TRIBUTE TO REWI

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 27, 1 August 1933, Page 5

TRIBUTE TO REWI

THE ORAKAU FIGHT

MUNITJONALLY UNEQUAL

"Bewi Maniapoto, as I remember him, tvas a man of rather small, compact build, quick-moving, keen-eyed, an active man eveu in his old age, a complete contrast to his fellow-chieftain, the great orator Wahanui—the Maori Demosthenes as someone oiice called him—who weighed twenty-four stone | and could never find a pair of trousers big enough for him in the country stores. Jsewi was a warrior born." Mr. James * Cowan, who writes as above in "The New Zealand Railways Magazine," in his early years knew Kewi and his cousin Tupotahi, and Mr. Cowan succeeds as a hero-worshipper without failing as ail historian. tie writes:— "No heroic episode in New Zealand's history surpasses in fame the siege and defence of Orakau Pa, where the Kingite Maoris made their last stand m the Waikato War, and no call to valour equals in dramatic inspiration tha defiant reply of the garrison to tho British general'sl demand- for surrender. J>he chief figure in the defence, Eewi Maniapoto, was the most vigorous and _ uncompromising of the1 Maori Nationalist leaders throughout ' tha war." ~ EEWI AS TACTICIAN. As a boy of fourteen Eewi fought in tribal fighting in Taranaki in 1832. Twenty-eight years later he was tha most^ determined of the chiefs who led the attack on No. 3 redoubt, in thu Waitara campaign. Fifty of his comrades fell in that desperately brava attempt to carry 'a British earthwork with, the tomahawk. He fought oa many fields in North Taranaki; then, in 1863 he turned his attention north-, ward and took violent measures against Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Gorst's.printing press at Te Awamutu, resulting in both Mr. Gorst^ and the press returning to Auckland. This precipitated the Waikato War, in which tha Kingites were gradually forced back. Orakau as a defensive site did not appeal to Rewi, but he fell in with the general wish of the Maori fighters, which inclu4«d nearly 140 Ureweras who had come to help Rewi on his appeal, as well as Taupo men. "Of Rewi's \ own tribe there were not more than fifty; the rest remained southward of the river Punui. At Orakau there wera 310 Maoris of various tribes, with many women and some children. Ones Rewi accepted the decision to make a stand at Orakau, he threw himself into the defence with all his fiery energy and warrior skill. "The Maori redoubt, a small and' really insignificant . earthwork, was about 80 feet in. length by' 40 . feet in width. It was a rectangular entrenchment, with inner and outer trenches, some interior dugouts, and shallow covered ways, and a low parapet, outside of which a post and rail fence around part of the little fort made a further obstacle, but a flimsy one.. The diggers were working there as busy as bees tmder Rewi's direction, when a military surveyor at Kihikihi descried through his theodolite telescope the flashing of the spades and shovels in the sunshine, and reported it to the commander of the troops." SHORT OF AMMUNITION. The siege began on the morning of March 31; it ended late in the afternoon of April 2. "We lived in'a circla of fire and smoke," said Paitini, a man, of the Urewera, who was severely wounded there. There was a supply of food, but the water was exhausted by the- end of the first night. To tha rifle fire of hundreds of soldiers, a bombardment with two six-pounder Armstrong guns was added, and on tho third day hand-grenades were thrown into the pa from the head of a flyingsap dug up to the northern outwork. Ringed with a line of steel, earthworks battered by shell fire, men, women, and little children tortured with thirst, tha valorous little band held out; there was t no thought of surrender. The defenders ran short of ammunition for their double and single-barrel guns, so ;short that in the night firing they used small pieces of apple and manuka wood as bullets, ' saving their lead for the daytime. They repulsed repeated charges, and Rewi directed sorties from the redoubt.. It is recorded -that forty thousand rounds of Enficld ammunition were fired by the troops'in the Biege. "No wonder," interjects Mr. Cowan, "we young, sters found bullets in the ground turned up by the plough, and explored tha scarred old peach'tree with bur pocket knives for bits of lead." The Maoris were of necessity far more sparing of their powder and lead; still they mada the troops keep close to cover. But tha sap, the artillery, and the hand-grenades spelled the doom of Orakau. The end was near. ' The story of the afternoon of April 2, ' 1864, imperishably remains as an inspiration to deeds of courage and fortitude. Nowhere in history did the spirit of pure patriotism blaze up more brightly than in that little earthwork redoubt, torn by shellfire and strewn with dead and dying. The grim band of heroes proudly refused the terms offsred by General Cameron, who certainly did not wish to sacrifice them. THE DEFIANCE. To the general's request, delivered by the interpreter from the head of tho sap, the reply was delivered by a chief who was. Rewi's mouthpiece: "Peace will never be made, never, neveri ' * A further reply, in words that will forever live, was delivered: "Friend, I shall fight against you for ever ' and ever!" (in the Maori, '<E hoa, ka whawhai tonu ahau ki a koe, ake, ake!") The interpreter, Mr. Mair (afterwards Major) said: "That is well for^you men, but it is not right that the women and children should die. Let them come out." . A noble-looking woman, the chieftainess Ahumai, made reply: "If tha men are to die, the women and children will die alsft!" So went on the hopeless fight, but not for much longer. Rewi gave the word; his .warriors loaded their guns with their last cartridges, and with the women and children in their midst, they charged out in a body, going at a steady trot at first, until the amazed soldifirs opened a fearful fire upon them. That retreat through the fern and swamp to the Puniu River and beyond was, like the defence of the pa, full of deeds of gallantry and self-sacrifice. Rewi himself was surrounded by a small bodyguard of his devoted kinsmen; one of those gallant fellows, his nephew, To Huia Raureti, still lives on the Punin banks, a white-headed veteran of over 90, the very last of the warriors of his clan who fought through to safety that day of mingled gloom and glory. When the sun went down on Orakau a hundred and sixty Maoris lay dead on the battlefield and on the line of flight to the border river. ■■ More than half tha garrison, and of the survivors, half, probably, were wounded. Of the British, seventeen were killed and fifty-two wounded.