BOULCOTTS FARM

TROUBLED DAYS IN THE HUTT

A MODERN MEMORIAL

AND A MAN WHO REMEMBERS THE FIGHT.

Not far distant from the actual scene of the conflict at Lower Hutt —at the corner of the Main load and Military road, which leads to tho golf coursethere was erected some eighteen months ago a stone memorial "to the glory of God and in memory of men of the Imperial and Colonial Forces -who fell in the Hutt Valley during the Maori War, 1846." Particularly this stone commemorates the attack on Boulcott's Farm oh lGth May, 1846. On that grey morning some 200 Natives, led by Topine te Mamaku (Te Karamu), and acting under instructions , from Rarigihaeata, swept down the steep track by the Belmont stream to surprise the small band of the 58th Regiment in camp at the Farm. Superior in numbers and knowing well the ground, the

Natives failed to count upon the steadiness of disciplined troops, and were forced to retire. From reports to the Colonial Secretary by the1 Superintendent (Major M. Richmond), Major Edward Last, and Lieutenant G. Hyde Page, who was in charge of the camp, some idea of the attack may be gathered. BREAK O' DAY. "About half an hour before daylight," writes the Lieutenant, "the sentry in front, of where the inlying piequet was posted observed several Maories creeping toward him. He fired, when immediately a heavy rush was made from all parts of the surrounding wood. The piequet was overpowered in

an instant. The Maortes then surrounded the outhouses occupied by part of the troops, at the same time keeping up a heavy fire. Serjeant Norton here succeeded in checking them with a few men who got out of the .'louses. J. rushed from the back part of my house with two servants, but we were driven back directly. We sallied forth again, and, with a few men who joined us, made our way at last to the bam, round which I had made a small stockade occupied by half my force (25). On arriving there I advanced in extended order with as many more of the men las I could safely take from the stock j ade, and drove the enemy across the river." TO THE RESCUE. On hearing of the attack Major Last instantly dispatched an order for Captain Hardy and his fiftyl men at the stockade two miles further back, to move forward to Lieutenant Page's support, at the same time sending the same number of the 99th Regiment from Wellington by a forced march to replace them in the stockade. PRIENDLY NATIVES. The attack was not entirely unexpected by Maori and settler but the civil and military authorities seem not to have been alive to the likelihood of action by Rangihaeata, and it was not until after the attack that offers of help were accepted by Major Richmond from friendly Natives such as "Epuni and his 100 followers; Mutoroa with the Pipitea Natives, and those of Te Aro under Moses, with a few living in the pas of Nauranga and Waiwetee"

—a total force of about 200. These loyal Maoris were 'at their own request supplied with somewhat inferior arms and ammunition and took the field immediately, establishing a temporary kainga at where the Lower Hutt golf links now are. Major Richmond also requested reinforcements from the Colonial Secretary. "Our military force being so small," he writes, "and it being necessary to detach it to so many points, we shall require as strong a reinforcement as it may be in His Excellency's power to afford." HEARD THE FIRING. Such then was the foray at Boulcott's Farm those many years ago. A puny affair i» the light of modern times, but tragic enough in pioneering days. One of the few surviving settlers of those stirring days still lives

at Lower Hutt in the person of Mr. George Judd, who was 91 last iifay. The old term "hale and hearty" aptly describes the veteran, who arrived in 1840, with his parents in the Martha Ridgway. ■ "Iremember the attack quite well,' he said to a "Post" reporter recently. "The Maoris came creeping forward holding branches before them, so the sentries said; to prevent them being seen. I remember hearing the firing. Wo were all in the Weslcyan Church Schoolroom, and my brother James was born there a week after the attack. He, too, is still alive in Lower Hutt. The ! Natives went up to the Taitai afterwards and they came down the Belmon track which leads through to Pahautanui. Yes, Bugler Allen was killed at the Farm." Everyone knows the story of the gallant bugler (he is mentioned as Private in the official list of casualties), who sounded the alarm despite desperate wounds. The bugle was taken by the Maoris, but recaptured later near Paremata, together with a bundle of bayonets, and was later returned to No. 6 Company to which Allen belonged. MEMORIALS, OLD AND MEW.' The present memorial was erected chiefly through the agency of Mr. W. T. Strand (Mayor of Lower Hutt), who discovered in the Bolton Street Chapel the original commemorative tablet raised by Lieutenant Page and surviving comrades of the 58th Regiment. It was decided that this old tablet should be erected at the Hutt, and permission to do so was granted by the Wellington ' City Council, but the Early Settlers'

Association wished it to remain in Wellington. This was agreed to and the new memorial was subscribed to by the War Graves Department, by residents using the golf links, by the Lower Hutt Borough Council and the Early Settlers' Association. The original tablet, however, is still in the Council Chambers at the Hutt, for, until the restoration of the Bolton Street Chapel, the early settlers have nowhere to house the relic. Owing to the illness of Mr. Edwards, secretary of the Early Settlers' Association, the arrangements made some months ago for the unveiling of the new memorial were postponed, but the, ceremony may now be held quite soon. It should prove a pleasant occasion for, many surviving pioneers to Vecollect again the early, stirring, hardy days^.'which will never come again.