A RECENT OLD WELLINGTON HISTORY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7813, 4 June 1909, Page 4

A RECENT OLD WELLINGTON HISTORY.

"THE THREE DAYS' BOMBARDMENT OF WELLINGTON."

A recent fire m Oriental Bay has revived some memories of the past, and Mr James McDowell has sent the Post the following interesting reminiscences : "The fire m Kilrudden avenue Oriental- Bay, brought to my memory the story of. the three days' bombard; ing that Wellington hills and Maori pans sustained from a British warship long ago. How many m New Zealand to-day ever heard of this forgotten event ? We owned a very large garden surrounding our house m Oriental Bay, and years afterwards disposed of much of the land m building allotments. On a portion of that garden the houses recently destroyed, and others, have been built. Long ago, when I was preparing to plant rose bushes and other flowers there, m the virgin soil,, I dug up, to my astonishment, two antiquated cannon balls. I had them cleaned and painted and placed on the front verandah as curiosities. I made many inquiries, but was a long time before I found any clue. Some of my friends thought Captain Cook must have fired them, but careful reading of Cook's journals and Sir Joseph Banks's volumes proved that Captain Cook never entered Wellington Harbour m either of his three voyages ; also, that the story—still sometimes repeated —that he sailed m through Maranui, 1 is pure invention. It is to the-late Sir George Grey, that great authority on Maori tradition, that I owe the solution of the mystery. In 1827 the crew of a boat belonging to a whaler was captured, killed, and eaten by some of the natives on the shores of Wellington Harbour. When the tidings reached Sydney a British warship visited the spot on a punitive expedition. At that time all the hills around the harbour were clothed to the waters edge with dense forest. There was a large" Maori population m the various pahs, and on the arrival of the man-of-war they took to the woods for concealment. The pahs were cannonaded, and for three days cannon shots were fired into the bush where the natives lay hidden. In those days (1827) there lived with the Waikanae Maoris a runaway sailor, familiarly known to the older generation as 'Jock Niccoll' and 'Scotch Jock,' who forty years ago used to bring m his wool fco Ktull and Company m the last of the bullock, drays. He confirmed the account of the burning of the Maori pahs and^the three days' bombardment and the mystery ceased. The old myth about the great navigator entering the harbour by way of Lyell's Bay and past the site of the Patent Slip is still occasionally repeated* though, it hats hiTg since been completely exploded."