Hokitika keeping ‘Old Gun’

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 16

Hokitika keeping ‘Old Gun’

By

PAT WARD,

of Hokitika

One defence relic that is unlikely to find a new home in the proposed Army Memorial Museum at Waioura is the 165-year-old cannon in Cass Square. Hokitika.

Known as the “Old Gun” by generations of local residents, its muzzle points towards the entrance of the Hokitika River. The barrel gleams in the sun—polished by so manv children discovering an impromptu slide.

Historical research about the gun was carried out six years ago by Mr S. G. Havill, then chairman of reserves, for the borough council. Manufactured in Scotland in 1813, it was classified as a bastion, or fort cannon: much heavier in construction than the field or battle cannon. The barrel is made of high grade cast iron, resting on a cast and malleable iron carriage. A muzzle loader, it has a smooth, six-inch bore and could fire a six-inch round shot with apparently an effective range of about 1000 yards.

or a cannister of grape shot. The latter w'ould have been particularly deadly against cavalry or massed men. A number of these cannon were sent out from England during the Maori Wars, but there was limited opportunity to use them because of their weight — about five tons. Mr Havill is unsure whether they were ever fired at that time.

During the Russian scare of the 1870 s, the populations of Westport, Greymouth. and Hokitika expressed their concern to the government of the day about the lack of defence against an invasion of those ports. The result was the arrival of three of these cannon on the West Coast. Each was set up about half a mile from a port ontrance so that it could be fired on a fixed range into the river mouths.

Hokitika’s gun originally was sited just west of Tancred Street, but well before 1900 was moved to the square.

In 1966, a small group of enthusiasts wanted the gun fired as part of the town’s centennial celebrations. The wooden plug was removed from the muzzle and an attempt was made to clean out the barrel. The matter was still being debated, and the council had not given permission for a firing, when some well-placed concrete in the barrel assured no repetition of the fatal incident of the Westport cannon 62 years previously.

During that town’s celebration to mark the end of the Boer War. permission was given to the Westport Fire Brigade to fire the gun. It W’as a calamitous decision. The cannon blew to pieces, killing the firer and wounding some spectators, including one man who lost his right arm while holding his grandson with his left.

Alan Skelton was that child. As a Gisborne resident in 1972, he described

the incident as a “close call.”

Greymouth's cannon, after many years, was removed to the gas company’s yard, where it lay unwanted and finally ended up as scrap.

Hokitika, too, almost lost its cannon once. Mr Havill was borough overseer during the 19505, a period of a scrap metal boom. One day he saw the gun being loaded on to a truck by a crane and was told it had been purchased. Its destination was Japan in a shipment of scrap metal. By the time a check had been made at the council office the gun had reached the railway yard and was being loaded on to a wagon. Mr Havill recorded that threat of action for theft soon cleared up the matter — an apparent mistake by the metal company.

The cannon was returned to its vigil in the square, where it remains and where it is likely to stay.