LEST WE FORGET.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXVII, Issue LXXVII, 4 January 1918, Page 6

LEST WE FORGET.

MISS DOBTE AND OTHER MATTERS.

!';.-. ■ *••■■ . ."• ! (By Our Tokaora Correspondent..) In the late 'eighties of last .century, • when the native bush extended to 'Nor- --' manby ,and good rata firewood could be - had in abundance for carting it away, * in a large room in Hawera quite --a number of us sat round an open .fireplace warming ourselves before a huge j - lata log lire, the extreme heat keeping' ■us a respectful distance off. The pop- - ping embers kept one person busy gatnering them up. The .glare .of oar j- tire quite dimmed the kerosene lamps, -while outside raged the xain of one of \ those sou'-easters once experienced; ) here and not easily forgotten. Each •^one in turn was giving the company a iittle of his past experiences. An elderly man present turned to his left-' .--hand companion and said.: "Jim, you AXtue an old A.C (Armed Constabulary) j man. Lot "us hear i'rom'jou." Tho man addressed, a 'very 'gentlemanly, quiet person, knocked the ashes and "heel" out of his pipe by hitting it on the toe of his boot. "Yes, .gentlemen," k he said, "each day brought its own exM citement in those days. It happened -^ve-had-'Vun short of rations, .more particularly our beer. Charley Tait used to do the carting, so an 'urgent' was sent into Hawera to him, and he dis- > patched a load of beer, (barrels Land case, from Burton's brewery (Burton 's brewery was on a section across the lane from the late Mr J. A. Turton's office); the roads . were non-existent, - just tracks. About Oeo night came on, and the teamster got lost in the - flax, fern and tutu. * Unhitching his "i horses, he slept under the dray for the night. Next morning he could not find his horses, but during the afternoon he got into camp on toot. The .Mounteds were turned out to seek for . ' the missing rations, but with no ;Suc- ■ "cess. We had to enlist the local Natives along the coast in the search, '• " and the rations were finally found by a boy looking for a cow in a dense • clump of flax, but it was a whole week ' fiom the time the rations left Hawera _ -until we got them .landed at the barracks in Opunake. The O.C. concluded that ".his game would not do, so he purchased a dray and team to do the tioops' own carting. The horses were _i.. purchased from Mr Gore, a farmer ""- near the Tongahoe, Main South road. I was selected to drive them, having , teen/all my lifetime amongst horses. J was not long married, and there was no accommodation for my \vife at Opunake, so I had to make my home , in Hawera.. I could get only very limited leave to come down here, but that team of horses solved the prob- -' leih. Whenever I w anted to Come home I always gave the heavy horses a good • gorger of a feed over night, and as • soon as they were well filled they made straight away for Hawera. Ag there' vero no fences between the Wai-r-gongoro river and Opunake these animals never stopped till they reached **" the Inaha. They would turn seawards to the old Mission Station (now owned

by Mr Gordon Willis) if let alone, and ■* were down at their old home by afters' noon. It generally took me two days and two nights to 'find' them, so I ', bad several evenings extra at my home. But the O.C. began to have a

BUGp.-ion that, sufficient care was not ' taken by neAAgii these horses at the "~ Opunake end/ so he had a cottage 'erected for me, and I duly installed the wife therein. My comrades for a loiig time used to make a butt of me. How strange, the horses forgot their ' _ Hawera home when I had my wife in Opunake! "There were very few women at Opunake at the time, but a" Miss ? Dobie, sister to our Major's wife, came { on.'a visit. We used to < advise our . visitor to be careful of the Maoris.

Slie, being an artist, used to go to all /■ sorts of out-of-the-way places on her own. One day she went to the Te Nganm stream to sketch an old pa. Tuhi, a Maori, came along and de- ?• manded some money from her, but she V having only a few shillings on her ret fused to part. Tuhi was going away, ?*! "when Miss Dobie said she would tell Constabulary about his behaviour. fearing punishment from, the turned back and, acting on the _> prifieiple 'dead men tell no tales,' % brutally killed her. The affair caused ■^ a bit of a. stir for a while. I had my " turn of guarding the murderer right up to the final drop. ***- "In preparing the case for the jury rp-»ur troop doctor had a preparatory ■iew lessons in the barrack room. He a long-necked trooper we ~«sed to call the giraffe, and had him bared to the waist. Taking the trooper's head with his left arm, the doctor would illustrate how she was held

- by the m irderer, and with a piece of *■ .stick padded at the end showed in a most telling manner how the foul deed was done. I was one of the guards at

the day of the trial. Formal evidence was given by several witnesses, but when it came to the doctor's turn

.Tuhi threw up his hand and said in Maori: 'I have done it! I have done 1-it! You must have seen me! You must have been there!' " There was of "the company a Mr H. M. Stowell, I a Maori scholar and interpreter, first grade. He gave the Maori rendering, suitably expressed, which left a lasting impression on us, the writer especially.

Oiu* friend continued: "Tuhi in duo

•time suffered the penalty of his crime. The remains of Miss Dobie we interred in a small military cemetery near our barracks at Opunake, had the place securely fenced in post and wire and a, live fence, with assortments of shrubs planted in the enclosure. The -n.co.'s and men contributed freely, so we erected a handsome marble, head- ' stone, with a granite fence and substantial iron rail around the grave. This affair occurred when peace was none too reliable between the two races, and the greatest tact had to be used to prevent further' bloodshed." Some twenty-five years ago 1 was driving along the main road in company with the man that lost the team "and load of beer. He pointed out to me where the foul deed was done, near the end of Te Ngamu road. A huge boulder was brought there by the A.C. men. At that time the place was covered with fern and flax; only boulders and a bare paddock remain now. Fossickers after buried treasures in Egypt came across a cats' cemetery. The mummified, bodies were exported to England to be converted into manure. The venture proved a failure. In the Hawaiian Islands there is a fairly wide valley at the western end. A convulsion of nature appears to have blown half the island away, leaving a fearful precipice or pali, as it is „ locally called. During tribal wars it !. has been the object of the strongest **'£b corral or round tip the weaker trioe «into this valley. and so press by main force the unfortunate ones over the -edge to their final doom. When the y present overlords of the islands came ' into power some of their followers saw £ a*good thing in the thousands of * bleached skeletons, so they made arrangements to have the bones gather- ■*" ed at so much per sack, but shipped --at so touch r>er ton. The gatherers ' went for the largest and lightest per- ' tions—the skulls—but the shippers wanted the weighty thigh bones In the sqii£bM_^iMßiibkc got hold of tho bringing pressure. interred. large beams

had b. -ii inserted in the cliffs -with secure staging, tp prevent, if possible, ever-inquisitive visitors meeting the same fate as the original natives.

While the above may appear har- I rowing and uncanny, it is left to New | Zealand, and Taranaki in particular, j .to.sell the headstones of fallen soldiers, have them planed down, re- ; lettered, and erected to some more recent deceased relative. When this state of tilings was brought under the; notice of Miss E. JVI. Statham, Offici*al Inspector of Old Soldiers' Graves, and the affair sheeted home to the cvi-; prits, she was met in .a most non- • chalant manner, as if what had been done was the correct thing to do. Seeing these headstones had done duty : for fifty years, why could they not be' .re-lettered -.and a -fresh ■.term of usefulness entered upon? And so far there the matter stands. When I learned , the state of mind some of our settlers' had reached, I concluded I would forestall someone before they "found*" Miss Dobie's monument. The shape and massiyeness tends easily „to reduction and re-lettering. So being caught by Opunake advertisements of their magnificent seaside resort, in company of others I paid a visit there on Wednesday, March 1", 1916. Leaving my -fellow-picnickers on the sands, I climbed rthe cliffs, and was soon on the parade grounds of the one time West Coast A.C. Force. Resting for a time on one of the many seats, I noticed an old identity tripping across the •turf. 'Mr James Ritson and self were busy going over past history of Opunake, the troopSj and the late Miss Dobie.' One thing he was not pre-pared-to accept—that, with my knowledge of past events, I had not !been stationed there. I explained, the object cf. my visit, and after a lot of plunging and being half torn to pieces ; with gorse, briar, fern and flax, my guide brought me to the enclosure where the remains of the late Miss Ddbie and some A.C. were interred. Wo scrambled over a rotten, brokendown fence, through a boxthorn one, through br'inrs, gorse and fern. Staying before a heap, then surrounded, with our pocket knives we cut away fern, gorso and flax, ultimately uncovering • what had been a splendid monument. The fern had interlaced itself round the cross and ; grown through the marble wreath of thorns. The whole was covered with moss and lichen, except where the movement, of the fern'by the wind had cleared or polished a portion of the marble. We did not pull the fern or rubbish off the basement or railings. I am safe to say if a fire passed that way there was sufficient debris, dead •?nd dried material, around and on that grave to cause that monument to bo splintered. It must have been years since any person had visited the place. After a good deal of clearing I deciphered' the following inscription:

In Memory o*. MARY BERTRIX, daughter of Major H. M. Dobie, late Madras Army, and Ellen Dobie. . Born 22nd Dec, 1850. Died 25th May, 1880. This memorial was erected by • the non-commissioned officers and men of the Armed Constabulary stationed at Opunake and Cape Egmont, December, 1880. As I gazed on the place where lay the remains and thought of her untimely end, and felt sorry that there was no one, not even of ncr own sex, to keep the weeds off her last resting place. Art connoisseurs when a piece of ancient Greek sculpture fell into their hands went into raptures over it, and why? Because the least exposed part was as faithfully delineated and reproduced, as the most prominent or expoi.d. While Opunake has a pretty fair front street, I am afraid her least exposed places will not bear close investigation. Gorse and other obnoxious weeds hold sway.

Hurrying away from this place of desolation .and neglect, I wondered if one resident with a soul and sympathy could be found. Knowing Mr M. J. Brennan was such a man, to his residence I wended my way. When I came across Mr W. C. Dudley (now the late W. C. D.), chairman .of the Opunake Town Board, I laid my case before him, pleaded, persuaded' and cajoled for him and his Board to take the matter'in hand; that if his Board would undertake to put and keeo this small semi-military cemetery' in order a grant of £5 per annum would be forthcoming, and also that no reply

had been receive-;! to the many letters * sent by the Inspector of Old Soldiers' \ Graves. Mi* Du-iie-y assured me he would not permit his Board to hang such .a millstone around its neck. If the Government wished the work done why did they not do it without con- ' -suiting his Board A He himself was : an old A.C. man. Those buried there had not fallen iv action, but had died v ith. her Majesty's ''buttons on"; besides; his "town clerk had nothing to write about. I asked him' what body looked after or controlled the civilian cemetery. He rep Lied that his Board [ did, but there was money in that. :i Well, Mr Dudley, I remarked, seeing you do not intend to give the Govern- ' ment and- the 1 inspector assistance in < the affair, I nuust bring the matter before .the public through the press, and some one or a body of persons may be found here in Opunake with :a sym- '. pathetic soul capable of rising to the J occasion. On AVednesday, February 14, 1917, I again visited * Opunake—automobile day and picnic. The little cemetery was in much the same order as the previous year, only worse if possible, : but the fern had not interlaced itseif ; . round the cross or wreath of thorns. This time I interviewed Mr M. J. Brennan at his cosy home, and found him very sympathetic, but he said he bad gone but of the newspaper business. On March 12, 1917, in going through Opunake, I called on the local constable .(Mr Clouston), knowing his heart and sympathies were in the right place. I did hot wish him to take any active part in the affair, and explained to him what I required to be done on behalf of the Government, and could he find or know of any man or men in : the locality that could soar above the i usual humdrum routine of daily life. Y.es, he soon found one, but this gentleman is an ex-Hawera man, and ' has two brothers in business in tne latter town, so could not call him an ■ old Opunakeite. This settler, or more properly speaking business man, offered £1 Is towards the expense, and undertook to find the balance and supervise the work being done. He told me there were five or six more kindred spirits in the township who ■»voukl assist, but unfortunately there were eight or ten non-progressives who so damped the ardor of the townspeople that the latter wore clearing out by the scores. I" thanked my newfound friend on my own behalf and the branch of the Government department I was semi-officially representing. The first year trie expenses may be over £5; each year afterwards upkeep ■will not be so great, yet the £5 will be paid annually, even now, if the Town Bo.ird gets the matter in hand { and puts this little forgotten cemetery iii order. On March 31 next a voucher \vill bo certified to and passed and paid by the Minister of Internal Affairs out of moneys voted for the upkeep of old soldiers' and historical giaves in New Zealand. It is just thirty years since I undertook to agitatejor something to be done for keeping such graves in order, and that a pension bo awarded to Maori war veterans, and am proud to record uu- j qualified success to my efforts, except in this one solitary case. This failure ! is owing to the apathy of the leading local residents who, I hope, in time will see that Opunake falls into line with the rest of loyal and patriotic Taranaki.

(To be continuad..