HONORING THE BRAVE.

Evening Star, Issue 6888, 28 April 1886, Page 4

HONORING THE BRAVE.

On Easter Monday the ceremony was performed of unveiling a monument erected at Manaia to the memory of the officers and men who fell during the last war on the West Coast. It had been arranged that the Hon. Mr Ballance should perform the ceremony, but he was detained on the East Coast. The ceremony was performed by Lieutenant-colonel Roberts, who, as Captain Roberts, led the forces out of Te Ngutu after the disaster there, when Von Tempsky fell.

Colonel Roberts said: As one of the surviving officers of all the engagements described on the I should be neglecting the duty which lies upon me to show honor to my dead comrades if I did not say a few words expressive of my admiration of the devoted conduct of the brave men whose names are here recorded. When I look at this long, sad list, my memory rushes back to within a few months of eighteen years ago, at the Te Ngutu o Te Manu, where fell the gallant Major Von Tempsky, whose name appears first on the roll. And no wonder that it does so appear. He was always first in danger and last to leave it, and never asked a man to do that which by example lie was not prepared to do himself. We do well to honor such men as him. If he had a fault as a soldier, it was the characteristic one of always being in advance—sometimes, mayhap, too far in advance. The next one on the list is Major Hunter, whose bravery and courage were always conspicous, and who fell mortally wounded in the fight, while showing his love and devotion to his country. His last words I remember well—- “ Follow me closely,” Captain Ross is next on the Ust. He lost his life in defending a post which he commanded, and, unfortunately for him and the handful of men whom he had with him, was taken at such disadvantage that he w’as unable to make use of the soldierly qualities that he possessed. Captain Brown fell in the trenches before Ngatipawa while nobly setting his men an example, scorning danger when duty demanded that exposure. The next name is that of Captain Buck, of undoubted courage and cool sound judgment. Well do I remember his firm unflinching courage atTe Ngutu. Having lost our leaders, we held brief counsel together as to what should be done, and I directed him to hold a certain position and await my return from a search for Von Tempsky. He carried out my orders only too faithfully. I returned to find him there at the assigned post—but dead, with his face to the foe. Captain Palmer and Lieutenant Hastings are next on the list—men who met their death whilst nobly doing their duty; and then Lieutenant Hunter, who was the life of the camp with his sparkling wit and jovial laugh, whose bright humor was not absent in times of danger. Only a few minutes before he fell he laughingly said : “ There is one of them. I can see the white of his eye. Give it to him.” They were simple words, but they were words of the brave sustaining spiritwords to inspire men with courage in their difficulty and lighten the dangers. I would fain run over the list of non-commissioned officers and men who with our allies the friendly Natives (the majority of whom I knew, and whose courage and devotion I was an eye-witness to), but time does not permit. We arc too apt to forget what we owe to the brave men whose memory we are here to-day to honor, and the surrounding circumstances under which they sacrificed their lives. AH the pomp of war was wanting, but none of its hardships and dangers. There were no brilliant uniforms, no flying banners to cheer the weary as they filed their way through the tangled, gloomy, trackless forest; no blow of trumpet nor beating of drum to rouse them to the charge; yet how nobly all did their duty. And the last moments of some—perhaps the majority—were not eased by a comrade’s kindly touch, nor soothed by sympathetic looks and hopeful words, but were often agor.is;d by fiendish yells and savage mutilation by the foe. I need say no more. I trust this monument will be kept in good preservation, and that the names thereon written may be cherished with pride by generations to come; and I conclude by expressing my great regret that Captain Hempton (to whom much credit is due for the erection of this monument) is not here to-day.—(Applause). Some of the survivors were also present, but most were too much affected to speak at any length.