'■ New Zealand war medal, hut he can- /-Si not himself make application for the ■[% cross. At any rate, as the procedure ' \}£ is understood, the suggestions and re- ™& commendations must be initiated by the" ~l'A officer commanding in the operations '■'^ concerned, or by some superior officer -.'*§. who lias cognisance of the acts de- '+s serving of special honor. The cross 'ij*' awarded to Captain Northcroft not long . '?¥ ! since, after a lapse of forty-six years,.'"' l -Sf ■ was an instance of a thoroughly well- ,#s earned honor, the reward of as plucky i{S a deed as any that are recorded in the ;'<s great war to-day. Another veteran, as J& yet unrewarded, who is -probablv' one .'■:?>; of the officers the commission will dig- *ji cover worthy of recognition is Major ' & Gascoigne, formerly S.M. at tnc Chat- .£,§■ ham Islands, and., now resilient in - Hawke's Bay, who distinguished him- - : ■'. self bv a particularly daring ride with .' £ dispatches during the campaigns ■' 'J against Te Kooti in the Hawke's Bay '""* and Gishorne" district. .'".; It is rather strange that one of the ■ /Sf most heroic lights ever put up in the ' F; history of New Zealand's wars wag : ';,ji ignored when New Zealand Crosses wera* ■'' "5 being handed out. This was the de- !\3 fence of Turuturu-mo'kai, a little re- \'& doubt which stood near the spot on ' ..'i'l which the town" of Hawera, Taranaki, V/-;"4 has been built. It was here just before ".7*2 dawn one winter morning of 1868 that ■ .^1 a war party of seventy of the hc3t ' '^] fighting men in the Hauhau "forces at- ■ ■"-* tackeu" the-little Armed Constabulary ' •}} garrison, nnmbering not more than "*"•* twenty men. For two hours there was >3i desperate work, and when at last the ,'~j {Tauhaus retired before a relieving force ." ■■' the redoubt was a terrible sight, with ■ ■*-£ dead and wounded men lying all about' ',,:J its partly undermined parapets. Out >\.'A of the score of defenders ten were icill- ' '. ;i* Ed and five were badly wounded. The - ■-•'•?; tiny fort was successfully held, a : ~* Rorke's Drift of New Zealand,, but with V a casualty list of 7 'per cent. Only *£ four out of the ten who escaped the v"? Ilauhaus' tomahawks thai day are still vljf alive. Two of them, Mr. Cos'lett John- :'./''■ son and Mr. John Beamish, are farm- -S" ing in Taranaki; another, Mr. George Tiiflin—who was wounded in five places, ,'.' and had part of the top of his head shot oh", but miraculously pulled - ■* through—is living in Wanganui* and the "' third, Mr. Michael Gill, is believed to ' y be in Hawke's Bay. liill is ah old lm- '■-; penal soldier; he served in the 57th ■- 5 Regiment, the old "Die-Hards," and nis ■'* coolness did much'to steady his young "\ comrades. Gill, it is said, was recom" ' '■-' mended for the V.C., but he did not get it. It is not too late vet to do -i fitting honor to the four defenders of ■!* Turuturu-mokai. It is strange also that in the New '% Zealand roll of honor the name of •-i Colonel Porter does not appear. Pro- - ,-, bably no officer in the colonial forces ~ '*" saw so much of sharp hand-to-hand 3 fighting, or so often ran the risk of ■ 1 death from ambuscade, as'this veteran of the cast and west coast wars; but "*' most of his work was done in the wild- '- ; est parts of New Zealand, with purely ■ '■'! Maori forces, and there was no white ■*:-; general at hand to writo glowing'tcstimonials for feats of valor. Indeed, in V 4 the bush fighting crosses were earned '4 over and over again, but it all came ia ?* as part of the day's work. There was '*s an episode, however, which stands out ■.'■■'t as a deed for which V.C.'s would have -"I boon distributed had it occurred oa ".j a European battlefield. . This was at £ the siege of Ngatapa, Te Kooti's great hill fort inland from Gisbofne. 'H

On January 4, I&G9, after consultation with Colonel Wliitmore Major Kopata told oil' fifty of his Ngati-Porou '. Maoris to storm the outer line of the « enemy's parapets. The .only white officcr with the stormers was Colonel (then captain) Porter. The gallant party, crossing a ravine, swarmed up the steep mountain side under a heavy fire, a wep'k of extreme difficulty as well as danger, for they had to hold on by roots and rocks, and there was little

secure foothold. At last they reached Hie outer parapet, and raked {he trench behind it, and so took possession of the first line of defence. It was described as "'a smart affair"; it was really one of the pluckiest pieces of work ever seen in the taking of a. Maori stronghold. Ropata himself received the New Zealand Cross, for exposing himself boldly to the enemy's fire,' although he did not accompany the' stormers, but (lie old major always said that Porter should have received the decoration also. Colonel Porter, who is the senior officer on the list of veterans, has no supenor officer to recommend him for the cross, and he is scarcely likely to make mention of his own merits, for, ike all good soldiers, Jie prefers to b«nr witness to the. gallantry of others. Moreover, as he is president of the

commission, it cannot, of course, con--Mer his case. Still, manv a V.'C. has been awarded for much less than this veteran of half a dozen campaigns hat done.