MAORIS AT THE WAR

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 158, 20 June 1935, Page 9

MAORIS AT THE WAR

Famous Incident Recalled

FRATERNITY OF SUFFERING

One of the most striking incidents of the Great War, and one that has been almost entirely forgotten, was recalled last evening in a brief address given by Air John Bennett, a son of the Bishop of Aotearoa, during a concert in the Havelock North Village Hall. Mr Bennett, who inherits his father’s gift of language, and his picturesque manner of expression, told how the first, Maori contingent was sent to Malta for garrison duty, the military staff and the New Zealand Government having decided that it would not be just to expose to the dangers of war the representatives of a race which at that time was only just beginning to win the fight against natural extinction.

The Maoris, however, became impatient of the attempt to keep them from sharing the fighting with their Pakeha brothers, and made themselves heard to such effect that it was decided to allow them to go on real active service. One day ou parade those who wished to stay in Malta on garrison duty’ said Air Bennett, were given the order to slope arms. “Not an eye flickered, and not a rifle moved,” he said. To their great joy they were given an honourable part in the fighting, and shared with their Anzac comrades the glorious adventure of Gallipoli. There they made their name, and became true brothers in blood with their comrades. There they proved themselves, said Air Bennett, the peer ot any race on earth.

To understand the Maori, he added, one must remember that only a few generations ago the Maoris were living in this land, tilling the soil from which they drew their sustenance, and living their owu lives in their own way. It was unfortunate that the first white men with whom they came in contact were whalers and sealers,

among whom were literally tome of the human scum of the world. The whalers introduced them to alcohol, which was a thing that the Alaoris had never known before, and taught them the use of firearms. Given alcohol and firearms, their own fighting instinct, and some just cause for a quarrel, and the Alaori wars were inevitable.