A SAD INCIDENT IN NEW ZEALAND HISTORY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 3262, 11 March 1885, Page 3

A SAD INCIDENT IN NEW ZEALAND HISTORY.

t REMINISCENCES OF A TIMABIT COLONIST. c To-day is a memorable date m the history ? of Now Zealand. It is just 40 years since * the first armed conflict took place between a the Maoris and Europeans. On the 11th ° March, 1845, Kororareka, m the Bay of ' Islands, then the only European town m New t Zealand] was attacked and pillaged by the 7 natives, and a number of the first colonists lost their lives. An old and much-respected c resident m Bouth Canterbury, who was a present on the memorable occasion, gave us ° yesterday an interesting account of the a melancholy scenes he witnessed, and a sum- ? mary of his story, told pretty much m his 1! own words, is herewith presented to our a 1 readers. Into the disputes between the i powerful Ngapuhi Chief, Hone Heke, and J thejprimitive form of Government then existing, which disputes finally led to the cutting r ' down of the flagstaff, and the attack on the £ settlement, our informant did not enter, J That part of the narrative is now matter of history, and is pretty generally known. As an eye-witness, however, he was able to give ' a very full and interesting account of the events which actually occurred on the ' notable occasion m question, and this we c have reproduced below. £ Tbe 11th of March, 1845, said our pioneer * friend, was as lovely a day aa ever came out c of the heavens. For some time previously, a , there had been uneasiness m the settlement on account of the proceedings of the Maoris, v and the white settlers were all divided into ? companies and took turns m guarding the J 1 place. There was also a garrison of about c 30 British soldiers, and there was a little ? man-of-war, the Hazard, under Captain " Robinson, riding at anchor m the harbor. We ° had had one or two false alarms before, but J* m the grey dawn of that beautiful day, on " the 11th March, 1845, when we wero aroused out of our sleep, we soon found that the attack had commenced m earnest. The natives came m through the two passes t leading to the town. The sailors and marines came ashore from the man-of- r, war, and a desperate fight took place ti among the flax bushes, the result of d which was that four or five of the man-of -war's £ men were killed, and ultimately they were 1 driven back. They then found that their a brave commander, Captain Bobinson, was j missing. Furious at the discovery, they J rushed back, charged the natives, and auo- r ceeded m rescuing Captain Robinson, who I was severely wounded m four or five places. 3 He was taken on board his vessel, but subse- j quently died. f Meanwhile an exciting scene had taken r place at the block-house, which was usually j occupied by 18 or 20 soldiers. As soon as r the firing commenced m the morning, the r soldiers ran out of the block-house, m their 1 shirt sleeves, to see what was the matter. r This gave the Maoris just the opportunity f they wanted. They shot the sentry dead, g and then made a dash to get possession of the i block-house. Tho soldiers caw the move, and 1 also mado a rush for the house. Two of i them succeeded m getting inside, and slammed { the door on the Maoris. The latter ( however, got battering-rams, burst open the < door, and made short work of the two un- ( . fortunate men inside. It so happened that ( there were three other occupants of the ] . block-house at the time. These were Mrs 1 . Tapper, wife of the keeper of the flagstaff, ( . her daughter, and a half-caste ohild. These ] . had all slept m the block-house the previous ] . night for safety, m accordance with the | , usual custom. The Maoris killed the half- 1 caste, but did not injure Mrs Tapper or hei daughter. The fighting went on till about 11 o'clock, i when Heke hoisted a flag of truce, and took l down Mrs Tapper and her daughter, handing ■ them over to the British m safety. Both sides ; ceased firing. There was an American manf of -war m the harbor. The captain would F not assist us m the fighting, but offered to . take any of the colonists on board for - safety. There was also a whaler there, > the Matilda, and it was suggested that 3 we should get all the women and 3 children on board the shipping. This 3 was done, about 70 women and children being 8 safely brought away from the shore. One poor woman, Mrs Abrahams, however, voluni teered to remain to look after the wounded, r Thore was a small room m the block-house, 3 used as a powder magazine, and it was the 5 custom for the men to go and. help themselves i to powder when they wanted any. It is supi posed that a man m the settlement, a mate of i a small vessel, went to get some powder, and t being the worse for drink at the time, he set i the place on fire and blew it up. I was 1 standing about 200 yards away at the time, 5 ond I fancy now that I can hear the explosion Z and see the debris flying m the air. • About I eight or ten people were killed by the acci--1 dent, and poor Mrs Abrahams was severely 1 injured. She woa blown some distance away 1 from the building by the force of the exploil sion, and her side was burned, but ultimately, she recovered. Except for the fact that the women and children had been removed to the vessels, the loss of life would have been much >4ora terrible than it was. Later on, orders were given to abandon the settlement, and everybody wept on board the vessels. The natives then began to pillage the town. Lieut. Phjlpotte, son of the > Bishop of Exeter, took charge of tho man-of-war after Cuptain Bobinson was wounded, and some of us, m the afternoon, went to him ln " and asked if -w e 0 M ],- ore , He said we couia, but at our am risk. About 30 of us went on land, and found the natives be ransacking every house m the place. Chests ?I*TT \ hoXe ! •'k 0 -. "ere all forced open, ha II „ « ?lle& , u » '» eonfiwion, and he the natives were selecting the articles they le- could best carry away. Strange to say, j although we had been fighttnjfa? t h Tmorn

ing_ they did not molest us on our seconc visit. Soon after I landed I saw a big Maor coming m my direction with a musket, and ] thought it was all up until me. I saic " Tena koe," to which he responded " Tons koe," and then he asked if the fighting was all over, to which t replied that it was. He then seemed quite satisfied, and on out mixing among the Maoris they were quite amicable, freely inviting us to a share of the goods. They had taken possession of the publichouse, and were serving out grog m the most business-like style. I managed tc load two boats full of goods, and sent them off to the ship. Although the Maoris appeared so friendly, it occurred to me perhaps something unpleasant might happen, and I warned a man named Cox who was with me to stand by ready for a rush at any moment. Sure enough, the time came when we had to run for pur lives. A party of Maoris congregated together at the back of the settlement, and Lieut. Philpotts, heedless of the terrible danger m which he was placing the white men on shore, fired a big gun into the midst of them. Immediately the natives around us became very much excited, and asked what it meant, if fighting had begun again ? I said no, it hod not, and tried to calm them down, whilst at the same time I called to Cox and the other men to return at once to the boats. We got down as soon as possible, and got on board just m time to save our lives. A few men, seven or. eight I think, remained on shore, and they were all killed. That night the Maoris burned down the whole of the buildings m the town, with the exception of the Maori mission and the houses immediately surrounding it. Altogether I believe between 30 and 40 Europeans loet their lives m the fight. As you know the town had to be abandoned, and this was the beginning of our troubles with the natives.