THE NIUE ISLANDERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 10497, 19 October 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE NIUE ISLANDERS.

iTHEIR JOURNEY TO THE FRONT I.ILK ON HOARD SHIR. I (My “Eyes From.") When om transport left. Auckland lot the great unknown, we had on board a motley crowd of many peoples. We had ) men ot the Rifle Brigade, units of other ' New Zealand forces, a contingent of .Maoris, ol UaroKuigans and of Nhiians, ami part of a Field Ambulance with its doctors. N\ e officers messed iu the saloon, the white men forward and the natives a ft. We had also on board a native of the Gilbert Elands. He was a boxing man mid known a> l fie Gilbert Filbert. The natives with its were a source of ah--1 sorbing interest. Fancy travelling on a I hurt will; Niuiau Islanders armed to light | Britain's enemies m another hemisphere! | I had to I. ok up a map. 1 am sorry to confess, to lin’d out the position of the, i -land Niue. With difficulty I found if,

1 and learned that it was one ot New Zealand- island possessions. Such ignorI a nee on the part of a Now Zealander is 1 painful. AVe must really learn more about.

our little kingdoms iu the Southern sub--1 I <(iiutorial seas and study the people who live (here and whom we govern. Nine ia an island away from the groat highway of commerce, and has its dreamy life through the long- past centuries, uncaring for things beyond its own atolls and reefs, and forgotten by the rest of the world. Vet New Zealand ha? a duty to per- : form towards this island, and we are re-

sponsible for the sitnplo-soulcd natives who live there and for the future of the place. We must not forget Niue. We must alwavs remember that a number of these islandeis —there were about 150 on this boat —left their tropic homes and the indolent life of a. Polynesian native and bravely volunteered for soldiering, stood tlu hard training, lived amongst strangers far from home, and eventually took ship and landed in France. Do not let us forget that onr island possessions responded to the call to amts, and when we legislate lor these people in ihe future, let us cherish this patrioticchapter iu their history and treat them as proved men. DR FA MV. PE.-iCEFUL WARRIORS.

I Our Killians on board were a dreamy, peaceful lot of warriors They looked > uond-.uinglv round ,the ship, and 1 was often curious to know what thoughts and impressions Hit ted through t heir simple brains What did 'hey think of us, ot the white soldiers? Why did they come to tin: war: Did they know wliot the war was about ? What did they know of the Him? Did they know of Kaiser Bill and little Willie? Were they out to see. the great work! and come,hack finished travellers to their own homos? But one could not. gei, cr. rapport with them as they spoke no English and we knew no Niuian, One of their white oflicors spoke their language, and ho had a. very high opinion of his men. He told us shat, one Niuian said that tho.-e who had been to the war and got safely back to Nine would be-import-ant people in the Island Council. When they got. up to speak everyone, else must >it down and listen and say ne’er a word That the women would admire them before id! others, and that they would he such great men that they need never do any work again. In the future they need but sit in a hut, while cocoanute and bananas and ft 11 the island delicacies would be served to them. Yow ! They would be the great men in Niue, lor they had fought in the great war alongside the white man. These Niuian soldiers are Christians and hold fast, to their Christian ideals with a simple childlike unquestioning faith. 1 believe, however, that they had still within thorn a little of t.he old island superstition, and that is not, to be wondered at. as their grandfathers were savages of a very determined type. Even we ourselves, refined by twenty centuries of civilisation, are not free front certain fears of the supernatural and the, unknown darkness ol the future. \\ e all got presentiments, and 1 know lots of people uho won’t walk under a ladder! I never wittingly kill a spider, and I get seared if 1 spill,salt at the table! So let us excuse the Niuian who believes Unit devils walk the earth and that fairies and goblins lurk in I lie dells. He may be quite right after all. and he ran be a real good ( litistian and gill hold on to his iotefathers laity t a I es. BFAI'Ti Kl L SINGERS, Our Niuie.iis note wonderful singers, and to hear them sing (heir church hymns was a privilege indeed.. One could lean over (he mils in the after part ot the ship and drink in the wondertul moiody. i have heard choirs in cathedrals and groat churches, but never anything to compare with (ho plaintive appeal ol these dusky Polynesian voices. there was a native minister ot preacher with them and he had till- rank of sergeant. Every morning he conducted a short service on the deck lot bis men. prayed, gave a short address, and road some passages out of the Scriptures, while each member of his flock loliowed him in wrapt attention. Then they womd sing, and the glorious sound ot ii all would roll over tuioiigh and round the ship. Ihe old sergeant preacher was a stern old chap. He bad' a strong Cromwellian face and expounded |lie lav. and the prophets ">th an uncompromising .sledge-hammer delivery that made me think of the Ironside chaplains in the dour days ot the Protector. But there the <-.imi!e ended, tor when 1 looked at the Ninians. I knew in my own mind that, they would never make soldiers lit to stand up e.o-aimt the German. 1 knew how the Germans fight; J had soon a British army in retreat lie fore them; I had seen [hern hold up the finest infantry in the world at La Bassee and wage unpitying and relentless war in Belgium. And i knew that the Ninians were no match foi these men and would bo unable to stand up against advancing German bayonets. ( knew also lhai- no British general would or could trust a post of danger to those simple, patheticlooking islanders. However, they were not intended for shock tactics and were, think, primarily thought of as pioneers anil helper* with the, army. There is always room in an army lor n man who is willine to work, and the Ninians were a "tiling and obedient lot. The .Maoris on board regarded the Ninians with interest, awl looked down with an amused tolerating <ondesonsion -on these people who in feature resembled their own people, but "hose languaee they did not understand and who did not.'’know' their Maori tongue. It. was not etiquette to ask a Maori if he wore a Niuian. OLTBRKAK OF SICKNESS

When we got past tDo Great Australian Bight and into the warm weather the Ninian was quite a home and would patter round the deck on his big bare flat feel—for thev had huge feet with no arches, no mdcre like ail unbooted natives. When the weather was cold the Ninian would curl up in his blanket and look the very picUire of misery. They were splendid drills, and could form fours, and do iln-ir rifle exercise like a Brigade of German Guards. Th**v bum mod a native son tv u .icii doilili their exercises and kepi a perfixg rhythm of movement. Dne day measles broke out on board ship, and from live davs oefore reaching Colombo, to that end o! the voyage „i Sue/’, the ship was full of sick natives—some very seriously .su. ’1 he upper decks worn lurnod into sick buys. and tho 3rd Field Ambulance worked like irojans aitending i<> their many patients. We had only one death and this man died about a quarter of an hour after we lied up at Sue/. The remaining sick were put into hospital at Suez. I did not see the Nin.ia.ns for some time alter tins, but one night near Ismailia, on thedV.mil. there was an open-air concert on the desert_ sands and here the Niuians wore some of the perlormers. They sang their plaintive island songs and danced their native dances to the great anpreeial ion of the hundreds ot pakeha soldiers and of the New Zealand Divisional General. Eater on they arrived m Franc ', and some weeks ago 1 met a Maori soldier and asked him where my old Inonds the Niuians wore. “Oh. they’ve gone back. They've gone home. No good for out here. Too much cough y’ know,” I asked mv Maori what he thought of them. *Uh, ihev’re all right. Titov good fellas right enough. Bui i lie climate got then; puzzled, iso they’ve gone home. ’ Ihe climate got them ‘‘puzzled." 'The rain, the cold, the mudd puzzled them. The Maori’s description was splendid. Dow many of us ul out lives have been puzzled by the elimaje. When you want a tropica! holiday go to Niue and ask to see the great chiefs who ueut l<> the big war over the blue waters.