HERO OF BOULCOTT FARM HONOURED.

DEDICATION CEREMONY

Amid the picturesque surroundings of St. James's Church on a perfect spring morning, a most impressivo ceremony was conducted last Sunday morning, when the memorial stone erected to the memory of Sergt B. Xugram, who died of wounds received in the fight of Boulcott Farm on May 16th, 1846, was dedicated by the Vicar (Rev H. E. K. Fry) and formally handed into the ,care of the Church-

wardens,

Sergeant? Ingram was one of a small party of the 58th Regiment who were surprised in the early morning by a band of Maoris who came over the hills from Porirua. Six of the defend ers were killed outright, including Bugler Allen, and four were wounded. Sergeant Ingram and Thomas Hoseman, <who were among the wounded, died some days later.

For some time the headstone memorial to Sergeant Ingram was standh in the Bolton Street Cemetery and in 1928 Mr W.-T. Strand then Mayor of Lower Hutt, obtained permission to take possession of it. The stone was cleaned and was handed over to St. James's Church by the present mayor •Mr. J.W. Andrews. With him were Crs. C. J. Ashton, B. Ginger, W. Wilson, A. Grierson, J. E. Napier, W. G-. Meldrum and the town clerk, Mr B. S. Enox and the borough engineer Mr R. F. Mainland.

The inscription 60. the stone reads: "Sacred to the Memory of Sergeant Ing rani and the Men of the 58th Reginicnt who Fell on the Morning of the 16th May 1846 while gallantly defending their Post at the Hutt against a desperate attack made on it by the Rebel Natives; This Stone is erected by Lieutenant Page and suiwiving com ra'des of the 58th Regiment."

On behalf of the borough council and citizens of Lower Hutt, Mr Andrews handed over the. memorial stone to the churchwardens, Mr A. J. Jarman, people's warden, accepted the stone on behalf of the parishioners and vestry.

,"Wc rejoice in "the good fellowship which exists between the Maori and the pakeha," said- Mr Andrews, and we are pleased to see Maoris as officers and privates among ous soldiers.''

The units on parade -were Hutt Valley Branch of the K.S.A.j New Zealand Artillery under Major R. Cowie and a detachment of the Wellington Regiment under Captain L. George. Lieutenant-Colonel J. L. Saunders, D.5.0., officer commanding the Wellington Regiment, took the salute. The Wellington Regiment's pipe and drum band under Pipe-Major !G. McLennan and Drum-Major H. 'Pringle, sounded a lament which was 1 followed by the '' Reveille sounded by Sergeant Bugler C. James. The > Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and Cubs [were also in attendance.

There were three Maori Veterans present, Messrs James Cameron o£ Lower Hutt, W. H. Sebley, of Petone, and George Hooper of Taita.

. After the ceremony the parade attended Divine Service.

Boulcott's Farm was the most advanced post of the Regulars in 1840, though there was an outpost at Taita. The fog of the early morning revealed ,to the sentry on duty the outline of : some low bush that fringed the clearing to his left, and they appeared to move in his direction. He caught a sight of a shaggy head and gun-barrel ijboye these bushes and yelled 'Maoris'

at the top of his voice 7 filing as he did so. Fifty Maori guns delivered a volley aimed low to rake the floors of the tents, while the enemy followed this up with the tomahawk to such good effect that not a man of the picket escaped. The four soldiers who

composed the picket included among their number one, William Allen, the bugler to the company. When tho sentry's shot was heard, Allen seized his bugle and running outside, put it to his lips to blow the alarm. In the act of sounding the call he was attacked by a Maori who tomahawked him in the right shoulder almost" sever ing his arm and felled him to tho ground. Struggling to rise, he took the bugle with his other hand and again tried -to sound the alarm, but a second blow killed him.

By this time the main body had realised the situation and the garrison of forty-four men was hard pressed by about two hundred warriors. Tho house where Lieut. Pago of the 58th Regiment was living was surrounded, but he with a few men, among whom was Sergt. E. Ingram, fought his way to the barn where the rest of the men were. Page rallied his men in, the barn which was surrounded by a stock ade, aud came out in the-- open, advancing in. • skirmishing order with. fixed bayonets.

At the height of the engagement, a body of the Hutt Militia, iwho had been disbanded on the previous Monday, but who still retained their arms, came to the assistance of the troops their arrival being the turning point in the fight, for the Maoris imagined them to bo the advance, guard* of a much larger force.

After an engagement of an hour and a half, the Maoris were driven*" across the- river and into the bush on the Western Hills.

<Cowau's History of N.Z.