THE SKETCHES,.

Otago Witness, Issue 2309, 2 June 1898, Page 49

THE SKETCHES,.

"HERE AND THERE MEMORIES."

Under the above title a writer, who conceals Jus identity under the initials H. R. N. , has written a large volume of personal reminiscences of a most attractive character. "H. R. N." has been almost everywhere, and has mixed among all classes of society. He has been or is an officer in the army,' fought in New Zealand, sojourned in Australia, India, and -America, and has in every case obtained acquaintanceship with leading 3nen in all positions of life. We subjoin a few of his racy anecdotes : — Patrick Alphonsus! The dignity of such a name reminds me of anothei^'lrishman. In 1863 the New Zealand Government raised some thousand volunteers in Australia to serve against the Maoris. I shall. not stop to tell how disgracefully it treated most of them, for ill-government and corruption and log-rolling seems to have been the common heritage of all young colonies under new, responsible governments. The volunteers which Dean Pitt raised were necessarily a very mixed lot: diggers, runaway sailors, ex-soldiers of the Mutiny, adventurers of all sorts. Physically they were a grand lot, and just the most perfect material for partisan warfare, if Sir Duncan Cameron could Lave ever had the genius to forget his very ' old fashions and unbridled ' Pitt's ' men. In the long run it was all the better that he liad not, for he did not lick the Maori too Tveil, and the noble old man who then governed as much as the colonial office would let nina was enabled to do some justice to the original owners of the country in the settlement which he (Sir George Grey) and the Natives came to, in defiance of the opinion of the suttlers and the incendiaries who had robbed and would rob them. Amongst the first volunteers raised was a short, red-faced, blue-eyed, roley-poley sort of a man with a standing grin on him, a puncheon-bodied fellow of whom even a regimental 'drill' must despair. To my com- , inand this Silenus fell. He saved drill-ser-geants all bother, was ' returned ' as a deserter the week after his arrival in Otahuhu, and never troubled a pay-sergeant during the succeeding three years of his engagement. The terms of the Australian service in the ranks comprised 2s 6d a day, rations, rum, ! tobacco, and (I think) sixty acres of clear- , able land on the expiration of their term, j The latter item entailed a ballot for choice of | land before final discharge, and the night preceeding it the roley-poley man reported himself at headquarters at Tauranga beastly drunk, fatter than ever, and in a fancy uniform made up of the discardments of many corps. He was duly imprisoned, and produced in the guard-room a certificate, which attested an excellent career as orderly in the military invalid hospital at Auckland, where the sly knave had managed to be employed through the monstrously friendly offices of an old soldier-medico whom he had known 'at home.' When marched next day to the orderly-room to be /told off' the morning, sun did not shine on a more self-satisfie/l grin than his. ' He calmly produced his certificate, t and a written .demand for three years' pay and ; ' allowance money ' .. in lieu of rations, *[ tobacco) etc., : and' waited the commanding" officer's behests. Colonel Harrington, an exmarine," a strict soldier, and, as far as was known;" a mere man* of pipe-clay, with as much sense of humour as a salmon, read the certificate and demand, cursed under his breath, and," unable to punish, prepared to display in words the iniquity of shirkers who left their comrades to fight while they browsed free and safe. With legs spread and toes inturned, the fat man slouched and smiled defiant, while the ex-marine snarled out his homily : — "I can't read your d d name. Who and what are you?" quoth the officer. Fatty's grin spread. His chin came forward, and, with a wink of the most unsimulated confidence, he replied : " On my honour, sir, I'll tell you no word of a lie. 'Tis Cornelius Dixon O'Keefe, and I'm a laynial discindint of Brian Boru." Harrington cleared the room. The descendant of Irish kings was released. He ballotted and got a corner allotment, on which lie put up a publichouse with the proceeds of his hospital and " field " service, and then •waxed fat in the magnificence of his noble name and pedigree.

Another wonderful German whom I was proud to know was Gustaviis yon Tempski, -who was killed and eaten by Te Kooti and his fanatic Pai Mariri followers in New Zealand. " Yon " had been in Prussian service, in which his family name has been long distinguished. I never heard any reliable account of the circumstances which separated him from the army and country he loved. (But his separation had not prevented his seejhg war, for he had been in every ugly brush in every South American State for many ' years, and had a turn or two outside, on the "Algerian frontier and in Kurdistan. His body "tfkii backed about curiously and won-

drously to match the student scars on his odd, handsome face. In war-paint, as I knew him in command of " Yon Tempski's Forest Rangers," he cut an extraordinary figure. A "sleeveless, blue woollen sailor > shirt open on his hairy chest, his long elf locks rolling over his shoulder, his loose trousers hitched into sea boots and a long Maori staff with a bunch of kau-kau feathers tied a-top, berigged a very half-horse, halfalligator sort of a man — a whaler, " pirate, athlete figure — armed with a great; revolver and a broad machate in place of a sword. His followers looked fit to follow him. — runaway sailors and vagabonds, whose only qualification for their commander was the power to march, starve, fight and die wherever he might lead them. His discipline was whatever his fist or his pistol could enforce. "No rations, no bedding, no baggage — 10s a day, to be paid whenever the commander "brought them in," were the cot.ditions of service of the hundred partisans, w,ho " felt " the front and night, and fought whenever "-Ton*" could get the. chance to kill.

Wlien the bathing party of the 40th was surrounded at the Waiera Ford, Yon Tempski came to its aid with his escort His marginal despatch to Havelock (now HavelockAllen, M.P.), who had the luck to be senior officer there, ran j

I have the honour to report that hearing firing at Waiera, I proceeded there with ten men, engaged the enemy, of whom we extracted eleven dead.

It was Here tlia.t Charles Heapey won his Victoria Cross for attendance on the wounded tinder hot fire. Heapey was a volunteer, and was said to have got, the decoration against the wish of General Cameron, who was opposed to its going to any but army men (of the regulars) or navy. Sir George Grey, the truly G.O.M. of the Colonies, got the credit of having Heapey's gallantry recognised. The volunteer was then Colonial Surveyor-general. Yon Tempski ought to have had the ci-oss, but there was a prejudice against him on account of his nationality, and still more for what was called his un-soldierlike appearance. I have no doubt at Potsdam lie could look more military than even a Royal Marine fogey at Portsmouth. He was a wonderful linguist, a great geologist, mining expert and mathematician, and quite the best miniature painter since Oosway. I think, perhaps, his rupture with Prussian authority was connected with the Hungarian war, for he knew Turr, and kept up an intimate correspondence with him. I sent him a very fine fellow, just the sort for such a command as his. He sent him back in a few days, and explained, " I found he could jump farther, and certainly throw a sledge farther than myself, and lie showed it. I never keep any man that I cannot beatin anything. If I did, some scoundrel would kill me the first time I stopped him plundering."

One would have thought that few men of real worth would care to serve with such as the majority of the "Forest Rangers." As a matter of fact, a minority Avere excellent folk, and the very cream of younger sondom and the varsities. Major Yon Tempski made no distinction in treating the scoundrels and the gentlemen "when at the front." In the lulls, when he always managed to let his force down to Auckland " for a run," this accomplished man's relations with a private ranger were different. " When I put on m$ Avar shirt I am major, and' must kiiock a fellow's brains out if he won't salute. When I have my coat on, I hope I am just as much and no moz'e a gentleman than I know So-and-So is."

There was another man in Now Zealand, when Sir Duncan Cameron made war, as lie understood it, against Maoris. They understood it better than he in their own country. The officer I refer to was Hugo Byam Lomax, who had an even more extraordinary career than Yon Tempski. Lomax commenced soldiering in thejJßombay Fusileers in India, where he remained just long enough to establish a reputation on the race track, the drawing-room and wherever a bit of desultory fighting or flirting might be clone. Then li 3 was a "flaneur" in London, Paris, and Vienna till his fortune was spent. Then he enlisted, and had for comrade in the hussars, in which he was rough-rider, O'Reilly,' wellknown later on as O'Reilly Bey, of the Ottoman army. When the Russian war broke out, Lomax, got, through Lord Palmerston, an appointment in Turkey, and started for there, with no equipment but his wits. When he arrived at Pera, he had a complete personal turn-out and horse furniture, and soon showed what jstuff.he was made as a leader of Bashi-basouks in the field, and the most delightful, though wildest, man in. quarters. After Sclmmla, when under Sir Hussey Vivian, he quarrelled with the kindhearted Major White-Melville, and " had to go." He found his way, with a letter from Omar Pasha, to the Crimea, but his valour did not win him friends enough to make him long acceptable there, and fie went to Smyrna with an American shJDinaster and a

cargo of quite unsuitable railway iron which had been shipped in England. The captain sold the rails to Mr Frederick Whittle, and he and Lomax divided the payment. The latter started anew on an onion and fig farm, which was to be the model for the Levant. Owing to a quarrel, he soon left there, deep in the books of the Ottoman Bank, arid got back to Constantinople, and thence to Georgia under Dembinski, the Pole, whose bones he left in Schamyl's country when he came back to Pera, the noisiest ruffler in the East. Thence he had to go again, having shot, according to code, an Italian free soldier of his own kidney. He accepted a mission to " the Principalities " as unaccredited agent for Stratford tie Redchffe (perhaps then Sir Stratford Canning). In some respects he did the great Elchi's business very well, ior ho picked up a great deal of information through the kind offices of a foolish Wallachian, the widow of a Boyard, who fell in love with him at Bucharest. Being recalled to Constantinople, he got a large sum in specie for his report, and a passage to Venice, but had not steamed far out of the Golden Horn when the English diplomatist found that the imaccredited one had sold his information to Count Osten yon Brochisch, the Austrian representative, for a sum a little larger than the great Elchi had himself paid. Then were a few years of extravagant display at Turin, Paris, and Continental gaming tables. He took part with ihe winners in the Franco-_ Austrian war, and supplied ungrammatical but very picturesque reports to James Grant, then editor of a London morning paper. " Our Special " managed to know more than others, for he had really got means to probe the intricate " secrets " of Cavour and Louis Napoleon. The following year he was in London when the great Garibaldian enlistment of volunteers was started. Lomax was deep hi the movement. Though late for the first operations of Garibaldi, he accompanied the Italian revolutionist after Volturno to Naples. When it was politic to suppress a second Garibaldian expedition with English recruits, he was sent' for and warned, got some' little money to cover expenses already incurred, and managed to get another start. About or at the interview with Lord Palmerston he managed to get possession of a paper which might be compromising if disclosed to the French Ambassador. He presented himself after dinner, and had another interview with Palmerston, avowed the possession, and escaped consequences by pointing out that a confederate would place the paper with Persnigy (I think) within a fixed time if he were detained. The upshot was the paper was restored, and, with a purse not ill-filled, the freelance went to Sydney. Sir Richard Dennison was governor then, and sent Lomax to Lambing Flat on some police service. He got hold of a local paper, festered the ill-feeling against the Chinese, and got up the riots, then sold the paper and leturned to Sydney. I shall nob -speak oi his conduct there, but he married an English widoAv attached to the Governor's household, and left the poor gentlewoman to go to Melbourne, where the late General George Dean Pitt was raising men for three years' service in the war. There again Lomax showed nis mettle, good and bad. He got from there to South America, thence to the Falkland Islands, and subsequently to England, as a stowaway in a transport bringing Home a regiment which he-had known m New Zealand. In the Franco-Prussian War, with the Commune, with Kiel, the Carlists, ' and in the Chilian campaign against Peru, he confirmed his reputation of a devil in fight and in quarters. From Paris, in the siege of the Commune he wrote by some secret hand to Colonel Bartle O'Brien of the military train in Dublin. I saw allusions to him in a Pacific, Slope newspaper since, and have heard that he sought employment in Egypt. If he be alive, it will not astonish me to hear of his valour in some festival of carnage as a wonderful, accomplished man, who should be judged in the court of opinion of other ages than ours. In the sixteenth century, or someAvhat later, his name might rank*wifch those Avhich inspire poets and historians. Lomax Avas a most expert swimmer. When in the Australian police, he rescued from droAvning two subordinates with extraordinary coolness. »

Whatever his delinquencies were, want of rectitude in money matters wsis not one. When in funds, he discharged all debts incurred when out of saddle, and he had the soldier's virtue of generosity. I have known him take off his only shirt to wrap an ailing private soldier. I'have not read that Drake or. Hawkins had done the like. In all fchafc made them heroes, Loniax was at least their peer.

After a whist party in Warburton's quarters at Tauranga, Captain Fraser ("Bill"), of whom I write elsewhere, borrowed a lantern to go home, and out of his asking for it a bet arose that he would no*; carry a bundle of " dips " safely to his own tent, the night being very list, and the candles being half melted when he got them. F 's way was on the top of the cliffs ever the Judea estuary. Away lie went, the light bobbing about, but it soon disappeared, and there came the cry from a sentry, "Man over the cliff." The guard, everybody, turned out: lights and ladders were brought, "'poor Fraser'' it; cvei}- body's mouth, and just as the man-'o-war's guard boat came round the point in search lor his corpse the missing man himself stood amongst us, all dripping. and muddy. "I say, Warburfcon, I'll win that sovereign. I have got the candles all safe, and they're hardened by the sea water." B"e had fallen in at full tide, stuck to his candles, climbed the eSifi', and was only anxious to have another wager with the " sapper chap " that he could not fall over in daylight and keep a " stone " of candles safe.

A boat overturned in a tide-race, and I with difficulty got ou her keel. Fraser swam out in his clothes with a line to tow us in, and only said when we were safe, " They Avero a bit la te for breakfast. There they are, the brutes." " They " were sharks. Except in harbours or amongst shipping, sharks are not perhaps educated into going for men. At Tauranga they were then growing cultured enough to be somewhat dangerous, but my -cool preserver knew that they do nob lie in tide-races, and possibly calculated that they would not charge into it for, at least, some hiuie. All the same. I believe

ho would have ventured his life for me without delay. Another New Zealand officer with extraordinary poAvers as a " partisan " Avas Captain Willie Lloyd, but he was very hard to keep in order. He had General Cameron's support in all his p.seapades, but was a thorn in the side of the Colonial Ministers and the missionary party, Avbo perhaps both Avanted the war conducted in a Avay to promote then* own private interest. Near the camp of Lloyd's contingent there was a village of '' friendly " Natives, agents for the fighting Maoris, yet under subsidy of the Government, who, in the heart of hearts of its Ministers, I believe, Avished the troubles prolonged for the sake of official plunder. An orderly arrived with a despatch for Lloyd, directing him to abstain from interfering with the frieudly post. Tt was " unsigned." He sent it back with, the marginal note that he submitted ifc to ministerial examination as a mischievous practical joke, and immediately looted and destroyed the village. When the despatch reached him again, his report of rhe raid had already been sent to the general, Avitli a memo, telling of the " practical joke," which he was " assured would not .be repeated to him."

Being cut off by a Maori detachment, be hid his little scouting party in the brush, and when the enemy Avere gathered round their fires at night, coolly walked into their circle. The capture of " Te Waka Waka " (his Maon name) was a great triumph for the warriors, who tied him hand and foot and confined him in a strong reed hut. He Avas an adept in the Maskelyne and Cook tricks of untying and Avhen the Maoris returned to their bivouac, believing their great prisoner secure, they found him sitting there. To add to their surprise, he swallowed a bayonet, and so bounced them that they retired at daylight and crossed the Waikato River without dreaming of searching for his companions, to whom he returned- with a " breast piece" of greenstone, the symbol of "Atu," Avhich made his person sacred from M&o/i assault. When Captain Lloyd returned to his property in Limerick, he led the assailants in the famous, yet bloodless, march on Portenard Bog. The story of that marcn outstrips the wildest tales in Lever. A relative of Lloyd owned a bog on which Sir Richard de Burgo claimed the right of turbary for his tenants. Sir Richard occupied it in great force. Late one night, Lloyd, his cousins, Mr Apjohn and others assembled their tenants, marched Avith cannon, drums and a commissariat of bacon, loaves, whisky, and beer to drive away the intruders, having previously senb notice to the resident magistrat and county inspector of police. When they arrived, some 30 constables Avere on the scene. Lloyd had not much fewer than 1500 men, but AvithdreAV to a neighbouring hill, " not wishing to embarrass the Queen's legal force, but determined that his force would after a reasonable time, assert their right.' Mr Eaton, the magistrate, spoke to De Burgos men, aa'lio were only too glad to get away from " that^ devil Lloyd," who occupied the ground, anch having set enough turf -cutters at work, dispersed his party, and gave himself and his co-leaders up at Limerick_prison. Of course they were bailed out. Sir Richard halted Arhen told that he must commence a Chancery action for possession, and the only upshot of the affair was the undisturbed enjoyment of the Lloyd tenants and Mr Justice LaAvson's remark that reality sometime* greatly outstripped romance. It Avould require a special book to tell half the' good things this fine follow or crony Mark did.

, ( To te continued.')