MAORI SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1919, Page 12

MAORI SOLDIERS.

THE PIONEER BATTALION. GENERAL RUSSEL'S APPRECIATION. The Minister of Defence (Sir Jamea Allen) has received from General Sir A. H. llussell, who commanded the New Zealand Division in France a letter conveying liis high appreciation of the tervices rendered by the Maori Pioneer Battalion. Both as fighting men and as Pioneers they won high praises, and this recognition of their fine qualities will he a matter for pride not only among the pakchas of New Zealand, showing how well the native race cooperated with the European in a time of great national emergency. Sir James Allen haw had the Divisional Commander's letter translated into Maori, and published in the JCahiti, the Maori Gazette, which is widely circulated among tt™ natives. It is as follows:

France, lltli March, 101 a Dear Sir James, —I have just heard that the Maori Pioneer Battalion is on the eve of embarking on their return to New Zealand. Having had the honor and good fortune to have the Maoris under my command, both at' the Maori Contingent on Gallipoli nnd later in France as the Pioneer Battalion of the New Zealand Division, I should like to express my appreciation, which I know is shared by all ranks of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, of the fine qualities shown by the Maoris during the war. On Gallipoli when they took a full share in the initial operations; on the Gtli August, 1915, in the battle of Chunuk Bair, and later in the fighting on Hill CO, the Maoris proved themselves true descendants of those fighting tribes from which they are descended. In France their work as Pioneers may not have been as; dramatic, and therefore perhaps not so easily recognised by tho public. But those of ns who have benefited by the work done by the Pioneer Battalion—not only on the Snmme in 1010, at Messines, at Ypres, and on the battlefields of 1!)18, but also during the monotonous! montfls of trench warfare, will readily acknowledge the debt we owe to the battalion. lam not going too far when I say that their work on communication trenches and in the preparation of defence lines has saved the division many lives, and (his work was ci.rried out under conditions so arduous and as dangerous as any other duty which soldiers are called on to perform, while their opportunities for rest and relief were less than is the cas;e with infantry in the line, except during a bi ttlc. Right through their period of active service the Maoris have shown themselves brave, well-disciplined, and in a very marked degree of that cheerful and willing spirit which goes so far towards the making of a good soldier. I am confident that I speak for the whole division when I say we are proud of the Maoris as our country men and as brothers in arms, T hope you will convey this apreciation of the services rendered by the Maoris in the war to their representatives.—l am, etc., A. H. RUSSELL, Major-General Commanding N.Z. Division. Sir Jp.mes Allen, R.C.8., Minuter of Defence, 1 Wellington, N.Z.