WAIKATO PIONEER

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4954, 11 February 1937, Page 2

WAIKATO PIONEER

VETERAN OF MAORI WARS. TROUBLOUS DAYS RECALLED. A splendid record of service as soldier, and pioneer is held by Mr. John Thomas Steel, a former resident of Kawhia, and now living in Hamilton, who celebrated his 94th birthday recently. Mr. Steel came to the then infant colony of New Zealand over 70 years ago on the ship Portland. He was born at Appleford, Berkshire, where his father was the lord of the manor. When the tedium of the long sea voyage was ended at Auckland it was found that the young colony was in a state of serious unrest with the Maori wars at their height. At Port Waikato The young arrival —Mr. Steel was then 21—at once volunteered for service and enlisted in the 3rd Company of the Waikato Militia. His first duties entailed guard work at Port Waikato where the soldiers were holding off the attacks of the natives on the workmen assembling the steamers Rangiriri and Koheroa. The boats, which had been sent from Sydney in sections were intended for use on the Waikato River for the transportation of the Imperial troops to the inland districts. Returns to Soldiering* When the Waikato Wars ended Mr. Steel took up farming at Ngahinapouri. However, hostilities again broke out and expecting another big rising he enlisted in the Armed Constabulary who at that time had their headquarters at Te Awamutu. Old Waikato residents still remember the Armed Constabulary, a magnificent body of men superbly mounted. Mr. Steel was well known as a member of the unit in Cambridge and Te Awamutu. While the King Country tribes provided a constant threat to peace in the Waikato, Te Awamutu was strategically suitable as the headquarters of Mr. Steel’s unit. When the “fire in the fern” died in the King Country the Armed Constabulary was quartered in Hamilton, the barracks being near the present site of the Police Station. With their period of usefulness over in the ’eighties the Armed Constabulary were disbanded, and Mr. Steel entered the police force, being for a time in charge of the King Country area with headquarters at Otorohanga. Forty Years at Karamu* But, Mr. Steel said, the situation did hot suit him, so he returned to farming, taking up land at Karamu, which in those days was well in the backblocks. Roads were few, and badly formed, and there were no bridges. After 40 years in the district Mr. Steel moved to Kawhia, where he lived until some 12 months ago. As an authority on dogs Mr. Steel was very well known and he officiated as a judge in many shows in Hamilton. He was also a fine shot and in fact could compete with success in any branch of sport. At 94 he can still read and write without difficulty. He suffers from a leg injury sustained when he fell from his horse many years ago, but few would take him to be over 75 years of age. He is one of the few surviving residents of Hamilton who can recall the days when the Waikato was very young —the days of the pioneers.