INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNALIST.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 172, 29 December 1883, Page 11

INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNALIST.

By Nemo,

No. XXX -—The r TaranaM War Continued-^ -■ Descriptioa of a Palisaded 'Pa— Expedition • to Oakura— Destruction of Fas at KaihiM— Barren Victories- and -Empty Fortifications— General Pratt Criticised — The'Waikatos ; Come out into the Open — Skirmish near Mahoetahi — A Narrow Escape.

I think I - promised the reader in a former chapter that I would, describe the Maori method of building ; a- palisaded ; pa. I 'liare alreadydescribed the way. in which rifle-pits are constructed, so that it is.unuecessai'y to travel over the same ground again. It often happens, however, that a native fortification combines both methods of defence, the rifle pits being dug inside the palisading as a shelter for the defenders, while breastworks are built round the tiiliares in the intei'ior, the floor of these whares being sunk a few feet below the surface to protect the inmates against a horizontal fire from 'without. The Maoris also excavate casemates in the side's of the trenches and rifle-pits to protect them from shell lire, and the ingenuity they display would put to the blush many of our engineers. The defences which Te Kaoiiao and other Maori engineers constructed at Pukerangiora, Rangiriri, Paterangi, Maungatautari, Orakau, and the Gate Pa exhibited a remarkable degree of natural aptitude in taking every advantage of the formation of the ground, and in neutralising the advantages we possessed in our artillery and superior weapons. As a contrast to this, I have seen 9uch a, thing in my time as an officer of the Eoyal Engineers laying out a block -house withou^

flanking angleß, an act of carelessness or ignorance which was unpardonable in a scientificallyeducated man, as it neglected one of the most, important points in the principles of fortification. When the Maoris have selected a suitable site for a palisaded pa— generally in close contiguity to some bush, which provides a safe avenue of \ retreat, and with tbeir ilanks defended by swamps —they first of all erect stout posts at regular intervals, some of them consisting of the trunks of small trees. To these they fasten _ strong horizontal tie-beams, and upon these again per-, nendicuiar slabs or = saplings pointed at the bottom and raised a short distance from the ground, leaving a space for the defenders to fire under. Within this outer line of pah'saui.'ig there is another similar one, only much, stronger", the ends being firmly embedded in the ground, while ' spaces are left between each slab or post to fire through. Both rows of palisading are strongly ' bound together. The exterior face is covered ! with flax, nikau, or any other elastic material, to screen the interior of the works. Such is the elasticity of these defences that a round shot does them little damage, often passing between the upright slabs without breaking them, or at very long range actually bounding off from the flax as if it were Indian-rubber. The most effective missile against such, works as. these is a heavy mortar or-shell. By. thi£ time strong reinforcements of ,troop 3 had reached New Plymouth, bringing .the regular forces" tip to 2,300, exclusive of . mih'tia and volunteers, while parties of blue jackets . with guns and rocket-tubes kad been. lande,d fro.in .the; Telorits, Fawn, jNigejf^aj^d^otheoliips, of war on the station. • On tlie "2ofch September, a flying column*; about, £oo strong,' .under the command 'of j&%jpr Hutcfyinsj-j marche_d.stQ ..-the . Tatairaimaka ; Bjqej^; .an6V'"d^stroj;ed five ...pas ,at Oakura, : the : scene of an'amßuscade at a later period, in which/ Captain -Lloyd and a. number of {the 57th. were

i massScrea-1 '^»!,tlie \9s^cb.f ttjck-QmeraX ~ \ I Pratt/jjfwithia forcVof nearly 1000 of £ll| ranks, and l'so -friendly natives, marched to JCaihibi, south of New- Plymouth, for the purposo o£- ; attacking three strong pas. ., . A sap was' commenced in front of one, and fire opened f rprh fclie*. guns and mortars, but. during the. night the ■ enemy decamped. It was a way they had. K o> wonder Colonel Mojale, 8.E., \vrotie> "Capture of the pa may be in all cases calculated upon confidently, with little loss ;• but -capture of the defenders, *with the experience already gained, will never be* effected." What. 1 .we generally got for our pains was an ancient, woman, a pig,. ova mangy mongrel. On our. side, Captait? j£asleyy R. 8., and four others were wounded, but ;the . enemy's loss was unknown. The stereotyped phrase in the despatches on these occasions was r "The enemy is supposed to have : suffered severely." It was consolatory sometimes if.-'vye could ftnd a few traces of blood. However, after banging awaf a, great deal of ammunition and making a most imposing demonstration, we ha^d succeeded in capturing and destroying three empty pas, which achievement was duly blazoned in the despatches. lam lotli : to say anything derogatory to the reputation of an old" officer fite? Q-eneral Pratt, but I think he was' too much attached to the old school of warfare to achieveany thing very bi-illiant against an : enemy like the? Maori. It is always a mistake to send an old. officer — by which I mean. an old man, who. hasalready acquired all the reputation and rank hg; is ever likely to acquire, and is only fit forthes retired list— to carry on operations in a ngvr country, where original strategy, pluck, and dasTi are the requisites of success, and where a man, must often stake his reputation upon /some move in which he forsakes the. , principles o£^ regular warfare against a civilized enemy. The best man. for operations of this .character is a young and rising commander, who has yet to win his reputation, and has sufficient self/reliance to adopt liis methods to the peculiarities of the ; conhtry, and the tactics of the enemy. A first-class guerilla chief would have been better than, half a dozen distinguished generals in a war against the? Maoris. Moreover, I don't think General Pratt had ever seen much active service, at any rate, of late years, and he was la eking in that stoicism* which is one of the distinguishing traits of a successful general. I have heard it said that- oi» • one occasion he actually wept when he saw a few dead and wounded soldiers. The same thing lias? been said, of Wellington and other great commanders, bnt that was on a battle-field, not after a mere skirmish. : It was on the 4th or sth of November, I forget which, that the engagement, which was dignified •with the title of " The Battle of Mahoetahi," wasfought. A party of Wdikatos had come down to the assistance of their countrymen, and, -.being fired with ambition to distinguish themselves, were foolhardy enough to come out in the opea and entrench themselves on the site of an old pa» standing directly on the line of our communications between Jfew Plymouth and the Waitara. The lull of JLthoetahi— " the one mahoe tree" — stood some few miles from the shore, in a wide expanse of open fern country, but partly protected by gullies and swamps. On the day: before .the 7 " battle," I formed one of a covering party which weiit out from Waitara camp to reconnoitre ;» bridge which the enemy had more than once cufe down. We took up our position in skirmishing^ order on a slight eminence, which;commanded an excellent view of Mahoetahi and the surrounding country, and we could see the enemy swarming on the hill and working like niggers in. fortifying; tlie position. I think they must have driven ofE the working party, for, after hearing filing on our left, we saw that the Maoris were*eoming down upon us. It was one of the prettiest sights I ever saw during the war. On tley came, skirmishing: up the fern-covered slope /to within a couple of hundred yards of our line.' You could not see a. man of them, only a. flash, a puff of. smoke, and then you heard the whistle of the lead. They appeared to advance in a zig-zag way, dodging ( from right to left, and never firing twice from the same place. It was as neat a bit of skirmishing as I ever saw in the field. Of course, our' plan was to fire iiito the flash whenever we were; quick enough. • This skirmish will always be memorable to me, in consequence of a somewhat narrow escape of being shot from the rear, iriy rear-rant man, in his nervousness and haste,' firing his ranirod close by my ear. Towards evening we drew back into camp, and preparations were made for the fight, which I shall describe in my nexfc chapter.