MUCH BEMEDALLED MAN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16234, 7 January 1927, Page 7

MUCH BEMEDALLED MAN

VETERAN OF MANY WARS

"BOWLEY** HILL'S 90TH BIRTH DAT

(Special to the Herald.)

AUCKLAND, this day

The best known naval .veteran in New Zealand is undoubtedly that aiueh beniedalled man Mr, Ccorge Hill, of Takapuua, better known to his many admirers" as ''Rowley." Yesterday, January. o*,. Mr. Hill attained the age of I>o years. Mr. Hill joined the British Xavy as fftrbflck as 3851. His war record attends from the days when he joined Garibaldi's men in the, fight for the liberation of Italy. He was one of the crew of the Leopard at the bombardment of Sebastopol during tho-vrar in the Crimea. He also saw servie& in. the Baltic during that war, and during the Indian Mutiny he was it.member of Captain s Peel's naval r»rigftde, which took a battery of 82 plunders into the heart of India. Mr. Hill was slightly wounded at the relief of Lucknmv. Later he fought at Delhi under'. Genera) Sir Colin Campbell; In 1860, while on the Mediterranean - station in H.M.S. Hannibal, Mr. Hill and three of his mates left tho vessel at Palermo and enlisted in Garibaldi's army of liberation. During his brief campaign in Italy he Was, founded, and ■ later he returned His temporary desertion •was ■ overlooked, probably because English sympathy was very strongly with Garibaldi. • FOUGHT IX MAORI WARS

In 18G3 Mr. Hill came to 'New Zealand and. joined Major von Tempsky's forest Bangers. Ho took part in many actions jn Taranaki and was also in. the campaign against the Hauhaus on the East Coast. He was engaged in the dangerous work of dispatch riding. Later Mr. Hill was a member of Major Fra-scr's No. 1 Company of military settlers at Hawke's Bay and, after that he joined the Armed Constabulary. . He made a most fallant defence of Hiruharama pa at .{phaka against the raid by To Kooti. If was a very pluckv affair. Troeper George Hill, as he was then, of the Armed Constabulary, joined the' party of Maoris led by Chief, Ihaka Whanga, ,and im" order to rel|eve the pa they charged past the -rifle pits of Te Kdoti's men. That they gained the shelter of the pa without the loss of a single man may havr> been due to the fact that the Hauhaus had previously raided n public house in the settlement nearby. That •reinforcement saved the .pa. Trooper Hill was the life of the defence. On his advise the palisades were strengthened with bullock chains so that the attackers could not pull : hem down by the old device of throwing over them a rope attached to a cross-bar. Trooper Hill did great execution of the Hauhaus by his ac curat© shooting from one of the angles of the pa. The result of the gallant defence was that the Hauhaus had to retire when the relief force made its appearance. To Kooti for once was baffled. Colonel Whitmore, when recommending Trooper Hill for the New Zealand Cross, wrote: ''Trooper Hill animated the defenders by his exertions and contributed greatly to the repulse of Te Kooti. His conduct is spoken of in admiration by the Maoris themselves." The cross was duly granted. t ' V Trooper Hill was at Ruakituri when Tfl; Kooti massacred a tribe of Maoris. .There ho made his'escape by .swimming two rivers and also rescued his sister at the same time. MEDALS FOR LIFE RAVING

It is not in war alone that Mr. Hill lias distinguished himself as he holds two medals presented by tho Royal Humane Society for saving life, one in each hemisphere. After the war was over Mr. Hill was in the submarine mining section of the New Zealand permanent force at Fort Cautley and resided for many yeata at Devonport. Latterly he has lived at No. .16 Cameron street, Takapuna. The father of Mr. Hill belonged to the navy and was at St. Petersburg with the British admiral in 1812 arranging with the Russian Government for the burning of Moscow, an event that proved so disastrous to Napoleon. The veteran of.so many fights flies the Union Jack at the peak at his home in Takapuna. The flag and staff were, presented by another navy veteran, Mr. W. B. Leyland, to Mr. Hill. _____