PAGES FROM THE PAST

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1928, Page 14

PAGES FROM THE PAST

THE WAR IN TARANAKI 1800 A CRITICAL YEAR. ABANDONMENT SUGGESTED. The year 1860 was one of the most critical years in the history of of the Pakeha in New Zealand. To show how critical it was, it is enough to mention the fact that, after the defeat of Major Nelson’s force at Puke-ta-kauere (Waitara Valley), it was actually suggested that the Province of Taranaki should be abandoned to the rebels. The fact that the magnificent soldiers of the 40th Regiment had been defeated with severe loss had at least one good effect; it revealed the serious nature of the rebellion, and caused the authorities in New Zealand, in Australia, and in England, to take steps to provide against more serious reverses. A man-of-war was sent to Melbourne with despatches from Colonel Gold, Commandant at New Plymouth, and from Governor GoreBrowne, urgently entreating the G.O.C. in Australia to send every available soldier to New Zealand,. and the N.Z. Government in which lie pointed out the precarious situation of Auckland, if the Maori King were to declare war; and asking for substantial reinforcements. To make matters worse the old Maori King, who had difficulty in restraining his tribes from waging war on the Pakeha, died about the time of Major Nelson’s defeat, and was succeeded by Taw’hiao, a weak man who was completely in the hands of Rewi and the war party, and it was plain to those who could read the signs of the times that New Zealand was about to enter a very stormy period in her history. MAORIS CONFIDENT.

The victors of Puke-ta-kauere made the most of the occasion. They despatched messengers through the length and breadth of the North Island, casting scorn on the white man’s methods of waging war, but carefully concealing their own serious losses; laughing at the Pakelia’s ignorance of the country in which he was fighting, but saying nothing of the terrible effect of the case-shot of Major Nelson’s guns, in the retreat. The chiefs. however, were careful to emphasise the bravery of the troops and the necessity for reinforcements reaching Taranaki, if the Pakeha was to be decisively defeated ami driven into the sea; and the result of these messages was to strengthen greatly the anti-British movement, and to bring considerable additions to the rebels lighting in Taranaki. With all their scorn of the tactical handling of the British troops, the chiefs themselves displayed a woeful lack of military initiative. Plainly, when the effect of the defeat was depressing both troops and civilians, and before Major Nelson’s isolated force had recovered from its losses, the time was ripe for a general assault on New Plymouth. But the Maoris did nothing. True, their scouts penetrated the outskirts of the town, and small groups carried out depredations and burnings within sight of the outposts, but no attempt was made by the Maoris to follow up their success by trying to defeat the garrison decisively before it could be reinforced. No assault was even made on the entrenched camp at Waitara, or on the block-houses of Omata and Bell Block. The rebel chiefs did nothing, and so let slip an opportunity which was never to return; for Australia responded magnificently to New Zealand’s appeal, and in a few weeks the Queen’s forces in Taranaki were much strengthened. In the meantime there was little that Colonel Gold could do. It was obvious that any further reverse, or even a victory, if attended with severe loss, would have so crippled his already inadequate force as to have led possibly to the most serious results. The chief good that he was doing was by confining the war to Taranaki, whither he was attracting all the malcontents and fire-eaters of the King Country, and so was preventing attacks being made on the scattered and unprotected Pakeha settlements in the North Island, and rendered almost impracticable a concerted attack on Auckland. TOWN IN BAD WAY. Not only was New Plymouth overcrowded, by reason of the influx of refugees and the size of the garrison; its streets were worn out with the constant traffic of commissariat waggons, ammunition waggons and guns, and the constant tramping of horses and bullocks, so that, when the heavy rains of winter set in, these highways became something like quagmires, ankle-deep and, in some places, knee-deep in mud. For food the inhabitants and garrison depended almost entirely upon supplies brought by sea, and brought ashore by the wonderful surf-boats which were the sole connection between the shipping and the land. Captain BeauchamnSeymour, R.N., noticing the unprotected state of the landing place and of the surf boats, proposed to the commandant the building of a fort which should command this vulnerable point, and fortunately the idea was carried out, and none too soon, for one night a band of Maoris stole along the beach with a view to destroying the surf boats which lay high and dry on the shore. The fort commanding the position was garrisoned by a landing part from the Australian man-of-war “Victoria,” and these men, armed with a new and excellent kind of rifle, drove off the marauders without much difficulty. The incident .shows how bold the rebels had grown, and how little fear they had of the Pakeha. They penetrated the outskirts of the town on more than one occasion, and burned houses, not because such destruction had any military value, but because it showed defiance, and gave the warriors something to brag about. These incursions made the situation trying to the women and children, and now it was that the authorities determined to remove as many of the non-combat-ants as possible by sea to the South Island, a thing which became more than ever necessary when, in July and early in August, reinforcements arrived from Australia.

With them came Major-General Pratt, who, by reason of his rank, superseded Colonel Gold, and took command of all the troops in Taranaki. These numbered nearly 3000 men, and could be augmented temporarily by additional landing parties from the warships. The Maori forces were difficult to estimate, but there were probably about the same number of rebels in Taranaki as there were white troops, and as time went on it was certain that large accessions from the Waikato tribes would greatly strengthen Wiremu Kingi'g cause. During the winter of 1800, if the fight at Puke-ta-kauere be excepted, tliere was no very serious engagement. Yet there was much fighting between

small parties, at the outposts, by troops convoying supplies to the block-houses and entrenched camps. The war never stopped for a day. But the winter was so wet, cold and tempestuous, that both sides waited for the summer before undertaking any very serious movement. On the part of Colonel Gold and General Pratt this was quite a good policy, but the same cannot be said for the Maori generalship. The winter of 1860 was the time when the rebels had a chance of scoring a success, while the defences of New Plymouth were being completed, and the outposts at Waireka, Waitara, Bell Block, and Omata were often isolated for days together by torrential rain and flooded rivers. Yet no resolute attacks were made on any of these places, though they were frequently under musketry fire, and seldom had any peace, duy or night. Here is an extract from a diary, giving an account of the happenings on a typical day: August 13:. Ah escort of 30 (Taramaki) Rifles marched out under Captain Atkinson (afterwards Sir Harry Atkinson and Premier of New Zealand), to bring in some of the settlers’ property from the Avenue Road. He was soon sharply engaged with some Natives coming with plunder from “Brooklands” (Captain King’s estate), and fearing an ambuscade by a largo party of Natives if he proceeded, retired upon the town for support, closely followed by the rebels, whose numbers had been largely augmented. When he reached the racecourse he was in turn reinforced by a half-company of the 65th under the gallant and übiquit•ous Urquhart, and detachments of Militia and Volunteers. Atkinson, being senior officer, remained in command. Holding the 65th in reserve, and reinforcing his skirmishers with the whole of the Militia and Volunteers, Atkinson briskly advanced on the enemy, whom the colonial troops, maddened by the murder of their kinsmend and friends, pressed, most wickedly, driving them into the bush. A small and unimportant incident, that? Yes, but how illustrative of life in New Plymouth, in the winter of 1860. When in the -future—-and perhaps the not distant future—the makers of cinema films decide to produce pictures of New Zealand’s history, what better subject could they choose than the entrenched town with its alarms and excursions, its confined streets crowded with marching men, its citadel on Marsland Hill up whose scarped sides hundreds of women and children climb to safety behind the stockades, while beyond the outposts Captain Harry Atkinson’s little force engages the enemy and the rest of the garrison—regulars, bluejackets, and colonial riflemen —man the entrenchments, and the gunners load their pieces which from every coign of vantage cover all avenues of approach?—Nelson Mail.