KIMBLE BENT.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 January 1926, Page 16

KIMBLE BENT.

* WAS TIE AT OTAPAWA? A COKE ES PON DEN T THINKS NOT. (From Our Wliareroa Correspondent.) As au interested listener to the speeches delivered at the recent unveiling of the. cairn at Oliawe, I cannot but regret that the observations of the tine old warrior, Sergt.-Major Bezar, were not reported, in full, as they seemed to me far more interesting than all the other studied speeches. I remarked that this speaker stated that when rushing the liauhau flrenches at Otapawa lie distinctly heard the voice of that rascally deserter, Kimble Bent, instructing the enemy to “fire low!” Now Bent, in' the narrative of his adventures set down by -Mr J. Cowan, strongly denies being present at Otapawa, saying that he remained at the Rimutoto pa (near Meremere), and with all respect to the aged survivor took no part in the engagement. And of that short and stern struggle, it seems unlikely that the deserter would thus address liis newly found friends in English and within hearing of his former companions. The idea was also strongly held by old veterans that Colonel Ilussard, who was one of the first men shot down at Otapawa, fell to the aim of Kimble Bent, but there seems to be little foundation for that) belief. The whole affair was over very quickly, and is the one instance, 1 think, of. the success of a frontal attack against a Maori stronghold. One pleasing feature noted at Oliawe was the conciliatory references tfo the former foe, and various speakers stressed the conviction that between them and us

“No more shall the war-cry sever, Nor the winding rivers be red” — and that the destiny of each is now inseparably united with that of the other.