MR SAMUEL CHILDS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 10 April 1930, Page 12 (Supplement)

MR SAMUEL CHILDS

CAME HERE WITH CHUTE

Mr Childs, born at the Thames in 1843, followed Chute’s troops to this coast, and remembers the taking of Otapawa in January, 1866, by that energetic commander. Otapawa was a newly constructed pa built on a high promontory on the right bank of the Tongahoe stream, about a mile above its junction with the Mangimange. The fortification, in spite of its elaborate defences, was carried with magnificent dash by the 57th Regiment, but unfortunately' their leader, Colonel Hassard, was shot down at the entrance to the palisades, together with eleven of his command. The Hauliaus fled as soon as the troops had penetrated the intricate network of the interior “taiapas,” and this is one of the few engagements in Maori wars where a frontal attack was successful. Mr Childs holds to the opinion, with many others, that the Colonel was killed by tho notorious deserter, Kimble Bent, notwithstanding the latter’s strong denial, as expressed by Mr. Cowan in tho story- of his life.

During the later campaign of ISGB, Mr Cliilds was attached to the A.C. Forces ,and saw service at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu and other places of historic interest around. I He also remembers the attack on the Turuturu-mokai redoubt and the consternation caused by that sanguinary- affair. Tho eventful night of the great catastrophe was bitterlycold, with a heavy- white frost on the ground, and ice on all the pools. One man, who leapt the parapet early- in the defence and escaped to Waihi was placed under arrest for “cowardice in llic face of the enemy-.”

PLEASANT MAORI MEMORIES. On tho conclusion of hostilities our friend, having acquired a good knowledge of the Maori language, took service with a chief at Hokorima, residing there for some three y-ears. He relates many stories of tho habits and customs of the natives at the time, when nearly all the people were tatooed, and the wahines carried their pipes, ear-ring fashion, in the lobe of the ear. Being a good craftsman, Mr Childs obtained service with the chiefs at Parihaka, and assisted in forming the road (financed entirely by- tho Maoris) into that then populous kainga. Te Wliiti and Tohu were both men of commanding personality-and their teachings were much misunderstood by Europcans. They- now lie buried in the same

grave, “in the midst oT the people whom they- loved so well.” THE HIROKI MURDER. The old settler passes on to recollections of exciting episodes during his long residence in the neighbourhood from the Hiroki murder in 1878 to tlie ploughing at Hastle’s farm in ISS6. The former affair, though comparatively insignificant politically, attained great prominence through the long pursuit of the assassin, who took refuge in the Rukumoana district, and was not apprehended until three y-ears later. The situation at Hastie’s, in the winter of ’S6, gave every indication of a lively struggle between the settlers and Titokowazu’s ploughmen, but luckily no one was killed in the fray. The Maoris were bundled out, some of their leaders arrested and their horses impounded. Notwithstanding his great age and the hardships and privations ho has undergone, Mr Childs’ health is still quite good, and his faculties of sight and hearing almost perfect. He enjoys nothing better than a chat about old times and is pleased to indicate to inquirers the sites of notable occurrences in the last sixty years of local settlement:.