MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 8 September 1934, Page 4

MAORI MEMORIES

(By J.H.S. for “The Daily Times.”) PHILLPQTT’S FATE. Lieutenant Phillpotts, hero . alike to rebel and friendly Maori, civilian and soldier Pakeha, was sacrificed at Oheawai by the strange refusal of military officers to follow the advice of Waka Nene, who knew every move and subterfuge of savage attack and defence. The young Lieutenant of the “Hazard” was known' to Heke’s men and Waka’s as Matua Keke, or Uncle Toby. When the rebels saAv him walking round the Avails coolly searching for a point of attack, they actually ceased fire and called loudly “Go back Toby,” but he finished his examination untouched and reported to Colonel Despard that the assault was hopeless. Against all*advice the attack was ordered. Tavo hundred brave men and officers faced death at eighty yards from the looplioled palisades. Phillpotts, realising the death trap, used his big gun to divert attention, and give the men a chance to live another five minutes. Prom beneath the pekerangi or outer fence flashes of light disclosed a hundred deadly bullets speeding to their billets. Against his Avill and judgment, Phillpotts obeying orders, led his men to certain death. With ropes and axes they pulled doAvn many yards of the outer fence, only to be faced with those giant trunks, flattened to fit closely, immovable as Avlien rooted in the forest for centuries past, every aperture raining death. , , , . , Hidden from sight, a captured ship s gun throws chain and scrap iron among the beAvildered soldiers and sailors. The space between the fences is a shambles, Avith apparently no casualty Avitliin the walls. Phillpotts found an dpemng, the embrazure through Avliich the bif gun fired, noAV withdrawn to reload through its heated muzzle. Shouting do his men, he wriggled through, followed by a dozen brave fellows. The astonished Maoris recognised “Toby” and spared his life until a stray shot found his heart. Five officers and thirty men killed. Six officers and seventy-five men wounded —all in ten minutes. Again and again the bugle sounds “Retire.” The Commander, watching from the hill, realises too late that he had demanded the impossible.