HISTORIC UNION JACK.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 February 1927, Page 7

HISTORIC UNION JACK.

OLDEST IN DOMINION

MALUM Will VETERAN" 8 TREASURE. .Moth-eaten ami Laded, wnappeU tv ai a mown paper -bag is a. tau-ciou om union. Jacit, wiiieh is pi-ouaDly Lae oiu.est >stiju m existence in i>e\v Zueai-a-nu, wntes the AucKland eurresponuentme L,iyt tel ton limes. Captureu u. y wm renowned Hone Jrieke, tilts nag was one ot the very dew British ensigns lum ever fell into rebel hands, but hatreds were not so 1 in ve to rat e in those cluj-. as they are in the present age, and at the close of the war Hone handed bacw . the flag. , , , Originally owned by Archdeacon Henry Williams, a weli-itnovyn missionary at the Bay of Islands, it was presented by liim to Patuone, a firm friend, of the pakeha. who stuck to them through thick and thin. P-alu-i: uc and! his inore iiaimous brothel Tam-ato AYaka Neno declared iur the pakeha after Hone Heke had cut do" i. the flagstaff at Kororureka (now called Ituissell), and fighting followed tthrs flouting of British authority. Ihe •lag given by Archdeacon A\ ifluainsto Patuone was proudly flown from Patuone’s pa. but Heke was so incensed to think that anyone of his race should ~,id© with the white people that lie made a surprise attack on Patuone s stronghold and carried off the Union Jack. That was in 1845, which miakes the flag eighty-two years of age, but its real age is said to be about one hundred. There, is a tradition flint this flag was hoisted When the Kev. Samuel Mansden preached his first sernion at tli l © B'ay of Islands- an. 1011, but nothing idefinjite appears to 1 be known oil that point. From Archdeacon Williams the 11 a* passed into the possession of his son. Judge EL M. Williams, who lived u Mount Eden, Auckland, for a number of vea,rs, and afterwards' went to Hawke’s Bay. It was then given by Miss Williams to Mr. Walter Rutherford who worked for the judge <at Mount- Eden. Mr. Rutherford ns an 1 old Maori War veteran and. though ■lie is blind, he as otherwise in very good fettle for ia mail of over -eigli,tv-six years of age. He lives in Third Avenue. Kingsl an cl. with his diaughter-in-law. and though he naturally feels the loss of hi« sight he as remarkably cheerful and keeps very up-to-date, even to being able to argue quite capably a ' to what is happening -in China air 1 vvhflt is likelv to happen. Born in Hertfordshire- in 1840 he early got the roving liahit and when quite a lad went off to- India ill a- sailing shin, which was engaged in carrying coolies back to Demerara in South America for the sugar plantations. The stories that he teds of the trade -suggest that the business was not pretty and it as not pleasant to dwell upon. America was his next objective, but before lie could get there he changed his mind and took the Queen’s shilling, joining the 43rd Regiment, in which Ills brother also enlisted. It was not surprising that Mr. Rutherford'* thoughts should- incline to the colours, for one great uncle commanded the Swi-ftsu-re at Trafalgar and the other was a- captain of the Yeomanry at Waterloo. Mr. Walter Rutherford arrived in Auckland in the ship Light Brigade in 1864 and remained in the army until 1867, when he and his brother purchased their discharges at Xevv Plymouth, but though lie had left the army it was by no means the end of Air. Rutherford's fighting days, for lie was -afterwards in the mounted troops at Pa-tea., the volunteers at Hiavveiia, land they AVu.irua Ili-flfles, filte Turakina Infantry, the Armed Constabulary, and the Auckland Engineers*, putting in altogether nineteen, years with the colours.

Though he saw many of the exciting scenes on the West Coast, Mr. Rutherford also saw service on . the East Coast. 'He was iafc that disastrous action of the Gate Pa, Taurauga, where, owing to crossfire, a.s many British were shot liy their own men a.s by the Maoris. He was one of the first men to lire a sho t at the siege of Non la pa Pa. Gisborne, "here To Kooti had taken refuge, and he wa-s also one of the men who chased both Ti toko warn and Te Kooti; the former on the West feast, -and the latter on the East Coast. People who can drive up h.y motor ear to Ruatahuna in the Urewera can have but ia faint idea of the terrible march through the fastnesses of Urewera in winter time after Te Kooti. who had retired to that unkonwn trackless, densely bushed mountainous region. It was .such a terribly rough country that the forces h,ad to leave some of their mortally wounded men. there being no possible chance to getting them out.

Mr. R.utherford had many exciting experiences during the war. particularly down on the West Coast from New Plymouth to Wanganui. He was the first white man to go on to 1 the confiscated land where now stands Norma n by. .< and lii-s brother, who had been a sergeant- in the 43rd Regiment, was the first man to plough land at- ITawera.

For some thirty years' Mr. Walter Rutherford has been living in Auckland. Now that he is getting to such a. great age lie is wondering what is: te become of the historic Union Jack for which lie has such an affection. A suggestion that it should he deposited in the Old Colonists’ Museum seems likely to bear fruit.