A RETROSPECT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 31 March 1925, Page 4

A RETROSPECT

SIXTY YEARS AGO TO-DAY. MARCH OF CAMERON’S MEN. (Specially written, for thi? Star by “\V,H.”)

it is sixty years ago to-day since Jjieut.-General iSir -.Humean tiun«rori with his column of 'British regulars mart-lied across the plain where the town of Hawe.t a how stands, on his way to erect redoubts at the mouth of the Waingongoro river. We can picture him, a dour Scotchman of the okl military school, tiding with hi* staff at the head of the column, on this mi.d-am>u>mn day of March 81, I 860: Across the plain, through flax and fern anti tutu, wound the «>1 umn, a thousand' odd men attired in all the scarlet glory of the British, soldier of half a century ago.. We can well imagine that their hearts and. the heart of their general were not- in this business of war against hands, of half-naked savages who were fighting for the land that had belonged to them for generations before the white man came to. their shores. . Certainly ' the general, who had fought with Honour at Alina, at Balaclava and n.t. Pehastopnl. had no love for this kind 1 of “scrapping.” T think, as he rode along, he pondered bitterly on the rupture that h«d occurred between him andl Sir George Grev. His cautious' methods of procedure and com sequent .slow advance, had never found favour with the Governor. Bush,-fighting with a wily foe who knew every inch of the forest was an anathema- to him. Knrly in the New Year lie had commenced his move up the coast : hut had made no attempt to capture the .strongly fortified pa at Werairoa. the Hnn.hau head-quarters. This. had .been no part of the plan of ' Governor Grey, and the two men had in consequence entered into a Jong and bitter eo rre.spon deuce. “I consider mv force insufficient to attack so formidable a work ais the We ram.a pa. . . . Instead of my present, available force of 1000 men.. I should require 2000. Beside"' I .should not have a single soldier left in reserve, and, if anything should, happen in anv other . part of the settlement, it would take a week or ten days, to remove all the stores and raise. ’ thh siege.” This, then, was General Cameron’s feeling on the matter, ' and we, can weltimagrine such! a policy would not he popular with either the Governor or the settlers who were smarting under the loss of their homes, or were living in terror of attack from the roving bands of fanatical Hauhaus. On came the column, and now they pasisi across the site of what, was later to become the public school of a. thriving district. But little could the General see of the ultimate' issue of all tins conflict. To him: it was. an arduous and disagreeable task, without honour; .they were but the tools of a system of land-grabbing, little to the taste cf. this veteran of many wars.. Be sure as he rode along, engaged with his own thoughts, his -.-iharp eyes, neverthelesis kept vigilant watch for any lurking foe who might be hiding behind the shelter of the high fern, which in places grew to- a. height of six or seven feet..* Kvery bush ,of tutu might .shelter a dusky warrior armed with musket or deadly to.niahawlc; every hillock might become 1 lie scene of a encounter with a fearless foe. . Well did the General know the influence of Te TTa the Prophet; which had imbued the warriors of Taranaki with a desperate fanaticism. The Pai-marire faith had spread with lightning rapidity. Tn every pa was the niu, the sacred pole, adorned in many cases with the .smoke-dried head of some- unfortunate settler. Bound the niu the Maori converts marched in procession, shouting and chanting their incantations, a meaningless jumble of words culled from every source —military ‘phrases, passages from the Bible, quotations from the Roman Catholic prayers. To the devoted adherents of the new religion was promised success, in war, and so the warriors went into battle chanting their incantations in the blind belief that the pakeha’s bullets would be deflected and the day would bo. theirs. The end of the long day’s march was. now in. sight, 'when, suddenly from the sandhills hear the mouth of the Waihi stream, sonie fifty or sixty Haoharus. opened fire at. long range. At once' the troops were sriread out.in order to surround' the enemy and fire w’las opened with the field-guns. The Hauhaus, however, doubtless seeing themselves hopelessly outnumbered, mode off, and the weary troops were soon ‘ encamped on the Hanks of the Waingongoro stream. It all. happened a. long time ago. To-day, Maori and pakeha live at peace'." Governor Gray is dead; Cameron is dead; and where are the. warriors who. fought for their birthright in the old turbulent clays? . , The public school, surrounded by its playgrounds, stands on the spot where the great British general passed sixty years ago. The children of both races plav amicably together, the feudis of their fathers forgotten. Tlie Maori has come to know that with the march of civilisation, it was inevitable that the shores of Ao-tea-roa should, be 'invaded . by a. people from the Old World. The misunderstandings of the past are now forgotten and the two races have become one.