MAORI CHIVALRY.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3596, 31 March 1924, Page 7

MAORI CHIVALRY.

GRAVE OF CAPTAIN TRAVERS. . The Honi. J. G. Coates, Native Minister, has just' received a letter which shows that the spirit of chivalry still permeates the Maori race. “This letter,” said Mr Coates, “is from Takurua Tamaru, a chief of Ngati-Hinckura, a sub-tribe of Ibe Tuhoa tribe of the Urewera country. It simply states Ibat he and his tribe have agreed Ip cut off from their land as a scenic or other reserve an area sufficient to enclose the site of the Orangikawa Pa,, near Tatahoata, at Ruatahuna, and the graves of Captain Travers and some of his men, of the No. 4 Division of the Armed Constabulary, who fell in the attack against the Hauhaus in that pa in 1869. “Captain Travers and his fallen comrades were buried on May 9, 1869, just outside the front gate of this pa. On the spot to-day stands a tall pop. lar tree, which was planted by the late Captain -Gilbert Mair, N.Z.C., in 1872 to mark' where the remains of his old comrade-in-arms, Captain Travers, were laid to rest. “The donors ate the descendants of some of the rebel warriors who fought against the Crown in this en- , engagement, . and now, fifty-five years later, we find their descendants presenting the sites of the graves to the Crown, in order that the resting places and the sleep of the dead who fell there .in the service of their Queen and .country may be undisturbed.”