TALES OF POVERTY BAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3461, 13 October 1913, Page 8

TALES OF POVERTY BAY.

THE HAUHAU REBELLION. STORY OF THE£IECE OF WAERENCA-A-HIKA. I NEW LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT. (Specially written for tue “Gisborne Times” from the Autobiography of the late Mr. John Brooking.) NO. 11. Following on our arrival in Poverty Bay we were for some days engaged in building the redoubt, and in the meantime Mr Donald McLean had come up from Napier to try and induce the Hauhaus to lay down their arms and disperse. A chief named Raharuhi Rukupo came down to Turangia, as Gisborne was then called, but, on behalf of the Hauhaus, refused any overtures in the direction of peace. At last Mr McLean sent them an ultimatum to the effect that if they did not lay down their arms within a certain time he would attack their pa at Waerengana-hika, but they openly defied the British forces. By this time a number of friendly Natives had arrived from the Coast, and were camped where the Maori runanga whaxe named Rawiri now stands. The meeting with Raharuhi Rukupo took place in this runanga and a number of us who happened to be off duty went down to have a look at the first Hauhau we had seen, jind a fine big

fellow he was, but of violent temper and full of hatred for the Pakeha. For instance, while the discussion was in progress some of us who were standing round were laughing and cracking jokes among ourselves and this raised jtlie ire of the Hauhau who turned angrily upon us and cried : “You laugh now, but in. a short time I will have your he&ds in kits.” _ One' of the friendly Natives readily responded to the heat of the Hauhau’s tone, and sinisterly suggested that under the circumstances it would be well for Raharuhi to be careful of liis tongue or his head might be put in a kit also!

Well, after all the fruitless parleying ia short time was allowed the rebels to come to their senses, but they daily grew more insolent and we could all see that active service was in immediate prospect. The first act of real hostility on our part was when four of our men —Tom Goldsmith, Tom Uren, Robert Goldsmith and myself—were ordered to hold ourselves in readiness for special service at daybreak the following morning. Just as the sun broke through the night we reported ourselves with our horses, which had been supplied by. the friendly Natives, and lieutenant George taking charge of the party, we swam across the river and proceeded up country. There was no road in those days, and we consequently had to grope our way through the manuka scrub until we reached a spot somewhere in the vicinity of Makaraka, after which tve e>mniry became more open. We soon, reached Waerenga-a-hika and found that the Bishop’s house and outhouses were still standing. Here Lieut. George took a hasty sketch of the position of the Pa and the surroundings and. we turned back towards Turanga. _ . Our instructions were to drive every horse we could find into the town, and so when we discovered a number of torses grazing near the river our officer and. Robert Goldsmith went down to round them up, the remaining three of us being ordered to remain behind and cover any possible attack on them. | In a few moments tve heard the sound of galloping horses coming from the direction of. the Pa, and as we had heard that the Hauhaus had 300 mounted fighting men we concluded that we had been, seen in the vicinity of the Bishop’s house and, that a detachment of the rebels were after us. Consequently, deeming discretion the better part of valor, we drew back into the bushes, and waited, revolver in hand, until the horses cam up, when to our relief we saw a hundred or so horses driven one Maori, armed only with a long manuka stick, which he was using as a stock-whip. We immediately took him prisoner and commandeered the horses. By this time Lieut. George and R. Goldsmith had, come up With their horses and: we started towards the town with about 150 head of horses ahead of us. We added to the mob as we went and finally drove into Turanga, with about 5200 horses. We chose the best of them and let the rest go.

..A. MARCH ON THE; PA. • This was the first act of war in Poverty Bay, but a few days Jater we were ordered to march on the Waeren-ga-a-hika Pa and our force, which consisted of the Forest Rangers, the Hawke’s Bay Volunteers, a detachment of the Military .Settlers, the Hawke’s Bay Colonial Defence Force, and friendly Natives, was soon on the way. We damped the first night at Mr George Goldsmith’s place on the bank of the Waipaoa River. Mr Goldsmith’s poor ducks and pigs, which had been left to themselves for some time, came confidently up to us in the expectation. of food, but they were themselves hastily, slaughtered and went to provide a meal for the forces. M Goldsmith suffered considerable loss, as not only were his ducks and pigs eaten, but his fruit trees were destroyed thr.o\igh our .amp fires being lit under them and his whole place was raided by the soldiers. He was promised compensation, but 1 unocrstand that he received nothing. A FALSE ALARM. Our slumbers that night were rudely disturbed by an alarm by the sentries and the whole force was soon on the alert, -peering out into the night in ‘search of possible foes. AVe wor posted close to a Pa called I uke-a-Mianga-and it was thought that an attack might have originated from there. What really happened was laughable in the extreme. Ihere was a line of sentries posted along the river and one of them thought he detected a.canoe being pushed across and so ,without challenging, fired bis piece with the result that all the other sentries fired, the bugles sounded, and a* I have said, the whole force was turned out. Next morning -we found a poor old horse dead on a spit in the river. He had evidently been wandering about

the stream in the dark and it was his black carcase which the sentry had mistaken, for a canoe.

Shortly after dawn we continued our march on Waerenga-a-hika, but not before we had breakfasted on baked duck and potatoes, which, together with our commissary biscuit, and pannikin of tea, put us in good .ting BogJch The day was not far advanced when we arrived at Waerenga-a-hika, where we found the Bishop’s house- still standing, though the outhouses had been burned. Down a dark road we espied a bullock dray laden with furniture being driven, away from the house and Major Fraser, who was in command, ordered the men in front to open fire on it. On this a Maori rode up and said, “Don’t shoot! Don’t fare It’s a Queen Maori!” The Major’s reply was: “Queen Maori be damned! Blaze away, boys!” It was afterwards found that the old fellow who was driving the dray was named Wi Haronga and he was trying to save-some of the Bishop’s property —as loot! However, both Maori and bullocks escaped scatheless. The Forest Rangers, on our arrival, were ordered to take the Bishop’s house, which was believed to have opposition. Some of the friendly Maoris now knelt down and prayed for the success of our arms, and they had barely finished when a shot from the'enemy was fired from a gate adjoining the grounds of the Bishop’s house. The report was like a small cannon, but no one vras hit: Our forces were then disposed of round the place in the manner in which I have ihdicated in the rougn sketch, which also indicates the Position of the whole battle, which I v »H deal with later. ■ ' We now opened fire on the Pa from the shelter of the quickset hedge, the Hauhaus replied vigorously and the siege had commencd in real earnest. Our horses had been left in an exposed position and one of them was shot down inside :* tew minutds. Cadell, who was afterwards killed in'the massacres in 1868, and myself had been told, off to do duty at the house proper an<l wo two then took the horses behind the .house, where they were comparatively safe. We then agreed that I should go up to the hedge behind which the others were ring and have a few shots and , then come back to the house and re*, lieve Cadell. and so allow him to have, a blaze at the enemy. • The battle was now in full swing. (To be continued.)