DANGEROUS DAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 58, 9 March 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

DANGEROUS DAYS.

SCOUTING IN WAIROA BUSH

A MEMORY OF THE FOREST

RANGERS.

(By J.C.)

T'rampers and campers in the Wairoa and Hunua ranges, south-east of Auckland, are freo to admire the varied beauty of the remaining forests, to refresh their souls in the hallowed quiet of the deeper valleys where the streams come down from the hidden places. That sanctuary air in the bushy glens is not likely to be broken by a sudden volley from ambush. It was different in an era still well within the memory of some still living when those blue hills were a skirmishing ground, and when the forest roof masked the single-file marchings of Forest Rangers and Maori war parties trailing each other, always ready to engage in desperate combat in the twilight shadows. Present-day care-free rovers in those parts, where so much of the original bush is now farm land, should find the interest of their weekend trips heightened by some knowledge of the carbine-and-revolver and gun-and-tomahawk past. From the unpublished portion of a MS. narrative of Waikato War experiences, left by Major Von Tempsky, I take some notes of one of the early expeditions of the Forest Eangers into the Hunua and Wairoa forest in ISG3, when Lieutenant William Jackson (afterwards Major Jackson) and his newly-enlisted company of adventurers were searching for the bands of Maoris who had been raiding the Wairoa and the frontier farm*. Ensign Hay (son of a pioneer Papakura farmer) was with Jackson; Von Tempsky had not then joined, but marched as a volunteer at Jackson's invitation. The "Travellers' Rest." At that critical time on the frontier, when any settlers who remained on their bush sections did so at the risk of their lives, there was a halfway house, a farmhouse and roadside inn combined, between Papakura and the South Wairoa settlement redoubt (now Clevedon). This solitary house on the hush edge was called the " Travellers' Rest." Von Tempsky had freqitently called there on his rides to the Wairoa from Papakura camp. There is an admirable picture of the boss of the "Travellers' Rest" in the soldier-narrator's journal.,

"When all other settlers long before this," -wrote Von Tempsky, "had left their homes in. that neighbourhood, old Smith had made his house bullet-proof and loop-holed it, and with a. garrison of three sons, three blooming daughters, one man-servant, and last, not least, Mrs. Smith, had defied the Maori marauders to drive him from his comfortable profession. ' Smith had been in California, and somehow or other that school always seems to have developed to the fullest extent a sturdy self-reliance in all men who have breathed its air. Besides, he had seen the rough side of the world in more places than one, and with a equare-built seabred figure and a bushy flow of beard, seemed quite the man to make a good jfight for his.right. After the establishment of the Forest Rangers Corps, Lieut. Jackson had chosen Smith's place ae. his headquarters on account of its contiguity to the Hunua, and its extensive outhouse accommodation for his men. Smith was certainly not loath to receive this jolly lot under his roof. He now reaped the benefit of his self-reliance in the shape of protection and profit." A Long Bash March. Leaving this headquarters early one morning for a three days' scout into the bush towards the supposed retreat of the Maoris, the long line of the blueshirted Rangers wound up a narrow trail into the northern part of the ITunua forest. They -were well armed with carbines (Terry and Calisher, the most modern weapon then procurable) and revolvers, to which Von Tempsky and one or two others added bowieknives, a handy tool in the bush. Jackson's intention was to penetrate by way of what is now Ararimu towards the rear of Paparata, where some tribes were strongly entrenched, according to report. (Von Tempsky had a thrilling adventure there some weeks later.) Aftor 'eaving Buckland's clearing, a deserted farm in the heart of the bush, ' the Rangers found themselves in a, trackless tall forest, the great trees holding up a dense ceiling of branch and foliage, A picture of the. roadless? bush wilds shows us the Ararimu region as' the Rangers found it. "It began to rain heavily; the supplejacks in the undergrowth became more and more luxuriant, and the ravines and gullies more frequent and abrupt, so that the heavily laden men, ensnared and opposed at every step, made but little progress. The light of day began to fade from the uncertain ground; here and there it etill hovered upon some tree-tops, till all around us became a dim chaos of branches, lianas, foliage and darkness. A gleam and a murmur of water down a dark gully announced the welcome presence of a drink. We clambered .down and encamped on the other side of a little stream, that is to say, each chose his tree, unrolled his blankets and rolled himself into them. The sentries were stationed, and reclining underneath a bushy rata, in the comfortable lair of an old boar, pipes alight, wo felt exceedingly comfortable in the first consciousness of sweet repose stealing over somewhat wearied limbs. Jackson announced to me that this creek was called the Mangawheau, according to his guides. I shrugged my ehoulders lnwardy at his credulity (Von Tempsky hiid little faith in bush guides) and went (iff into a delicious sleep, in spite of some rain and no lire." Next day at dawn the rangers fell in again for a hard and wet bush tramp. They found some old Maori clearings, in rich volcanic soil of a chocolate colour. They climbed higher into the ranges. Dark, deep gorges, of the wildest character, with veils of trailing mist, opened Up at their feet. No Maoris yet; nnt even an old footprint. About four in the afternoon Jackson halted for the rest of the clay, and his drenched rangers set to and built nikau and ferntree, shelters for the night. At the Camp Fires. Aftor a war council between the ofTi-em-s it was decided that iires might be lit us soon us darkness fell in fully; r.icv were to bo extinguished two hours before daylight |to prevent the smoke from being soon. A tcll-tti-lo wisp of smoke <>» n Inter ■vpi'dilioM lfd Jncksnii i>n<l his rangers > n rebel ciiinp, ruijhed and

Von Tempsky was rather amused to notice that Jackson and Hay were openly astonished that their companion stood the hard marching so well. They knew him, so far, as an amateur newspaper correspondent, with a foreign military training. But tough Von Tempsky had roughed it during eighteen years giierilla fighting in America, gold seeking, and a variety of hard and perilous adventuring. They were to discover yet that ho could outmarch them and teach them soldiering and bushcraft; they were just beginning such experiences. The tough soldier of fortune smiled; indeed he was rejoiced to be once more on this bush scouting trail. "So," he narrated, "I stretched out my feet toward the camp-fire, and luxuriously contemplated, athwart a well-lit pipe, the Salvator Rosa scene before me, and the prospect of dry socks in the morning. Our huts, or sheds, kept out the rain well; the nikau palm affords the readiest and best material in Xew Zealand bush for roofs. . . .

Thus all of us were comfortable that night, except the sentries during their hours on watch—but eight shillings a day and the honour of being a Forest l\aii£rer must b; paid for in some way."