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Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 33 (Supplement)

THE KING MOVEMENT AGAIN

Leaders of the King movement had by this time spread their propaganda far and near. A war party from Hawke's Bay, on their way to join another in Tauranga, was attacked and conquered by the loyal Arawa tribe. The main body ot Tauranga natives built a strongly fortified pa on

fatal network of underground passages and rifle-pits at the Gate Pa 10 officers and 25 non-commissioned officers and men were killed, while 4 officers and 72 of other ranks were wounded. Elated at their brilliant victory the Maoris did not retreat far, but partly fortified a pa, Te Rang*, which., before they had time to complete, was attacked by Colonel Greer. The disaster of the Gate Pa was to be avenged and retrieved, the place was carried with a dash by the British, and the Maoris fled, leaving 68 dead in the rifle-pits they had dug the preceding day. The Maori loss was 108 killed, 27 wounded, and 10 prisoners. Among the dead was Henare Taratoa. A touching written "Order for the Day" was fourd upon this brown Christian soldier. Beginning with a simple prayer it ended with, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give h'm to drink." Colonel Greer, in reporting to Sir George Grey, said : "No thought of yielding possessed the natives. They fought -with desperation, and when compelled to quit the trenches, in whicn -they left more than a tenth of their number dead, it was strange to -see them slowly cCimb up, and, disdaining to run, walk away under a fire that mowed them down, some halting and firing as they retired, others with down-bent heads sto : cally md proudly receiving their inevitable fate."

With the fall of Te Ranga. the Waikato campaign closed. Evets the 'Kingmaker" (Waliaroa) saw that in the broken and disunited •state of the tribes all hopes of a Maori kingdom were vain. Against the King movement, not only the Pakeha hmiself, w'th all hiis arms and miin tons of war, but some of the most powerful tribes, stiY* loyal to the Treaty of Waitangi, were arrayed. What after all wero the fruits of war? Setting aside the loss of many brave men, whose vives a.rd kindred still mourned disconsolate in the inland pas, did mot the land, the sacred land of their fathers, silently entreat for peace V Culfvations destroyed, crops ruined, ■ungathered maizs and trampled -gourds, burnt peach groves and >deserted kaingas rendered the country desolate, and mutely spoke of impending poverty and hunger. On August 5 the Maoris, who had previously surrendered their arms, met Sir George Grey and

General Cameron. Sir George promised to care for the brown man equally with the white man, and in recognition of the chivalrous manner ill which they had fought, to release all prisoners of war. The chiefs in turn surrendered their lands and expressed their loyalty and gratitude. One fourth of the ceded territory was retained by the Government as an atonement for rebellion, the remainder was returned to the Maoris. The loss of Tauranga, as their most convenient sea port, was a crushing and final blow to the Waikato tribes, and so far as they were concerned the war was over.