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Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 348, 11 September 1868, Page 2

The brave conduct of a Catholic priest at the storming of Te Ngatu-o-te-Manu, is thus recorded by the "Wanganui Times ":—" Through the rapid river, waist deep along the weary forest track, across ominous looking clearings, where at any moment a volley from an ambush could have swept our ranks, Father Roland marched cheerfully and manfully, ever ready with a kind word, a playful sentence to any man who passed him. And when at last in the clearings of Te Ngatu-o-te-Manu the storm of bullets burst upon us, he did not wait in the rear for men being brought to him, but ran with the rest of us forward against the enemy's position. So soon as any man dropped, he was by his side ; he did not ask are you .Catholic or Protestant, but kneeling prayed for his ' last words.' Thrice noble conduct, in a century of utilitarian tendencies. "What Catholic, on that expedition, could have felt fear when he saw Father Roland by his side, smiling at death, a living personification, a fulfilment of many a text preached ; what Catholic could have but felt proud to be a Catholic on that day, on Father Roland's account.''