HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 255, 28 October 1939, Page 5

HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS

By

(Continued.) In the preceding fragment It was ! stated that in May 1863, alarming j news resulted in the preparation of ; the militia-men and lhe volunteers j against attack by lhe disaffected i natives. Although there was no j actual attack upon the town, the j settlers in the district to he immediate j north of Wanganui came into the i town for safety, and left their farms to be plundered and their stock to be | driven away. Captain James Duff j Hewett was killed at his farm (Toi • farm) at Brunswick, and his head was | carried away in triumph by the Hau- | han Maori. The battle of Moutoa was I fought up-river on May 14, 1864, and then for two or three years there was a lull. For a year Wanganui had | been the centre of disturbance, but it j had not been a battleground. In September 1865, Lieutenant - Coionel Edward Gorton, of the 57th Regiment (The Diehards) arrived, and assumed command of the Wanganui Militia District. In 1868 there were signs of renewed i antagonism among lhe natives in the I Waitotara district, who had gathered ■ around the chief Titokowaru. This I rebel chief, after some initial success, j threatened to sack Wanganui and I drive the Pakeha into the sea. We shall hear more of this picturesque Maori leader in a later fragment. The threat, of attack led to the formation of several volunteer companies in the district. The Kai Iwi Cavalry Vol- | I unteer Troop, the Aramoho Light i Horse, and the Wanganui Cavalry were enrolled about, this time. Re-i doubts were reconditioned and several j houses were fortified. 11. is impossible ! now to locate all of these redoubts,] but the following are known: - j Stewart’s Redoubt in Brunswick; Woodall's Redoubt, overlooking lhe Kai Iwi stream on the seawarfl side of the main North Road; one opposite the present Westmere Hail, and one overlooking Virginia Lake. On lhe South side of the Wanganui River, Cameron's house al Marangai, and McGregor’s house on No. 2 line were altered and strengthened to resist attack. In 1868 martial law was proclaimed in Wanganui, and Gorton, as officer commanding the Wanganui Militia District, issued a proclamation calling on all men, whether they belonged to the militia or to the volunteers, to attend a parade, lhe time and place | being clearly specified. The Militia Act of 1858, which authorised Gorton to call upon the services of any man, required that a personal notice be sent to each man; but with a staff of two he found this procedure quite impossible. He therefore resorted to the method of issuing a proclamation. John Ballance, who was then the 1 I editor of the Wanganui Herald, and a > i very bitter opponent of the Govern- ■ Tnent of the day, wrote an article in ' his paper urging the militia-men not ! to obey, as Gorton, by issuing a pro- j clamation had acted illegally. ' Since Titokowaru was within 251 ’ miles of Wanganui, Gorton regarded j Ballance’s action as serious. No one ■ I could contend that it was not.. Only a i' ; small number of the men summoned ' [ attended lhe parade, and Ballance ; was reputed to have watched pro- ' erodings from behind a nearby hedge. Walter L. Buller, the resident magisI Irate, called upon Gorton and can- I ■ tioned him that the proclamation was ' not within the terms of the Militia ; Act. Gorton's reply was that, the Act I was unworkable, and that the situation was urgent. He asked Buller for • the loan of one of the cells in the I prison and for a police constable, 't he ! cell was thereupon made a military guard-room. A personal notice was | sent to Ballance requiring him to attend a parade at a given time. Bali lance did not attend. Gorton then : wrote for an explanation and received 1 what he described as a most insubordinate reply. Ballance was asked ;to come to the orderly room. This time he obeyed, and an explanation of his conduct was demanded. He claimed that he had not been served . with the proper- notice. “You have lhe law on your side," . said Gorton, “but not much honour; it. ■ i is shameful to think that, with the enemy so close to the town, you did i not, when called upon, at once turn out. to defend your home." Gorton, i however, had the law' on his side upon the question of the insubordinate letter. When Ballance admitted the writing of it, he was given the choice of an immediate withdrawal and apology, and a transfer to the guardroom. with a court-martial to follow. Ballance remained obstinate, and was , j placed in the cell, with the borrovyed I police constable as military sergeant. That night the Wanganui Herald j spread before the public the headlines. I Military "Tyranny: Editor in Gaol." : The editor remained in gaol the whole : i night. In the morning Gorton called | : upon Ballance, who. by now realising that there was nothing before him but. i imprisonment after a trial by courtmartial, apologised before the officers and was released. His article in the I ( Herald of the next issue claimed that , , he had been released because Gorton was afraid of him. However that may ’ be. there was no difficulty about securing attendance of the settlers at further parades. Gorton has said that • Ballance later showed him no ill-will, i and that they were afterwards on friendly terms. I

LX—MILITIA AND VOLUNTEERS (All Rights Reserved. ) ■ ■■■* By SHAFTO -

Ballance had not, however, ended , his troubles with authority. He was ; a little later elected cornet of the i corps, but wrote an article in ■/ hich i he strenuously attacked the Gover.n--i ment for its conduct of the war. As a : result, his commission in the WangaI nui Volunteer Cavalry was cancelled, i When a war is carried out ; t the I backdoor it becomes a matter of local I politics, and a loyal unanimity is more difficult to achieve than when tne 111 g7iting is on the other side of the j globe. During the whole oi ihe lightI mg there was mucli criticism '■>' the I authorities, and Ballance, as a poiitiI cian and an able writer, was always I prone to let himself go and gel h;m- -| self into trouble. From this Jistance of time the rights and the wrongs of I the quarrels are not very important. What is interesting is that Bail .uicc, who later very effectively and intelligently led the country, should have been prepared to suffer in a most obstinate manner for what he considered to be the liberty of the subject, upon . what was after all a mere technicality. It is also interesting to ml co that he had the good sense to end his martvrdom before it became 100 irksome and while there was yet time to withdraw with a semblance of dignity. Ballance thus belongs to the small band of truly efficient martyrs who gain the maximum of publicity with the minimum of pain. The war did not come to Wanganui. Gorton sent a detachment out Ito garrison the Weraroa Redoubt, j where an advance-guard of Titokoj waru was repulsed. Apart from this, the militia provided only a great mea- ' sure of activity, and some amount of I politics. Those who belonged to the (militia were, however, ready to serve lin the defence of the town. 'l'hey gave up a great deal of their lime; for in those days travel to parades was not so easy or as rapid as it is to-day. If need arose, their lives were just as freely available. Here is a list, as complete as it can be made, of trose who belonged to some of the uni’s. Many of the names which appear, are 1 those of men who are still romern- ' bered. Others attach to families still 1 residing in the district. For this reason it is felt that the lists will bo interesting. FIRST WANGANUI CAVALRY I TROOP. The officers of this unit were mentioned in the previous fragment, and so they will not be repeated here. Quartermaster - Sergeant Bradley ; I Troop Seargt.-Major, Wm. Rawson. < Troopers. - Fred Beaven, Geo. ; Beaven, Chas. Blake, Wm. Brewer, Horace Broughton, Ewen Campbell. ( 1 Campbell, P. Condon, Harry Davis, t John Duncan, Wm. Finnimore, John I I Gerse, John Hair, John Handley, Wm. t Handley, - Higgle, A. Higgie, Geo. r Elowe, Dan Hurley, John Hurley, I i | John Hussey, Kirwan, A. Kidd, L. t L. Levy, E. N. Lifiiton, W. Lingard, E. Lockett, Geo. Maxwell. J. J. Me- 5 Donald, Alex McMinn, Phillip Mils- < son, Anthony Nathan, Joseph Nathan, | Chas. O’Halloran, N. J. Oldham, Sam 1 Oliver. John Rawson, ’ Henry Potto, i Geo. Roberts, Bedford Sheriff, Chas. ; Small. Westvvater Small, James ; Southcomh, John Stevens, W. H. j Watt. E. T. Woon, Geo. Wright. A. Z. 1 Wright. \ This troop was enrolled In the early | sixties. Towards the end of the sixties ; another unit, bearing a similar name, was formed--'Lhe Wanganui Cavalry Volunteers. It seems that the first troop was disbanded before 1867. 1 Here is a nominal roll of those who took the field with the Wanganui i Cavalry Volunteers in 1868. Captain Wm. Finnimore, Lieut. R. 1 S. Day, Cornet John Bai lance, Cornet ! Robert. Hair, Sergeant-Major E. C. I Lockett. Sergeants. T. D. Cummins, Joe | Chadwick, A. H. Murray, W. H. Flood. 1 Corporals. J. W. Armstrong, An- j thony Nathan, H. I. Davis, L. L. Levy. ' Dan Hurley. Trumpeter. • W. Scott. Troopers. Tom Adamson. Wm Adamson, Steve Adamson. James Anderson, Walter Armstrong, Thomas Armstrong, - Boyle, Fred Beaven. . Harry Bloomfield, Harry Bowler. G. F. Baker, Horace Crawley. John Cathro. Tom Connell, Cleary, Patrick Condon. John Danahay. Geo. Davis. T. F. Drummond. Wm. Forrest. Wm. H. Gibson. Harrison Gibson, - Greenaway, Thomas Gordon, Robert Graham. J. Henderson. James Bindley, J. W. Hoskins, John Howe, James Hughes, Geo. Hutchison, Thos. Handley, C. Hirtzell, Thos. Hamilton, James Hamilton, John Hurley. Wm. Hurley. D. C. Hodges. F. R. Jackson. James Kirwan. David Lind, Thos. Morgan, Geo. Mailman, J. J. McDonald, R. McLean, Harry McLean. Daniel McGregor, A. McDougall, Geo. McCau!. A. Mitchell, Steve Neary. M. O'Neill, Nat. W. Oldham. Fred Potto, E. Penfold, Chas. Parkes. F. Pringle. Josh. Pakenham, J. W. Robinson. Geo. ■ Rossman, Mona Rees. Josiah Rich- ; ards. John S. Russell,' Chas. Robinson. i Fred Rowatt,' Geo. Sherwood. Geo. ■ Small, Samuel Stowers, Alfred Short. I James Steward, R.obert Stewart. Jas. I Southcomb, Tom Toole. Jack Toole. ' Ned Toole, Mark Toole, W. Teague. I J. Teague, R. Thomson. Wm.. Vivian. 1 Joe Villiers. J. C. Worsley. Harry 1 Wright, E. T. Woon, Silas Wall, E. ! I Wall, John Young.