THE BISHOP'S RIDE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20716, 8 November 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE BISHOP'S RIDE.

BS: A.A.G.

SEVENTY YEARS AGO.

An intensely thrilling episode in the history of Auckland occurred just seventy years ago, when the white population of the country was in a minority, and the Maoris of tho King Country and Taranaki were bent on tho expulsion of the pakeha. The Taranaki war was at its height. Tho people of New Plymouth were Cooped up within their entrenchments, while the marauding tribes roamed practically at will throughout Taranaki. Indeed, but for the strong garrison of British troops and local volunteers holding Omata, Bell Block, Waitara and New Plymouth itself, there is not any doubt that the settlement would have been wiped out of existence. In the meantime Auckland enjoyed peace. Large contingents of the Waikato and Ngati-Maniapoto tribes had gone to assist the Taranaki rebels, but the warriors who remained in the Waikato and Waipa Valleys, though Kingites to a man, hesitated to try conclusions with the white man. Nevertheless, it only needed some unforeseen incident, and the King Country would be ablaze with rebellion.

Toward tho end of October, 1860, a Maori was found shot dead near the white settlement of Mauku, at a spot some six miles from the Waikato River, and it was suspected by the Europeans that a certain settler, while shooting wild cattle, had accidentally killed the Maori, while the Maoris, of course, jumped to the conclusion that murder had been committed. In any case, with them bloodshed must call for blood, and full payment (utu) must be taken for the wrong committed. Wiremu Tamihana, a prominent chief in the Waikato, who had previously been in favour of peace, now favoured war, and placing himself at the head of a powerful taua, or war-party, declared that he would invade pakeha territory and massacre men, women and children—" to kill all" were his words—and burn and plunder the farms, as Wiremu Kingi had done in Taranaki. This meant that the settlement and town of Auckland were in serious danger, because all the regular troops were in Taranaki, and only partially-trained levies were available for stemming the tide of Tamihana's fury. To be exact, there were 1500 militia and volunteers who could be paraded, but of whom only some 850, belonging to selected companies, were of much military value.

Unexpected Aid. However, the Governor, Colonel Gore Brown, was undaunted. Sending two men-o'-war from Onehunga to New Plymouth for reinforcements, he selected a line of defence at the Tamaki, and pre pared to meet the advancing war-party, whose strength as it advanced down the Waikato would be greatly increased, until it would probably number some 1600 warriors by. the time it reached the point of resistance. The Governor's plan was to bring in all the settlers from the outcountry between the Tamaki and the Waikato, and place them in Auckland, to man his defensive line with his best troops, and to place the people and town of- Auckland under the protection of the less-trained troops. But the Governor had aid of which he knew nothing. It was late one evening, early in November, that Bishop Selwyn heard that the Waikato tribes were on the war-path. Mounting his chestnut mare, the bishop rode through the streets thronged with excited people, armed men, and refugees, in carts, on horseback and on foot, who were arriving from the threatened districts. Turning his horse's head toward the point of danger, the bishop passed into thrf darkness of the night. There was a gale of wind, and it rained heavily, but when he reached the Tamaki the bishop found men at work throwing up entrenchments near the Otahuhu Bridge, who cautioned the lonely horseman that lie was ridmg into danger. He passed on, and was swallowed up by the darkness and the storm.

Facing the Enemy. On he rode through Papatoetoo and Papakura till, long after midnight, he reached Drury, twenty-six miles from Auckland. The little village was as silent as the grave. At first it seemed deserted, but the bishop rode into the inn-yard and, going to the stable, "lighted the stable-lantern, fed his horse, and walked up and down the stable for an hour before anyone appeared. At 4 a.m. the landlord turned out to call his men to carry messages to warn the settlers of their danger," and the bishop chaffed the drowsy innkeeper for sleeping so soundly " within twelve miles of hundreds of armed and hostile natives, with nothing but a forest road between him and them." After having some breakfast, the bishop once more mounted his beautiful mare, Rona, and rode due south six miles to the edge of the forest, where ho left her at an empty farm-house, and walked through the forest another six miles, often up to his knees in mud, till he came to the Waikato River at Tuakau, where he expected Tamihana and his warriors to land. There on the river's bank the bishop waited, till at -noon ho was joined by Archdeacon .Maunsell, who was bent on the same mission as himself, -and the two sat talking till, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the war-party appeared in its imposing fleet of canoes filled with fighting men, naked but for the piupiu and cartridge-belt, and armed with well-kept muskets and tomahawks.

We possess no description of what passed between Tamihana and the bishop. All we know is that, with his companion, tho bishop faced those bloodthirsty warriors as they came ashore in their hundreds, bent on exterminating tho pakeha people. What the bishop said to Tamihana, what were the persuasions and arguments he used, we can only imagine; but we know that Bishop Selwyn spent the night in the midsf of the ferocious warriors whose mission was "to kill all" the white menj women and children, and to plunder and burn their houses. We know that wlion morning dawned Tamihana's face was no longer dark with rage, and that he gave the bishop his hand when the prelate departed.

" The Field-Force Need Not March 1" Meanwhile, in Auckland, all was bustle aud excitement.. All the troops were mustered. Orders had been issued for a column of nine hundred men—horse, foot, guns and transport—to march at daylight to tho Tamaki. The colonel in command lay in a house in Princes Street, adjacent to Government House and the Brigade Office. His galloper lay on a shake-down on the floor or an adjacent room. All was quiet and still, when suddenly a loud rapping was made on the window. The galloper sprang up to throw up tho sash. " I'm Windle St. Hill, the Governor's A.D.C.," said a voico from the darkness outside; "is Colonel Kenny there?" The O.G. was at the window in a moment. " The Governor," said the A.D.G., " has sent me over, sir, Co tell you that he has just heard from Bishop Sehvyn that he has stopped the war-party, and it is returning to the Waikato. So the fieldforce need not march!" That was in tho early morning of November 9—as available records show—a day to be remembered, for, if Tamihana had loosed his taua, and if the column had marched, there would certainly have been a clash between tho two forces. Possibly the line of the Tamaki would have been forced. Certainly all the Kingites would have risen in their thousands, and Auckland would have been in sore straits. But the dauntless intervention of Bishop Selwyn, supported by his faithful archdeacon, preserved peace.