WHERE VON TEMPSKY FELL

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1639, 29 July 1903, Page 56

WHERE VON TEMPSKY FELL

(By J. Ward, late i orest JXangers ana A.C. field Force.)

• V t V / • JL I\7Xli J- V 1 v/v*^ In the rr New Zealand Times’' of the 17th July I notice a few lines from an old comrade, Mr J. H. Walker, of Waitara, anont what I had to say about the battlefields of Te Ngutu o To Mami. Te Ena Ena and Pungarehu, to a re;>r esc illative of the “Waimate Witness” newspaper some couple of weeks ago. I don't know what the f( Witness” actually said; but I wish to correct an error that is made (I am thoroughly sure quite ina<h ve-rtently) by the “New Zealand Times” in stating ‘‘That I slept at Te Ngutu o Te Mann the night before the battle.” Well may my old comrade ask. “What was I doing there on stick an occasion ?” What I told the “Wainmte Witness" in substance was this:—-That about the middle of May, 1868, I, with other members of my troop, ‘‘The Patea Yeomanry Cavalry/’ together with other corps, were marched into “Tie Peak of the Bird” to execute warrants against the chief's, Toi Hatiwhenua and others, for cattle stealing or recover the stolen animals. Colonel Tom McDonnell was in charge, and Mr Booth, the Civil Magistrate, also accompanied us. We got fairly well round the village (it was not a pith in the Maori sense then) about three hours before daylight, and were halted. I was only a file or two away from the Colonel and Major Cummings, and the former hardly knew what to do, as it was supposed—and afterwards found to be correct —that the Maoris were waiting for us to advance and let us have it. McDonnell said to Major Cummings “ Cummings, I don’t like appearances (things were so quiet and still). I’ll go in alone. If you hear a shot or any shooting bring your men up at the double.” Needless to say, the Major tried to dissuade his chief from this foolhardy trip, but to no purpose. In he went. All ns fellows were ready, with rifles capped and cocked, waiting breathlessly. There was no shot, but an invitation, in Maori, also in the Colonel’s weill-known voice, to “Come in; it’s all right.” We did so, and old Tokiri made us all very comfortable in the big “Wkare Runanga” for the remainder of the night—-or morning, rather. Nest day we returned to Waihi camp with two or three old crocks of horses; but before leaving, I, as being able to talk a word or two of Maori, had a good talk with some of the villagers, and also a good look around this afterwards most infamous village. In August following my poor old comrade, Cahill, and his mates were murdered, and the war began afresh. I was at the Thames (some thirtv of us left in early June) when the battles of Te Ngutu o Te Mann and Te Rua Rua were fought—the first about the 20th of August, I think, and the latter early in September. It was in the latter battle— Te Rua Rua, not Te Ngutu o Te Mania—that my gallant old leader. Von Tempsky, fell, and with him poor Buck, Hastings, Hunter, Palmer, Russell, ana the rest. On the sad news reaching the Thames, a lot of us old Force fellows threw down the pick and shovel and rejoined No®. 0 and 7 Division*. A. 0., I joined Hie first-

named, and my commanding officer wa« James Mclntosh Roberts, as gallant and withal ill-requited an officer as ever wora a sabre. He was Von's second in com*mand in No. 5, A.C.. and from him I had the pleasure of obtaining, afterwards, a lot of information anent the two battles, also from Wiriata Te Porokoro, of the Native Contingent, and Kepa Te Rangihiwinui; and from the enemy’s side I have had dozens of chats with Tohu, Te Wkiti’s then strong henchman, whilst I had charge of them both in 1882, about these fights, and that of Pungarohu and others. I have now in my possession a pencil sketch, by Tohu. of the three battlefields (Pungareku, of course, was fought bv McDonnell in 1867), and this sketch, together T ith the consensus of opinions I nave been able to gather from European and native actors in these two fights, place most conclusively to my mind Te Rua Rua (only a bush clearing, roughly pallisaueu on its margins, and by ball proof shelter cages up large forest trees) quite 350 to 400 yards distant from. To Ngutu o Te Manu, and therefore that the spot or spots shown in the Te Ngutu domain as being where Von Tempsky fell is wrong. True, lie may have been, and was, carried into the village marae after the battle, and so were all the bodies of the killed and wounded that thee wretched Ngamaliine could find —what for I don’t choose to state in the columns of a newspaper; but to my mind, after viewing the site of the old village (as I did the other week, the first time for over thirty-five years), and where certain landmarks (swampy creeks, etc.) were so graphically detailed to me by both Europeans and natives present in these battles, there was a good quarter of a mile separating both, whereas the visitor is shown a larch tree, actually on the site of the old marae, as where Von Tempsky fell. I also take exception, and I think it is scandalous, that fro-m 109 to 150 acres of the forest as it stood in IS6B, with Te Ngutu o Te Manu in its centre, was not reserved for all time, with every swamp, creek, rata tree, and underscrufo left intact, to show the future inhabitants of Maori land what my brave comrades had to march over and through—in the dead of night, too —to fight as brave and as capable a foe as ever laced, a platoon of British musketry. It may b-J said. Of what interest is it now reviving these old memories P I think a good deal of interest- attaches, or should attach, to every battle-ground throughout Maori land, both native and European. As respects the latter, I have been present in a few of them. "V on Tempsky was my old leader in th© Forest Rangers during General Chute’s campaign; and before 1 go over “the great divide” to join those “who have gone before,” I would certainly like to clear up the vexed question as to where You Tempsky actually fell, and now I think I can.