A BRAVE DEED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

A BRAVE DEED.

(By Flora Soar, SenclifTe Road, Oneliunga, S.E.u; age ID.) May 10, 1030, was the !>oth anniversary of a brave deed in New Zealand history. A company of soldiers of the 58th Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Page, was stationed at Bouleott's Farm, Lower Hutt. A sergeant's guard was placed near the ford of the Taita River, with a bell tent for their accommodation. As the ford had been guarded for some time and no Maoris had been seen, tlie soldiers were very much surprised when they were attacked by two hundred Maoris. The sentinels were quietly killed and tlie men in the tent were butchered as they lay. In tlie tent was the bugler—a mere lad —named William Allen. When the Maoris attacked the tent, Jie seized his bugle with his right hand to sound the alarm; but his right arm was severed by a tomahawk. Grabbing the bugle with his left hand, he was again attacked, but managed to blow a. blast, which aroused his comrades occupying the barn, and who were thus able to protect themselves until help came. Mr. Boulcott saved his own life by getting up the chimney. A wayside memorial of rough hewn stone marks the spot at the Taita, while Lieutenant Fage raised a monument to