MR. ARDEN 90 TO-DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 20 July 1935, Page 9

MR. ARDEN 90 TO-DAY

: : LAST O# CAPTAIN MACE’S FORCE. 9 ■' ; .TARANAKI SERVICE IN MAORI'WAR To-day. is the/90 th anniversary of the’(birthday of Mr, Harry Ardenp Devon j Street, the: only survivor ,of Captain '.yt Mace’s mounted volunteers which guardJ I ed New Plymouth from attack. in the. troubled days of the Maori wars. Born at Brighton, England, Mr. Arden came to Nev/ Zealand with his family when he was eight years old. In 1853 set sail in the ship Cresswell and spent four weary months on the sea before the west coast was sighted. In that ■ f -'£ monotonous period Mr. Arden’s chief ■ joy was watching other passengers fishing from the deck. Two young men were particularly anxious to ensnare an .”4 albatross; which, they finally did, catcher ing a huge one, the span of whose wings : 4 almost covered the deck of the tiny vfctael.'' •

' 'The Cresswell. arrived, at New Ply-. - mouth one day before the Joseph Fletcher, which had left England a month 'after- her but with a fair wind had made >4 short time of the journey. , 'Die Ardens bought five acres of. land at Bell Block. The property was situated bn Corbett Road about a mile inland from ..the present Bell-Block factory and from there Harry Arden and his three C brothers went to school in the old Bell Block chapel which ,is still standing. Mr. Arden, senr., was a man of comfortable means and the boys were not required to.do farm work. However, it Was their duty to take turns to watch the few cows that they might not stray i* and be lost One once wandered as far ■i as Waltara. . ‘ ' * In 1060 when war broke: out with the / Maoris 'the family, like alt the settlers in ■/ the outlying districts, flocked .into New | Plymouth for safety. They occupied a t house on the far side of the Henui stream but when that, too, was considered dangerous lodged for a short period

in the ..•■old Wesleyan chapel. Thence they moved once more to the banks of , the Henui, but this time to the near side.

/ -New Plymouth during the war was overcrowded. Houses were impossible to obtain and diphtheria and other dis--4 eases broke out. With many other .settlers the Ardens moved to Nelson. Hefe ’ Harry successfully continued his education’ at a. Government school and later at Bishop Hobhouse’s institution. In 1863 the. family returned to New Plymouth and almost at once Mr. Harry Arden joined the 100 men in Captain Mason’s mounted volunteers. It was the duty of these cavalrymen to carry dispatches between the various camps. At risk of their lives they galloped, alone, through nine miles of unpopulated country. Once Captain Mace with four companions was ambuscaded at the Warea River by the Maoris, two of the men being slightly wounded, and after that the mounted 'volunteers were ordered •ride in pairs between, the camps, y When Captain Mace’s force was disbanded Mr. Arden joined the mounted division ,bf the Armed Constabulary. He was one of a party stationed at Kawhia for two or three years and he and Mr. George Webb, Wanganui, were then ordered to Wellington. Soon after the need, for the constabulary - disappeared and Mr. Arden was offered the choice of £lOO compensation or a position in-the artillery. Deciding to abandon the military life he settled at Wellington, living with his brother-in-law who was in the Government Survey Department,.. .He. ..was. ..at. Wellington for nearly 30 years, working for a short time in the census division and .the Government Life Insurance Department and for 14 years in the National Ba llll - m After a trip to Rotorua, Taupo, Waireki, Milford Sounds and Te Anau, Mr. Arden returned to New Plymouth. He has -been living here for nearly 10 years. In his younger days at Wellington Mr.; Arden was a keen player of tennis and cricket. Later he joined a bowling club in the city.