THE OLD FRONTIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18553, 10 November 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE OLD FRONTIER.

WAR TIME', IN THE WAIKATO. ■ : •.■-.•,.'. '~: .. BY CBITIC. When James Cowan sat down to write "The Old Frontier "* he had love in hjs heart for a birthplace which had more romance than most birthplaces, even ; in New Zealand. One of these days thousands will realise how they do love their land of forested hills and soft-bosomed hills, of green lush plains, and rivers and lakes. But the time is not yet and men like Cowan, who can write of his country as can few, aro yet rare. For he was born on that old frontier, where the Maori had pitted his stockade and his native cunning against Elnglish guns and white man's determination, where in sullen retreat the Maori had given way, retiring to his fastness and i saying, "No farther, pakeha!" After the devastating war, which had destroyed all or -'nearly' all the work of missionary Morgan and his kind, the flourishing corn fields and flie busy flour mills, a blockhouse was built to guard the hard-won country; and the settlers put to ruard the I white settlers were the veteran Forest Rangers, Major William Jackson in command. Under him the two furt'herestout settlers were his lieutenants Andrew Kay and William A. Cowan (" Jimmy " Cowan's father). No one could be moro fitted to write the history of " The Old Frontier." The author describes the valuable mis--8 jnary work done in t'his district and gives unstinted praise to "the Rev. John Morgan, who truly civilised this upper Waikato. Mr. Ashwell, his predecessor, had confined his teachings to the spiritual side. Mr. Morgan took a more expansive view of his mission and his responsibilities. He introduced English j methods of agriculture, brought in Engi-3h fruit trees, taught the Maoris to grow wheat and grind it in their own watermills. He, it was, who by his precepts i and personal example made the natives of I Te Awamutu, Rangiaowhia, Kihikihi, and . Orakau a farming and fruit-growing ' i people, with the result that long before the Waikato war, adventurous travellers to this district found to their astonishment, a series of eye-delighting oases in the wilds, with great fields of wheat, potatoes and maize, and dwellings arranged in neat streets, shaded by groves , of peach and apple-trees each settlement with the water-driven flour-mill procured '. by the community and busily ) grinding i into flour the abundant yield.of the corn- : fields." After years of experience of the hazardous work of christ'ianising work at i Waihou, Maiamata, Rotorua, Mr. Morgan ' took over Te Awamutu station in 1841. j i "Here he carried on for more than twenty ' [ years, the religious teacher and counsellor , and technical instructor for half a score of j ( tribes in the Waipa basin. *Te Mokeua' j was the benefactor of his Maori flock; J i never did missionary take a more liberal ', view of his duty to the native. . . . He •; did not confine his sowing of good seed j to the gospel band. On his rides from ' kainga to kainga, he took' his dog and i to the dog's neck was tied a little bag, ; filled with English clover seed and grass ' seed, which was allowed to drop out -a i seed at a time by a tiny bole. To this I day, there is a beautiful sward that goes •< bock to the good parson of Te Awamutu. j Old cannibals followed the plough and \ spent days in discussing Auckland market) prices of Wheat and flour. . When the { great gold rushes began in California arid , Victoria in ■ 1849-52, -the cargoes of ■ pro-: dttce sent away: Often contained shipments from Rangiaowhia and other Maori farmvillages'' The King Movement. Tamehana te Rauparaha who visited I:! England came back with £ ideas. He j i originated in 1851-52, the movement to have a Maori King. From, this on, ', trouble. "Tamehana, pointed out the inability of the Government •to preserve '. peace and • order among the tribes; the j Government blundered, it constructed a i' military road from Drury to the Manga- ' tawhiri,. and finally the heavy losses of the Ngati-Haua ] and Ngati-Maniapoto in the * Taranaki war had a cumulative effect in hastening the outbreak in the Waikato. ■[ While this .feeling was simmering, Mr. John Gorst was induced to undertake the ' difficult task of staying tho growing tide of, anti-pakeha agitation. He came ; several years too ?ate. Grey was in South , Africa.?. - .-'■'. .Mr Gorst's "jurisdiction ' as magistrate was derided by, : the Maoris;" even his great friend—Wiremu Tamehana, objected to the admission into the Kingite disftict of a magistrate; who received his \ authority from the Queen." . ■■\-\ . Mr. Gorst : had to evacuate; in 1863, and it was more than forty years before "Te Kohi" set eyes agi in on the older scene his. labours. His evictioni' served to precipit-1 ate the Waikato : War—the i first '•; definite | act of ,t; which was Lieutenant > General j Cameron's despatch of troops across the j frontier, the Mangatawhiri River on July 12, 1863. The natives resisted : were charged with Che bayonet. . . they made three principal fortified posts ; designed to stop the southward progress of the troops and enable the Maoris to levy war on the frontier • settlement. , "Mr., Cowan graphically describes the •War. and adds to* the already published account a quantity of new material from Major von Tempsky's jmirnal—"which has the merit of being a p *rticipant's 'direct description of the engagement: moreover it now sees prinf for the first time." Very vigorous, engaging writing it is too : giving full credit to many veterans. Colonel J. M. r Roberts, -now living 'at Rotorua, figures prominently in it. Bishop Selwyn, "strong, fresh, - after years of ' disappointment," Major, Jackson,* William Johns of Auckland, and other well-known participants. James Cowan makes full use of the versatile von -Tempskv's animated descriptions, and handles the material excellently, describing every phase of the struggle until the ultimate" defeat of 'the. Maori. -,-:'>* ■ Peace and Progress. ■ Then he settles again to the countryside .beloved of ins childhood—"on our side the green farms of the : pioneer settlers, roads, villages— ; with its ..redoubt; as ;';a rallying place in alarmchurches, schools —primitive schools maybe in the early stages—the flag of British authority flying. So the border remained—the line] of demarcation sharply defined by the- confiscation boundary the southern "side inimical, sullen, waiting for well-nigh twenty years after the final shots of the Waikato War. Life on- the old frontier seems a kind of ; dream, a fabric of remembrance .tinged with a faint haze, viewed through the vista of years ~ from these".'times of | v new v ' interests, new • /manners, changed modes of ; thought; | The home on the hill, on the famous battlefield, the •; garden , . with . its j sweet old flowers, Che cherry orchard, the huge almond trees with flat stones at their feet upon which Maori children long be-1 fore us, -.cracked;•< those almonds— trees j frown in old days from > the Rev. John i lorgan's orchardthe wild; mint in the tiny creek : the ! dam and the lake-like j pond-m-Tautoro Swampland; above all, j the peachespeaches vanished, a kind i never to be tasked by the present -generation. .... On the 7 south, "a few hundred yards away; was the blockhouse, with" its : little garrison of J smart blueuniformed constabulary—a [ tiny ■ fort, but one that came large and grim enough on the eye of childhood." . .J He weaves a train of reminiscences that is a beautiful story- in itself." - % , Mr. Cowan has, told his €ale well and Te Awamutu is to be congratulated on the production of a notable work, a more than valuable contribution to the literature of old New Zealand., i i •Waipa Post Co.» To Awamutu. .1