OLD RAGS

Evening Star, Issue 19778, 31 January 1928, Page 12

OLD RAGS

EMBLEMATIC OF GLORY COLORS OF THE BRAVE 58TH A CENTURY OF FAME. Sabre-lashed and bullet-riddled, the Slins of the colors of the valorous Regiment are rotting to dust behind the glass of their repository in the entrance to the Public Library, Wellesley street, Auckland (states an exchange). Thousands pass them bj every wecTc without a thought, and ol those who do pause a moment tc glance at the old rags, how many realise that they are emblems of a history that can never perish while the British Empire lasts? An invisible host of forgotten heroes answers witi a bold affirmative. Those rotting rag; which would crumble to powder were the case to be opened are the grand ole colors of the brave old 58th, a regiment which played a gallant part in settling New Zealand’s troubles in the ’forties and ’fifties of the last century. DYED WITH HEROES’ BLOOD. Those self-same colors were carrier into action in the days when trend warfare was unknown, and they hav< been grimed with the smoke of batth and dyed with the blood of heroes. Tm colors recall to the student of history the fame and fortunes of wars of men than 100 years. Not for eighty year, and more have they braved the din o battles, but their glory is undunmished The Black Cuffs, as the 58th Regi tnent was affectionately termed, _ weri raised in 1755, and first saw service ii America, It was the sbth Regimen that led the attack when the left wini of the French army was first brokei and the dying Wolfe was borne Iron the field by men of that regiment Similar colors to those m the cas flapped in the breeze when the üßth Jet St. Helena, under the command of Gen era! Sir Charles Grey, in 1793 m th expedition to the French M est Indies Eight years later th© same regimen added to its fame by gallant deeds a the Battle of Alexandria. _ A serum undertaking was the expulsion of th French from Egypt, and the Aimj under' that distinguished soldier, bi Ralph Abercrombie, did not perl on the feat without suffering, iho Arm landed at Aboukir Bay on March] 1801, and in the first attack the 58t had an important position among ™ reserves. The French 2nd Brigadegreat fighting force —broke througl and nothing held them till they clashe , with the 58th Regiment on March 2]

Fierce lighting took place, but the French were chocked. Sir Ralph Abercrombie was mortally wounded on a bloody, corpse-strewn field, the like of which the oldest soldier present had never seen before. HEROIC DEEDS UNDER FIRE. Five yeats later the 58th were to the fore in the Battle of Maida, fought on July 4, 1806. There was terrible slaughter of the French, and the ranks of the 58th were shrunken to skeleton proportions when the roll was called. What a tradition! And so one could go e on, for there arc names to conjure with is on the old flags: Salamanca, Orthes, 3- Peninsula, Mortits Insiguiacalpc, Gibe raltar, Pyresces, Vittoria, Nivellc. Nor 3- was that the end, for the 58th Regii- meat—or at least a portion of it—came y to New Zealand in April, 1846, to take if a hand in the troubles which.beset the 0 colony. Going to tho Bay of Islands, > the 58th fought in several engagements, s- notably that at Ohaeawai, on May 8, te 1845. Heroic deeds were performed by those men from Old England. Auh other memorable engagement was at 5 s Ruapekapoka pa, on January 11, 1846. The fight finished tho first Maori War. :d it THE CAPTURE OF A PA. S Scouts reported that the Maoris ;s were at their devotions, it being Sunday morning, and the European • commander gave the order to charge tho pa. In their innocence tho Maoris id imagined that the British troops ;h would also devote the early morning 'o hours to prayer. To their cost they le found that “all’s fair in love and le war,” and was compatible with •y Christianity, for tho men of the 58th re bearing colors aloft, were among rs them, shooting them down, ere they of had risen from their knees! The d. Maoris fled to the bush, where they ;i- rallied, and from the shelter of the re dense scrub fired several devastating in volleys into the British troops. Maori at snipers, perched in high trees, picked ig off the attackers by the dozen. The ;n British paid dearly for the capture m of the pa, which was burned. Heroes t. all, the men of tho 58th Regiment se returned to Auckland, and twelve ft years later they were ordered Home, n- During their stay in Auckland they lie were idolised by the colonists for is. their fine qualities. They proved that nt they could fight lire as capably as they at could a human enemy, and saved many us a settler’s home, while some of the he roads they built were memorials to y, their work in the colony for many Sir years. No fewer than 1,100 men of ■m the 58th obtained their discharges and ay remained in New Zealand when the 1) grand old regiment left for the Home th Land. With what memories, bitterhe sweet, must the strains of ‘The Girl I --a Left Behind .Me ’ or, whatever the band ;h, played in those days, have been ed charged as the populace saw the last !1. of th© Black Cuffs.

GLORIOUS OLD RELICS. And that is tho story of the They were presented to tho City of Auckland after the departure of the regiment, and would have been hung in St. Paul’s Church had Bishop Sclwyn not protested, on the grounds that the tattered Hags might give offence to Maori members of the church. They were kept for a time at Government ifouse, and later at the homo of Captain Balneavis, being transferred to the Supreme Court building when it was finished in IS6S. There they remained for two score years, till deposited in tho entrance ol the Public Library. The historic names on their background of gold arc still as clear as the day when they were first cmb.cidered, but the bulk of the bunting has been shredded to ribbons by the hand of Time—careless old Time, who woulo cast tho most glorious relics on t) his* dust heap, oblivion. Only the bine of the Union Jack is •.ntaoo, but the fame of the 58th will never die. A faded old (lag of red, with a vhite star,- shaded in black, and a cniclo white cross, emblazoned upon it, occupies a case on 'he opposite wall. The word “ Aotearoa. ” (the Maori name for New Zealand) is inscribed along the bottomilistonc memories cluster about this flag, too, for it was captured in action on December 13. 1863. by Forest Ranger William Johns, at Paparata. In startling contrast with the misty old colors of tho 58th Regiment is the big German flag, with a giant spie-U eagle sprawled across its ten, white, ami black base. Can a Hag new ~nd vn so Hod have a history? YeJ. for h was flying on tho Government Link!iims at Apia, Samoa, on August - 1914, when the New Zealand ■l'jxp.nrtionary Force landed. Private B.idey, a Suva-born member of Die Auckl-x.m Regiment, hauled the pro ml eagle down, and up went the British flag! A mong those associated with him ui this action were Sergeant Nottingham and Private Warden, both of whom made the supreme sacrifice at Gallipoli. Tn the reading room upstairs there is a huge Royal Standard, hung from the ceiling. Apart from the fact that it has been hung wrong-end up, and that the present King and Queen presented it to Auckland on the occasion of their visit in 1911. this flag is m no way remarkable, and seems somewhat out of place.