1864 and 1885.

Colonist, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4122, 25 April 1885, Page 3

1864 and 1885.

The ceremony at Te Awamutu (say the 'Lyttelton Times') was a pleasin contrast to -the scene enacted withi three' miles: of- that spot during thi month twenty-one years ago. Earl !in April, when, Cameron and Care, 1 were out, word was brought that som three or four hundred Maoris ..wer I fortifying a position at Orakau. Gen j Carey at once attacked;.them wit) 1200 men. They r.-rep.eiled severa 1 assaults, baffled the Artillery <fire wit! bundles of ferhj* compelled our peopl to,proceed by sap, and -annoyed then terribly during "'the' process.' Befor* attack they had declared proudly tha they would'"fight "for ever, and evei and ever." Want, 'of .water, failing ammunition, a reinforcement of 40( British, and the slaughter wrought bj shells and hand grenades -at - lasi making the position untenable, thej marched out through a gap. in the' investing line Jeft open for the- artiller} fire/~' " They were in a solid column,' wrote an eye'rtoitness, "the women the children, and,the great chiefs ir the centre; and they marched out as cool and^ steady as if they were going to church." ,A- flanking fire galled them as'they marched, a swamp lav between them and the Punui River, where was safety. ■ Theydost heavily, but many reserved the-last of their ammunition, for the swamp. They fought their walkthrough with undaunted on,; and brought'awaj an : unconquerable remnant. • Hall their number had, fallen. General Carey said,!in'his despatch:—"lt is impossible not'to admire the heroic courage and'devotion of the Natives in defending themselves so long against overwhelming numbers. Surrounded closely on all sides, cut off from their sjipply of water, and deprived of all hjope of succour, they resolutely held their ground for more than two days, and ; did not abandon their position until the sap had reached the ditch of their last entrenchment," It was one of the finest deeds in New Zealand story. - The man who commanded against us in this heroic fight was Rewi, who turned the first sod of the Northern Grand Trunk Railway the other day, within view of the ground oil the great exploit. The gathering was not so great in 1885,'astin 1864. But its results will be greater and better. The whirligig of time has given us a most romantic contrast.