MAORI SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16454, 5 June 1919, Page 5

MAORI SOLDIERS.

THE PIONEER BATTALION. GENERAL RUSSELL’S APPRECIATION. SPECIAL TO HERALD. WELLINGTON, June 4. . The Minister of Defence (Sir Janies Allen) lias received from General Sir A. H. Russell, who commanded tno New Zealand Division in France, a leter conveying his high appreciation of ■ the services rendered by the Maori i Pioneer Battalion. Both as. fighting men and as pioneers they won high ■ praises, and ■ tliis recognition of their ■ fine qualities Will be a matter for pride ; not only among their own people, but ■ among the Pattellas of New Zealand, showing how well the Native race cooperated with the European in a time i of great national emergency. Sir , James Allen has had the Divisional Commander’s , letter translated into Maori, and published in the “Kahiti,” tho Maori Gazette, which is widely oir- , culated among the Natives. It is as . follows: — ‘ '■ FRANCE, March 11, 1919. Dear Sir Jam-33,—1 have just heard that tli© Maori Pioneer Battalion is on i I the eve of embarkation on their return ■! to New Zealand. - ■ i i Having had the honour and good fortune to have the Maoris under Any i command, both as the Maori Contingent ! on Gallipoli and later in France, as the Pioneer Battalion of the New Zealand Division. I should like to express . not appreciation, which I know is shared [ by all ranks of the New Zealand Expe- . ditionary Force, of the fine qualities shown by tho Maoris during the , war. On Gallipoli when they took a full [ share in the- initial operation on August , (5, 1915 ,in the battle, of Chunuk Bair, • aiid later in the fightingVpn Hill - 60, ; the Maoris proved themselves true des- ; Cendant*’ of those fighting tribes from . which they are descended. In Fiance ; their work as pioneers may not have been a-s dramatic, and therefore perI haps not so easily recognised by the. j public. But those of us who have bene*I filed by the wurfc done 'by the Pioneer I Battalion—not only on the Somme in [ 1!)]6, at Messincs. at Vpres, and on ! the battlefields of 1918, but also during ‘ t he monotonous months of trench warfaro. will readily acknowledge the debt iwc owe to the battalion. .1 am not 1 going too- far when I -say that their work on communication trenches and ; in the preparation of defence lines has I sated the Division many lives, and this work was carried out under conditions, so arduous and as dangerous as- any other duty which soldiers are called on to perform, while their opportune 1 ties for rest and relief were less than I is the case with infantry in the line, except during a -battle. . Right through their period of active sendee the Maoris have shown them- ] selves brave, well-disciplined, and .in 'a'very marked degree of that cheerful and willing spirit which goes so far towards the making of a good, sol- , -' dier. I am confident that I speak for ’ the whole Division when I say we arc : proud of the Maoris as our countrymen and as brothers in arms. I hope .you .will convey this appre- j - elation of the services rendered by the . Maoris in the war to their represepta- ; . tires.—Yours sincerely, i j A. H. RUSSELL. i j Major-General Commanding J j Now Zealand Division. | Sir James Allen, K.C.8., I 1 Minister of Defence, ! i Wellington, New Zealand. I