MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 19 May 1934, Page 4

MAORI MEMORIES

(By J.H.S. for “The Daily Times.”) WHAT BOYS REMEMBER. In the adventurous days of boyhood, the life and death of Gustav Von Tempsky made a vivid impression upon our imagination. We were told that he Avas the unnamed silent officer avlio had slept in the hayloft over our stable Avith his orderly for a night. At day daAvn in the coAvslied he held a pannikin over my brother’s shoulder to be filled Avith Fanny’s milk. This he drank sloAvly, the white froth covering his black beard and moustache, then Avith words strange to our ears, “I tank you,” he took the long track breakfastless, much to our mother’s distress. Ever after his death, Fanny Avas treated Avith special veneration. We all treasured up the contradictory stories from Maoris and soldiers concerning his doings at Ngutu o te Manu and Rua ruru, names Avhicli they translated as “The beak of the cruel lmwk” and “the tAvo simple oaaTs.” Te Ngutu they declared to be a mere decoy for those tAvo owls, the Pakeha senior officers.

Rua ruru Avas a unique and impregnable stronghold, closely surrounded by at least sixty great Rata trees, groAving a feAV yards apart. In the gnarled bushy branches of each tree fifty feet from the ground Avere hidden half a dozen Maori sharp shooters, Avho deliberately picked off e ,7 erv officer. Hoav could an assault upon such a position succeed? A 7 on Tempsky’s division met the full force of the tree men’s fire. He Avalked among his men and besought them in vain to take cover from the hail of lead Avliich so strangely fell vertically upon them. There he met death with nearly all his officers. The late James Livingston of Hawera told graphic stories of the braA'ery and endurance of men and officers, Avounded or scatheless, during that retreat. Each fit man carried a Avounded comrade, many throAAang doAyn their arms to secure speed. Lieutenant Hastings, lying in a pool of blood, said to Livingston Avho wanted to carry him: “I am mortally Avounded—take a man avlio may live—leave me your loaded reA r olver that I may escape the tomahaAvk. ” A Maori prisoner said Hastings shot four Maoris, then fired his last shot into his own left breast, one bitter felloAv calling out to him, “Poroporo alii ki to Atua teka” (pray to your false god).