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Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1940, Page 2

An object suspected of being a floating mine, but proved later to be a buoy, came ashore at Taharoa Bay. eight miles south of Kawhia, and was examined by military officers from Hamilton. The discovery was reported to naval headquarters in Auckland. A parly of Maoris who were walking along the beach first saw the buoy, which they believed lo be a floating mine that had been washed ashore. The Army Department at Hamilton was advised, and Major W. 11. Allen, area ofl'icer, and Lieutenant S. A. McNamara, adjutant of the Waikato Regiment, left for Taharoa to investigate. Although a comparatively short distance from Kawhia by airline. Taharoa beach is difficult of access. The officers travelled by launch to Te Maika and then rode horses over the sandhills. The action of the Maoris in reporting a suspicious object on the beach was perhaps prompted by memories of a mine, laid by the German ship Wolf, which went ashore not far from Raglan after the last war. It exploded, causing loss of life, I