The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1927. MAORI WAR MEMORIES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 23 December 1927, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1927. MAORI WAR MEMORIES.

Delivered every evening Oy 5 o’clock in riawera, Manaia, Normanby. Okaiawa, Filtbam, Mangatoki, Kapcnga, Alton, Hurley villc, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangat, Mciemere, Fraser Road and Ararat a

Maori war veterans will find that their campaign in New Zealand has not been overlooked by the Hon. .1. W. Fortescue in his monumental "History of the British Army.” Indeed, they, and all New Zealanders, in addition to students of military history generally, will find the chapter devoted to the exploits of the Army in New Zealand of uncommon interest. The Maori War was of very small importance compared with the great wars in which the British Army had been involved, but Mr Eortcscuo explains that- it presented now features- and it marked the introduction of British forces to a new field and to a new type of enemy. Moreover, and probable this is the reason why the author devotes so much attention to the fighting, the Maoris had t.lieir own ideas of warfare. They had fortifications unequalled for strength and defensive piower by those of any other savage race, anil their ideas of both strategy and tactics, based on thoroughly scientific military principles, were entirely different from any civilised army. One suspects, indeed, that Mr Forteseue wrote this chapter, on a little war he might have dismissed in a -paragraph, for the purpose of paying a tribute to what was probably the most chivalrous, as well as one of the ablest, of all the enemies ever encountered by the British Army. In the description of a pa captured when the defenders were taken unawares, he shows that its strength was such that any number of men might have been sacrificed in a direct assault, and adds the quaint explanation, given at the time, that the 'Maoris were off their guard because the day was Sunday and they understood it was devoted by the English to prayer. Other reasons ud-

viincert by the author for the space given to such trifling operations are that they were the prelude to a more serious conflict with the Maoris, and, perhaps of greater importance, that they throw light on the course of Army history. In fact of the Imperial Government’s policy to restrict the boundaries of the Empire, the adventurous Englishman, he says, had penetrated into little-known lands, where he claimed the protection of his country, and between these contending interests the Army was subjected to almost unendurable strain. “But,” Mr Fortescu adds, “the hard work fell, as usual, upon the British sailor and the British soldier, and however thankless it may have been it was well bestowed to add such a country as New Zealand to the British Empire.” He makes no attempt to conceal the fact that heavy casualties were suffered by the British troops, largely because their arms were inferior to those of the Natives, and because of the peculiar tactics of the Maoris, who built a pa as a safe base for offensive movements only, and were willing to excavate it and build one equally strong after having exacted a heavy toll in any attempts at capture by direct assault. Efforts at complete investment of the Maori strongholds were fruitless, for after the laborious work of cutting roads through the bush and the slow assembling of the attacking force, it was usually found that the Maoris had made good use of a safe line of retreat. Unlike other native races, they never lost courage, and though scornful judgment lias been passed upon “British officers who did not know their business and men who ran away, ” no illusions, says Mr Fortescue, now remain as to the strength of the pas and the fighting qualities of the Maori people. He sums up an interesting chapter by a tribute to their military skill and physical bravery when he says: “The truth is that t]ie Maoris were a very dangerous enemy; and that if the Burmese—the rival builders of stockades —had been such fighters as the Maoris we should never have conquered Burma.”