REWI MANIAPOTO AND ORAKAU.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15551, 7 March 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

REWI MANIAPOTO AND ORAKAU.

BY J. W. ELLIS. Fifty years ago, the last day of this month, the celebrated siege of Orakau commenced, and continued for the first two days of April, and late in the afternoon of April 2. 1864, the defenders, after having beea battered by six times their number for practically three whole days, made the splendid reply that has shed undying glory on the Maori race. Of late years doubt has been expressed as to whether Rewi Maniapoto, the undoubted commander at Orakau, was the author of this famous reply, and the late Major Mair has stated that the reply was given by Hauraki Tonganui, of Ngati te Kohera. He also gives the credit for the reply made by the women (when asked to come out and leave the men to fight it out to the end) to Ahumai, also of the same tribe.

The generally accepted words of this great challenge are as follows : "Ka whawhai tonu matou, Ake ! Ake! Ake!'' (we will fight on for ever ana eve-). Major Mair gave them in his " Recollection of a Famous Fight," published a f;w years ago, as follows : " E hoa ko whawhai tonu ahau ki a koe, Ake! Ake!" (I will fight against you for ever and ever), using then th» singular. Major Mair, when writing an account of \he Orakau fight four days after the fall of the pa, gives a rather different rendering in which the plural is properly used, Jut the differences are only slight, and the meaning is plain in all of them, that as stated in the New Zealand Hebald, ot April, 1864, "they would not surrender but fight to the last." Anything said by the late Major Ma r in connection with f)rakau is entitled to respect, but I am convinced that in giving the credit to Hauraki he has been misinformed, as after all it is plain that his information was only hearsay. J.i is evident he did not see the man who spoke, as he says, in the letter mentioned aoove, "a voice called out," and in his long article he says the answer came " in a clear firm voice," and I am told that up to that time he had not met either Rewi or Hauraki.

Major Mair and his brother. Captain Mair, obtained their information, principally, I understand, from the Ngati te kohera, a hapu that suffered severely at Orakau owing to Rewi's action in erecting the pa in so weak a position, and who claim that both replies were given by members of that tribe. Why the pa was erected in such a position is another story well known to me, but if given, here would make this article too long. I have been in close touch with the Kingite Maoris for forty years. I lived close to Rewi at Kihikihi for many years, and knew him intimately, and also many of the survivors, of this great fight, most of whom have gone to their long rest, but four, at least, that I have met are still living, and .many times 1 have heard them tell the story of the Orakau fight to myself and others. Like all Europeans, I always realised that the interest in the grant! defence centred in the splendid spirit shown by the brave reply of the defenders When summoned to surrender. I have always Wen keen for information on this point, arid > can honestly say that I have • never heard a single Maori give anyone but Rewi. credit for the challenge thrown back at the troops; except that lately I have heard one of the ' survivors say that his father was the man who actually called out the words at Rewi's direction. This same man happened to have had for his wife a sister or niece of Hauraki, but when I asked him if Major Mair was right in giving Hauraki credit for the reply, he and the others present laughed loudly, and said that they had not heard of it before; and I have yet to find a Maori who treats seriously the assertion that Hauraki was the man who spoke the gallant words. I have always heard that the -words used at Orakau did not originate tiere, but were noted and well kiown words of Rewi Maniapoto, uttered many (months previously at a great meeting held at Ngaruawahia, when the question of peace or war was being discussed. I met Tupu Taingakawa a few days ago— is tie head chief of Ngatiliaua, and son of Tarapipipi (William Thompson the " King-maker")— discussed with him the authorship of the words usod at Orakau. In answer to my question as to what he knew about the matter, he said : "I have always heard that Rewi used them at Orakau. I was not ".here, but I heard him wijth my own ears use practically the same .words at a great meeting at Ngaruawahia, and I am satisfied it would be Rewi who used them, .as he was th 9 proper person to reply to the summons to surrender." I asked him if he remembered the words used at ijaruawahia, he replied: "We don't forget words spoken by such a man," an 3 gave them as follows : " Kaore ahau e wlakaae kia imutu te whawhai, ko taku tefce ano tenei ake ake tonu atu" (I will not agree that the fighting shall cease, I wil. maintain this for ever and ever). I mention this interview especially because h was with a man of the highest rank, ta d one not connected with . Ngatimani&poto, Rewi's principal tribe, and also' because it supports what I have heard on a:I sides, that the challenge hurled at the troops did not originate at Orakau, bl > was widelv known as Rewi's words l»ig before Or.ikau was thought of. I have always understood that they were twice referred to by Rewi on the last day in Orakau, first in the early morning when, owing to a heavy fog, a proposal was made to break out, but when referred to Rewi the stern old warrior simply replied : "My word at IN garuawahia still stands," and later on in the afternoon of the same day, whtr summoned to surrender, he practically repeated his words given at Ngarnwahia but with a different setting. No one has before put Rewi Maniapoto's side before the public, aid the other side has been before the piolic so long that it is only natural that o.v claim for my old friend Rewi should ie met with suspicion, and no doubt op]»isition, and I should not venture to do .t now except that all the tribes that took part in the Waikato War hive, been «sked to be represented at Orakau on April 1 next, and I know, from forty years' experience, that there will be only one name spoken on that day, the name of Rewi Maniapoto., the great Maori leader, and the master-mind of Orakau. Let us leave it to the Maoris to decide. I may say that I find that a great body of the Maoris don't even know that Rewi's mana and reputation have ever been assaileJ. We have not heard so much of the brave reply made by the women at Orakau, but their reply was as splendid as that made by their husbands and brothers. Major Mair gives it as : "If the men are to die, the women and children must die also." As I have before said, Ahumai has been credited with this fine reply, and I am not prepared to dispute her ■ right, but I have heard that it was Hineturama who made it. This woman was of high rank, and belonged to the East Coast, and was the woman found wounded by Major Mair after the fall of the pa, scraping the earth from the face of her buried husband. Major Mair saved her life by knocking down a brute who was on the point of bayoneting her. He then turned away to help another wounded woman, heard a groan, and turned round to find the poor woman sinking to- the ground with a bayonet wound in her breast,