PAGES FROM THE PAST.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1922, Page 9

PAGES FROM THE PAST.

HONI PIHAMA. A FRIEND OF THE PAKEHA. (By “Juvenis.”) In the stirring days of Taranaki there was one native who stood out as a great and loyal friend of the pakeha. He was Honi Pihama, one of nature’s true gentlemen. He was ever truthful and honorable, and behaved as an Oxford graduate rather than an untutored savage.

He was born in 1825 at Whereroa, and died at Parihaka on April 1, 1890. He was the son of Te Rei Hanawata, a great Ngatiruanui chief. His father was one of the few natives who never deserted their lands when the Waikatoa made such havoc amongst the tribes residing in the northern portion of the Taranaki district. When a. young man, Honi’s noble and truthful disposition soon made him friends amongst the Europeans, and when between sixteen and eighteen he became acquainted with Mr. (afterwards® Sir) Donald McLean, who at that time was Inspector of the Armed Police Force in Taranaki, and also one of the magistracy of the district. Honi was also on -friendly terms with some of the European young men of the. place. Honi' spent a considerable portion of his time when a young man with the pakehas; so when the war broke out between the two races, and he had to throw his lot in with his people, it was not according to his inclination, but as a duty that he did so. Just previous to hostilities commencing, Captain Wilson had arranged to go with Honi Pihama to Wanganui, but as the new state of affairs was likely to prevent the journey, Honi went to his friend and told him that if he wished to go he would escort him safely through the native territory, but could not guarantee his return by the same way. When engaged in war, Honi Pihama proved himself a brave leader and skilful strategist, and in the more peaceful days, when conversing with those who took part in skirmishes, many incidents transpired which showed how the want of information, or a trivial accident, caused events to turn out differently to what might have happened. Honi used to relate how, when he was separated from his party, and had broken his gun, the Bushrangers were in close proximity to where he was, and he lay for hours in a flax bush, fearing detection, which •would have been death to him.

On another occasion he, with 300 natives, headed an attack on General Cameron’s camp at Nukumaru, in which there were 1500 men, and Honi has more than once stated that but for the barking of a dog, which alarmed the sentries, so well was the attack planned that the Maoris would have succeeded in making the General a prisoner. It was hot work whilst the fight lasted, .as will be seen from the following aci count of the fight extracted from a corI respondent’s letter in 1865: ' “At one o’clock to-day (January 25, 1865) the enemy came in great force to within 100 yards, some say 50 yards, of the camp. There was hot work until 4 p.m. The loss of the enemy must have been enormous; twelve dead bodies were, brought into camp. The troops committed heavy ravages among them. I firmly believe, if the truth were known, that hundreds must have fallen • —volleys were poured into them with the greatest precision, and at close quarters. The long flax must be full of the Maoris slain. Two officers of the 18th Regiment were wounded, and a few men killed and wounded of the same corps; but the 50th, poor fellows, suffered more .severely —10 killed, and were lacerated in the most horrible manner. A young soldier of the 18th I was overpowered by the natives and 1 they were dragging him into the bush, just as the time the military train were charging, and the poor soldier cried, “Oh, for God’s sake save me.” A man named John Brooks, a native of Barton Mills, Suffolk, fell out of the military train, quite regardless of consequences, and cut down the Maoris, and ' some others coming up soon dispersed I the rest and saved the young soldier’s I life. In the annals of military history ! I never heard of a more daring act. According to Honi’s account the loss io the natives was comparatively small, considering the danger they rushed into. About this time the natives became fanatical, owing to Hauhauism having spread amongst Honi’s tribe, and consequently as a chief he was ceasing to have a controlling influence over them. It is said that it was owing to this, and seeing that it was a hopeless cause they were fighting for, that Honi Pihama surrendered himself to the Governor, and afterwards devoted all his energies to the amelioration of his race. In 1868, when hostilities were renewed on this coast by Titokowaru, Honi Pihama tried to avert the outbreak, but he was powerless to prevent the war party going out to commit the murders. Honi Pihama in those days acted as mail contractor, and his natives used to convey the mail from Wanganui to New Plymouth. On June 13, 1868, Honi Pihama brought a letter to Major Parris from Mr. Booth, R.M., in which particulars were given of the murder of Sergeant Cahill and two others of the Military .Settlers, whilst putting a log on a sawpit in the Ketemarae bush, by ten natives belonging to Te Ngutu-o-te-manu. After this murder Te Whiti called a meeting at Parihaka, at which Honi Pihama and several other influential chiefs were present. Te Whiti then said that the understanding come to in March was that there should be an end of bloodshed. Titokowaru, he said, had broken that agreement, and he warned all those natives who went and assisted the fighting tribes not to come back to Parihaka, for they should be afforded no protection there. Te Whiti and Honi Pihama did all in their power to prevent their people from joining the fighting, and were the means, no doubt, of helping the Europeans to suppress the rebellious tribes who were bellicosely inclined. On the “Peace and Public Works” policy of Sir Julius Vogel being introduced, Honi took an active part in getting the natives to make roads, and in 1871, when Cobb’s coach was subsidised to run twice a week from Wanganui with passengers and the mail. Honi Pihama, on the first trip, acted as guard and guide. Mounted on horseback. he went in advance, and found the fordable spots in rivers where it was •safest for the coach to cross.

Honi afterwards became the proprietor of the coach, which was driven for many years by a. native named Creed. Sir' William Fox was a, passenger by the coach on its first trip, as well as Mr. Reimenschneider, Mr. Young and Mr. J. Hirst, and at a banquet given in New Plymouth to celebrate the occasion, Honi Pihama, in responding to the toast of his health, said “before he started with the coach he did not know whether it would be safe to come through the Parihaka district. The rivers were flooded and the roads

which had caused their delay. If from any of these causes those who had travelled with him had come ‘to grief’ and he had been saved, they would have had no right to blame him; but if they had been set upon by the Hauhaus, and aniy of them killed, then they would not have seen his face again, for he would have died with the others.” Honi Pihama on many occasions had aided the Government in various ways, and for his services was granted a pension of £lOO a year. A few years later an economical fit took one of the Ministry, and they, among other things, reduced Honi Pihama’s pension by one half. There were several things done to Honi by the Government, of which lie would, when talking in confidence with his white friends, bitterly complain; but, notwithstanding this treatment, he never wavered in his allegiance.