EARLY WAIRARAPA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 May 1939, Page 4

EARLY WAIRARAPA

EXPERIENCES WITH MAORIS RECALLED

The Building of the Masterton Stockade

DAYS OF THE HAU HAU SCARE

(Specially Written for the “Wairarapa Times-Age” by i

Charles Bannister.)

Listening to the elder members of our family when they were telling new arrivals about the Maori trouble in 1864 and also to Messrs Thomas and Richard Tankersley with whom I was camped for a winter when bushfelling, I heard some good campfire stories of doings in that critical time, when one careless action by a quicktempered settler would have started a war which would have had disastrous effects, and resulted in a great loss of life in the Wairarapa. By good luck and careful tactics these possibilities never happened. In 1864 the Maoris of Kaitekateka, Pa, Te Ore Ore, in sympathy with the Maoris of Taranaki and Waikato were egged on by a contingent of Hau Haus or followers of a new religion called Pai Marire or Hau Hauism. Its followers believed that they would be irtvulnerable if they went into battle crying Hau Hau (barking it like a dog). A savage and fanatical creed, Hau Hauism soon developed some revolting features. In the Wairarapa two pas joined the new creed, Ngairoi Pa at Kohekutu and one at Hurunuiaorangi, Gladstone. These Maoris soon became very arrogant, parading the streets of Masterton and other towns of the Wairarapa, brandishing spears, guns and tomahawks. Every morning they'used to come on to the Lansdowne terrace, dance and gesticulate and then retire to their pas. However, the settlers were careful not to provoke them. A volunteer force was secretly formed, also a cavalry troop for those who had horses. The Government sent up arms and ammunition by Mr Hastwell, of Greytown. The ammunition, which was covered over with other goods and arrived after dark, was placed in my sister’s bedroom out of the vision of inquisitive Maori eyes. A drill instructor named Whelan, an ex-member of the 65th Regiment, escorted the accoutrements. The officers of the infantry were Captains Clelland, J. Val-entine-Smith, W. Perry and R. Hare, with about 40 rank and file. The cavalry was captained by Mr W. H. Donald, of Manaia. Lieutenant J. Bennett of Otahuao was second in command. The infantry were armed with the old muzzle loading Enfield rifle, with a three-cornered bayonet, an instrument which the Maoris did not like at close quarters. In after years they liked it better on a manuka handle for pig spears. The Mounteds were armed with the short Terry breechloading carbines. (Some years after a Maori told me it was the pareete rota, breech loader, that frightened the Maoris, as the pakeha could fire five shots to the Maori’s one). The Mounteds had also a good long sword. In later years I found my father’s a very good thing with which to kill eels when torching in the Waipoua. Sometimes, I think of father’s 'carbine not on account of the Maoris it killed but because of the wild bulls that I shot with it in the Forty . Mile Bush. MAORI THREATS. Everything having been arranged and planned, the settlers were waiting for word from Sir Donald McLean, Native-Minister, who was coming up to the Wairarapa. In the meantime the Rev Ronaldson went to Papawai where there was a large meeting of Maoris. One named Piripi was the leader of the agitators. He held a tomahawk over Mr Ronal'dson’s head and said: ‘‘Clear-out, you are not wanted here. If you don’t go I will serve you the same as Volkner.” Mr Ronaldson calmly said: “Piripi, you and I have been good friends, you can’t do such a thing. God is watching you.” Piripi said: “Go while you can.” Sir Donald sent word up to parade tomorrow morning at ten o’clock. I have been told it was great fun seeing those would-be soldiers getting into uniforms. The cavalry made a great show. Twenty-five Armed Constabulary rode into Masterton under Captain Leetham, where they enlisted four of Masterton’s young men, Tom Hill, Dick Kibblewhite, Bob Elliott and Heber Jupp. Sergt. Geary was put in charge of the recruits. Sir Donald McLean went to Papawai where he addressed a large meeting of Maoris. He gave old Ngairo a real good drubbing in classical Maori- language and asked Piripi what he was doing to keep the Maoris peaceful. He then told them to go to their own pas or else he would send up a thousand Redcoats. Although the Maoris dispersed they were in an ugly mood being continually stirred up by the Hau Haus. As the settlers were very scattered it was thought best to provide shelter for the women and children in case of an outbreak of hostilities. Armed Constabulary were camped at Mr Woodroofe’s new house, which was just finished. Their horse yards were erected on the site on which the Riverside Golf Housb now stands. The huge posts stood there till quite recently. The Maori track to Papawai went past the yard. LOYAL NATIVES HELPFUL. In Masterton we had the help of the Queen Maoris, as they termed themselves, those who were friendly to the whites. On the west of the town was the Ngaumutawa Pa, which was loyal to a man. On the south Chief Retiimana kept a Union Jack flying. He was always very proud of taku kara (my colours) which had been presented to him by Sir George Grey some years before. He had some forty followers. His camp was on the Central School grounds. Where Ewington’s buildings are situated Wi Tinitara, Captain Remini’s father, supported by Marakaia and Te Ropeha, with other warriors, were camped. They often issued a challenge to the Hau Haus on the Terrace to come and have a try as to who were the best men. Old Sam Hami and Hanita with their tribe used to come every day to see how things were going. The infantry used to drill on the Post Office section, which was not built on in those days. Although those soldiers had to come a great distance, some on foot doing seven or eight miles, they put in a good drill record. To give the settlers warning if the Maoris had started raiding, Captain Donald, of i Manaia, had a heap of brushwood j ready to set on fire as a beacon to i let everyone be on the alert. Major

Smith had a heap of manuka on Lansdowne Hill and Lieutenant J. Bennett, of Otahuao (pronounced Otahu ah o) had another. In the meantime the Government had a stockade built, where the Park now is, for the safety of the wives and children of the settlers in the event of an outbreak of hostilities with the Maoris. After drilling the Cavalry for a time, the commanders decided to try them out. One morning they fell in for a route march. This took them to Opaki (Willow Park now) in sight of Ngairo’s Pa, Kohekutu, but on the opposite side of the Ruamahanga River. The Armed Constabulary were in the lead, the Hau Haus watching them from a distance. As the Maoris were equipped with double and single barrel fowling pieces, the whites felt fairly safe at half a mile. Here they - formed firing lines, firing five rounds of blank shot each. After giving the onlookers a display of drilling and skirmishing they returned home. Whether it was that or the next event that had the desired effect was never known. The following morning it was a full parade of cavalry and infantry. They marched over to the Waipoua flat, where at present a new swing bridge is being built. A target had been erected by the Armed Constabulary close to the bank of the river, not many yards from the old swing bridge. This site had the terrace for a background. It was supposed to be a rifle practice. They fired singly, then in squads. Then the Mounteds took a turn, galloping up to within a hundred yards of the supposed enemies and letting them have it, then drawing swords and galloping up to finish them off. To conclude they all loaded their rifles and at a given signal pulled their triggers. They came back to town without any casualties, barring one horse which had its ears cut with a sword. THE STOCKADE. The stockade was built by Mr Sayers, grandfather of the Masterton Sayers family. He was helped by Mr Ted Braggins, father of Mrs Kiesenberg and Messrs E. and B. Braggins of. this town. The timber was split in Dixon’s bush and hauled by the late Mr William Dixon with a team of bullocks. The slabs were split 12 feet 6 inches long,' three inches thick and some were three feet wide. The stockade had a double wall 2 feet 6 inches apart. The slabs were let into the ground 2ft 6in, the space between being filled with gravel from the moat, which was about Bft _ deep and the same depth. The walls were 10ft high loop-holed every 6ft. There was a loophole square house on two corners of the enclosed square so as to command the moat from every angle. In the centre was a two-storeyed fourroomed house for the women and children. The front room or dining room had a table the full length, with forms. The leanto was the kitchen. Upstairs were two bedrooms with windows facing every direction. There was a well at the back of the house. The stockade was facing Dixon Street and was situated a little to the north of the present Begonia House. It had a drawbridge over the moat on to Dixon Street and this was hoisted with a block and tackle. After the Maoris had quietened down the main body of the Armed Constabulary was recalled to Wellington, leaving eight of their number in charge of Sergeant Geary. This party remained in the stockade for two years. Their duty was to keep the Maoris in order. As the Waikato propagandists had returned to their homes this was an easy matter. A part of their programme was to hoist the drawbridge every night at lights out, and to keep a guard on the ammunition tank, as this was the safe for all the cartridges for the soldiers. (How well I remember those big belltopper percussion caps, which we used to pinch, and put them on a nail which we had driven into a piece of wood. We 1 then hit them with a stone. They would make a noise as loud as a .22 long cartridge for a pea rifle.) I don’t think the drawbridge was ever hoisted after the Armed Constabulary left the stockade. Sergeant Geary, Bob Elliott and Jupp joined up with the Constabulary in Taranaki, where the Maoris were still fighting. Tom Hill and Dick Kibblewhite stayed in Masterton and settled down to home life and joined the Cavalry, which kept going for a good many years. The volunteers under Captain Walter Perry were a real live body. When the Territorial system came in vogue they were disbanded. In the late 60’s and early 70’s the Volunteers used to hold their annual dinners in our granary, which was on the site where the Cosy Theatre is situated. USE AS BARRACKS. The Stockade was a “maison sans souci” for a long time after the Armed Constabulary left it. In 1872 it was used as a barracks for immigrants when they came to Masterton. They used to live there till they could get a house. A good many parents of Masterton’s citizens spent a few weeks there. By order of the Borough Council it was demolished in the 80’s. Mrs Ewington bought the timber. The slabs were used to fence in her garden at Lansdowne. The house that used to stand in the centre was shifted to the other side of the Waipoua River in front of Wallis’s shop. It was burnt down some years later. One of the Hau Haus came to father one morning and said: “Peneta, I believe you can make powder. We will give you one hundred pounds if you will show us the way to make it.” Father replied: "If I tell the Armed Constabulary what you are after you will be shot on sight.” The next day the friendly Maoris reported that the Hau Haus had left by way of the Ruamahanga riverbed to the Upper Opaki to the old Maori track that went into the bush there. Captain ■ Walter Perry, who was afterwards Adjutant Perry, saw service in the Taranaki Rangers in 1860. He was butcher for the troop. On one occasion he was out getting cattle to kill, when he was ambushed by a party of Maoris. He was shot through the ankle, the bullet going through the , girth into the horse that he was riding. He put in his spurs and made'

for the camp. He felt that the horse was badly wounded, and was failing fast, but it managed to get within the lines before it staggered and fell. He also told me of an old Maori who used to come out of the scrub on to a hilltop every evening within sight of their camp. He would dance and gesticulate, knowing that he was out of range of their Enfield rifles. Mr Perry asked the Commander if he could have a shot at him- The Commander said it was not much use wasting ammunition at that distance, but he could have a try if he liked. So Mr Perry got a piece of tin and doubled the length of his back sight. He then practised taking sight on the place where the Maori used to stand, using a tree stump for a rest. In the evening just as the sun was setting, which gave- Mr Perry a perfect light, the expected visitor arrived. , He put out his tongue, rolled his eyes and shouted derision at the soldiers. Mr Perry pulled the trigger. Whether the bullet hit him or only burnt his ear as it passed was never known, for when the smoke cleared away (which was a long time afterwards, as Mr Perry had put in a charge and a half) the Maori was gone. He never came back again. MILITARY GRANTS. That part of Matahiwi, now owned by Messrs Stempa and Birch, was always known as the Military Grant. It was a grant to Majoi’ Coutts (uncle of the late Mr John and Mr Harry Holmes of Matahiwi) for service in the Maori wars of the north. He used to live there in the 60’s. He built the first house there, cutting the timber with a circular saw. This was the first power-driven saw about Masterton. The power was derived from a water wheel on the Waipoua River, at-the back of Mr Vincent Buick’s property on the west side of the river. After the timber was cut it had to be sledged by bullocks over a corduroy road to the building site. Some of the timber is still in the old. Matahiwi homestead. I have seen the remains of the old wheel. The Maori name for the mill site was Kohanga Weka, woodhen’s nest, a very appropriate name, as there used to be hundreds of those birds there. Messrs Holmes’s name for it was “Mill Field.” In the early days Volunteers received a land grant or scrip for sixty acres of land or £3O in cash, for so many years’ service. Nearly all the small farms near the Kaituna Hall were Volunteer grants. The Cavalry got the same. Several of the Tinui pioneers received grants. Mr Richard Tankersley had his on the Te- Mara Creek.