With centuries of military traditions behind him, it was natural that the Maori should have been eager to shoulder rifle alongside his Pakeha compatriots in the Great War. He knew what it was to give up all for a cause, an idea. In the olden Maori polity the tribe came first; the tribe had first claim on the strong arm of the clansman, and the tribe stood behind every one of its members. No freeman of the hapu or iwi could suffer injury from a member of another clan and appeal in vain to his kinsmen for help in exacting justice. The whole strength of the collection of families which formed the tribe was at the disposal of the paramount chief and the war-captains once a certain line of policy had been decided upon. Here was Empire in miniature. It was easy for the modern Maori to appreciate the importance of united action in defence of the congeries of great families called the British Empire. He was quick to perceive the truth of the motto that unity is strength, and to realise that his duty as a citizen of the Empire was to come into alignment with his white brothers and cousins against the common danger. But a still more powerful impelling force was the thought that flashed from tribe to tribe that here at last was the great opportunity of showing what the present-day Maori could do in the field of battle.

For many years after the end of the last New Zealand wars the Maori had regarded his race as a dying one, doomed to extinction, as he phrased it, like the huge moa bird of his ancestors' days—Ka ngaro i te ngaro o te moa. Government statistics for a time went to support this melancholy belief. But the tide turned; the census showed an unexpected increase in native population. This increase became more marked each year under the new health regime established by the State health officers, notably Dr. Pomare and Dr. Te Rangihiroa, and the Maori took up heart again. In 1914 the Maori people numbered approximately 50,000, and the latest estimate of population is over 54,000. The Maori is adapting himself to the requirements of the Pakeha civilisation, and being socially and politically the full equal of the Pakeha his confidence in himself and his future is reinforced by a determination to acquit himself like a man in company with his British fellow-citizens.

There were those who, in their ignorance of the race, professed to doubt whether the modern young Maori was as good a man as his fighting father and grandfather. The Maori we used to see, the tall, straight-backed old athlete, tattooed to the height of the moko art, alert and active even in his old age, the old scout and bush warrior skilled in all the work of entrenchment, ambuscade, fort-storming and forest tactics, was for all purposes a perfect fighting man. A very few of these survive, in the villages of the King Country, the Urewera, the Bay of Plenty Coast. But the modern Maori, reared in a semi-Pakeha environment, college-bred, interested more in the new ways, new tasks and new amusements, thinking too little of his ancestral traditions—would he acquit himself as well as his grandfather on the field of battle? Some said no. But we who had known the Maori from earliest years, who had had Maori playmates at school and had lived and worked and travelled with native friends, knew better, knew that the hereditary love of war and the national traits of pride and courage had not been extinguished by a few years of non-necessity for exertion in ways military.

That the young Maori was no degenerate, softened by the peaceful life, was quickly made manifest when the First Contingent went into action at Gallipoli in 1915. Not merely were the native New Zealanders superior to all the coloured troops—a distinguished General said that the famous Ghurkas were but children as compared with the Maoris—but they proved superior to many of the white troops in directions which suited the genius of the race. They were as grim and thorough as any Highland regiment in attack work with the bayonet, and they proved themselves equal to the tremendous nerve-test of sustained shellfire, the greatest test of all. They were the only native troops who hung out the whole of the bitter trench work in France in 1916-18. They were fully the equal of their forefathers in fortitude and endurance as in dash and energy. They were most willing workers. A New Zealand officer who watched them in France said, “They did everything with a rush and immense determination; everything seemed a pleasure to them.”

Coming of a race of fort-builders, the Maori soldier was a natural military engineer, and he entered into his work of entrenchment-making in France with the utmost interest. Not only did he work more quickly at the toil of digging-in than any other soldier of the King—this was the observation made by British officers—but he took a scientific pride in the construction of his field works. This was to have been expected of a people famous for their skill in pa-building in the olden wars. The grandfathers of some of these men had constructed the great stockades in the Bay of Islands country which had withstood British artillery—such as it was in the Forties—, the kinsmen of some had laid out the elaborate system of trenches which had baffled General Cameron at Paterangi, in the Upper Waikato, in 1864; those works, by the way, were pronounced by a British officer to be stronger than the Redan in the Crimea. There is a field-work at Puraku, near Rotorua, built in 1867 by a Ngati-Raukawa war-party, which bears a most remarkable resemblance in the details of trenches to the fighting-saps and communication trenches cut by our men in France and Flanders in 1916-1918. Field-engineering, in fact, came easy to the Maori; he could and did in many cases improve on the work of the British Army men.

With the exception of the Waikato, Taranaki and Urewera districts, the Maori tribes were denuded of their young men during the war. As in the Highland glens, the English shires and on the New Zealand farms, the native villages were deserted by the able-bodied: it was a matter of shame to be found lagging behind. Alike on the cocksfoot-grass slopes of Akaroa and the maize paddocks of Auckland, the women and girls at harvest took the place of the men. In Rotorua there were scarcely any but the older people, the women and the children; every Arawa who could pass the doctor and look fit to carry rifle and swag went into camp to train for the great adventure. The age limit was liberally construed. There is a young Maori at Matata who enlisted with the Arawa in the First Maori Contingent, fought at Gallipoli in 1915, was invalided home, married an Arawa girl, and volunteered for further service abroad, when his wife stopped his wandering by informing the authorities that he was only seventeen. But it was the custom of the Maori to enter the firing line in the early teens. Many a man of the old generation went on his first war trail at the age of twelve. Rihara Kou, a venerable Ngapuhi warrior at Kaikohe, who farewelled his youthful kinsmen—29 young men went from Kaikohe to the Front—was only thirteen when he helped to defend Ohaeawai and Ruapekapeka stockades against the British troops seventy-one years before. In some cases father and son joined the Contingent. One of the grandsons of the early-days Danish trader Philip Tapsell and the chieftainess Hine-i-turama of Maketu, Bay of Plenty, took his two sons with him when he enlisted and the three fought in the bayonet charges on the blood-reddened slopes of Sari Bair. That celebrated pair of Maketu, by the way, founded quite a tribe; their descendants number about a hundred, and of this little halfcaste clan, called Te Whanau-a-Tapihana (‘The Offspring of Tapsell’) 28 men served in the Great War. Another small clan of the Arawa, the Ngati-Manawa, living at the Rangitaiki river, on the western border of the Urewera country, lost five young men in the war. The Ngati-Manawa had ever been noted for their pluck and enterprise in war. In the Sixties of last century, when they fought gallantly on the Government side under the Mair brothers and their own chiefs against the Hauhaus, they could muster only about forty fighting men, and some of these were young lads, but they were all reliable and fearless fellows. The young and able-bodied of Ngati-Porou, too, joined practically to a man.

Many times there had been suggestions to send Maoris overseas for military service on distant shores. The military genius of the race was recognised a full century ago, and this recognition was first manifested in a very curious way in the days when the Maori was, in war-time, a ferocious and dreaded

Lieut.-Colonel Wm. O. Ennis, D.S.O. Served as Captain with the First Maori Contingent, Gallipoli, 1915; Major Pioneer Battalion, Western Front, 1916-1918. Commanded the Battalion, November 1918 till the return to New Zealand. Staff Superintendent, New Zealand Railway Department. Accidentally killed at Auckland, February, 1926, aged 55 years.

Major H. Peacock, N.Z. Permanent Staff. Major Peacock was in command of the Training Camp near Narrow Neck, Devonport, Auckland, from 1915 to the end of the War. Died at Paeroa, 1924.

raider who not only killed but ate his enemy; his principal item of commissariat was his foe's body. In the year 1829, according to Mr James Bonwick in his book, “The Last of the Tasmanians,” a project was brought forward by Mr Horace Rowcroft and seconded by Major Gray, at Hobart, to introduce a number of New Zealanders into Van Diemen's Land, as Tasmania was then called. It was contended that as the Maoris would sell slaves for a musket each they would be quite willing to catch blackfellows at the same rate. “Their great intelligence, their crafty policy, and their warlike bearing, with the use of weapons better adapted than ‘Brown Bess’ to forest contests, made the plan acceptable to many.” Mr Rowcroft added a plea of “benevolence,” as Mr Bonwick called it. It was truly Pecksniffian benevolence. The Maoris were then regarded as about the greatest savages and cannibals that the world could furnish; so, without reflecting upon the consequences of contact to the Tasmanians, he declared that “much good would result to the New Zealanders by their intercourse with us, and would probably sow the germ of civilisation among an energetic and enterprising people.” But the humane Colonel Arthur feared the massacre of his black subjects and rejected the proposals. The colonists and officials of Tasmania, in the end, succeeded in exterminating the poor aboriginals without the help of Maori musketeers.

Nearly thirty years later there was another Maori Contingent suggestion. Governor Gore Browne, in 1858, gave approval to a proposal made by Captain Charles Brown, of New Plymouth, that a Royal Maori Corps of from 300 to 600 men should be raised to serve at the Cape of Good Hope against the Kaffirs. The Governor sent the proposal to the British Government, but it was discouraged by the War Office and nothing more was heard of it. It is not likely that many Maoris were eager for such an enterprise; indeed, I believe Captain Brown's pretty scheme was really put forward and supported by a number of colonists because if accepted it would comfortably dispose of some hundreds of fight-loving brown neighbours who would otherwise be a possible source of trouble in New Zealand.

In a despatch to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1849, Governor Grey said that the Maori, in the opinion of experienced officers, was infinitely superior to the North American Indian in weapons, in knowledge of the art of war, and in skill in planning and perseverance in carrying out the operations of a long campaign. The Natives were, in fact, even better equipped than the British corps for the warfare of the country. That was written after experience of three small campaigns—the war with Ngapuhi at the Bay of Islands, the fighting at the Lower Hutt and at Pauatahanui and Horokiwi, Wellington, and the Whanganui war of 1847. More formidable campaigns were to come, the wars that began in 1860 and lasted for more than ten years, and the experience of these wars, in which the Imperial and Colonial troops far outnumbered their opponents, thoroughly justified Sir George Grey's early respect for the Maori as a soldier and a tactician and strategist.

On several occasions Britain's wars, during the last forty years, inspired the Maori with a desire for overseas service. One of these offers had a touch of comedy. The news that an Australian contingent of troops was being despatched to Suakim, on the Red Sea, to aid the British forces in the Soudan War, in 1884, prompted a Ngati-Haua warrior, Hoté Tamehana, to volunteer the services of himself and a party of his tribe to fight the iwi mangumangu in North Africa. Hoté was the son of a celebrated patriot, Wiremu Tamehana Tarapipipi, the Maori “Kingmaker,” and brother of Tupu Taingakawa, the present head of Ngati-Haua and leading man in the old Kingite cause. Hoté had fought against the Queen's troops in the Waikato and Taranaki wars. Fired by new-born loyalty, he rode in from his raupo-thatched village at Korakonui and entering the telegraph office at Kihikihi township, on the King Country frontier, wrote a telegram to the Government offering himself and twenty of his young men of Ngati-Koroki and Ngati-Haua for the Soudan campaign. “Twenty men!” said a settler to whom he showed the message before handing it in; “Why not make it two hundred?” “Ka pai, ka pai!” Hoté exclaimed, “That's good, very good. I'll make it two hundred men,” and two hundred the telegram made it. The Government did not accept the offer, but Hoté got into trouble with the members of his tribe for committing them to foreign service without consulting them.

In the year 1896 the Arawa tribesmen, who had fought gallantly for the white Queen against the Hauhaus in the campaigns of the Sixties and the 1870-72 expeditions, discussed the matter of volunteering for service in South Africa. It was in the days of the Anglo-German crisis following on the invasion of the Transvaal by the Chartered Company's force under Dr. Jameson and its defeat and capture by the Boers. A meeting was held in the tribal meeting-house “Tama-te-Kapua” at Ohinemutu to consider the question of “the difficulty which has arisen between the Queen of England and other tribes,” and many speeches were made for England and against all England's foes. Several speakers exhorted the Arawa to enlist for South Africa, but as there did not appear to be any call for their services the tribe contended itself with expressions of loyalty to the Crown. “My country right or wrong” was the sentiment of the meeting.

During the South African war there were many offers from Maori volunteers, but although numerous men of part Maori and part English blood served in New Zealand Contingents it was not thought necessary to enlist a Maori Contingent. Conspicuous among those who were eager to serve was the Ngati-Porou chief Tuta Nihoniho, a man of true soldierly instincts and training, who had fought against the Hauhaus on the East Coast from 1865 to 1871. To relieve his disappointment he sent a present of a greenstone mere to Lord Roberts. In the mid-eighties, when there were alarms of possible war with Russia, Tuta raised and commanded a Maori volunteer corps, the Ngati-Porou Rifles, which was in existence for four years.

In the Great War.

The Maori Contingent, reorganised as a Pioneer Battalion after its Gallipoli service, consisted of the following:— First Maori Contingent—February 14th, 1915518Second Draft—September 19th, 1915312Third Draft—February 6th, 1916110Reinforcements to October 18th, 19181287Total of all ranks2227

The South Sea Islands troops enlisted for service with the New Zealanders were:— Niué (Savage Island) natives—February 6th, 1916148Rarotonga and other Cook Islands natives—first draft February 6th, 191650Rarotongans—second draft, November 16th, 1916115Rarotongans—third draft, June 3, 1918145Total458

The Maori Roll of Honour.

The following is the official list of deaths in the Maori Contingent and the Pioneer Battalion, on active service, 1915-1918: Officers.Other Ranks.Killed in Action8122Died of Wounds462Died of Sickness2130Other causes17Totals15321

Grand total, all ranks—336 dead.

In addition to these casualties, 734 members of the Maori force were wounded, making the total casualties 1070, or nearly 50 per cent. of the total number of men sent overseas.

See Appendices for a complete list of the fatal casualties in the Maori force during the war.

The first proposal to send a Maori force to the War was made in the beginning of August, 1914. The news of the proclamation of war between Britain and her Allies and Germany aroused the kaingas from the far North to the Wai-Pounamu, and telegrams to the Government offering Maori assistance to the Empire came pouring in from all parts of the country. The Arawa of Rotorua and the Ngati-Kahungunu of Te Wairoa and other parts of Hawke's Bay were the first to volunteer, followed quickly by Ngati-Porou, by the tribes around Gisborne and by Whanganui and Ngati-Apa. The first reply of the authorities was to the purport that the rule of the Imperial Government had been that no native race should be used in hostilities between European races. It was soon announced in the cablegrams, however, that Indian troops were being sent to France and also that native soldiers from Africa were to assist the French. On learning of this the Maori tribes, through their members of Parliament, renewed their request to be permitted to serve the King in the field of battle. The Prime Minister replied, expressing his great pleasure and gratitude at the offers of the loyal Maoris and stating that he would place the proposal before the Imperial Government. On September 16th he announced that His Majesty's Government had accepted the Maoris' aid and had agreed that a Native Contingent of 200 men should be sent to Egypt. A little later this suggestion was altered. The War Office proposed that there should be two Maori forces, each of 250, one to go to Egypt and the other to Samoa.

The principle of Maori participation in the War having thus been established, to the great satisfaction and pride of the people, the next step was the selection of the war-parties. On the suggestion of the Hon. the Minister for Defence, the Maori members of Parliament set about the work of raising the necessary men. On September 18th a meeting of members was held in the room of the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare (then Dr. Pomare; his knighthood was conferred upon him in recognition of his patriotic services in the organisation of the Maori forces, and his work for the welfare of the race). A recruiting Committee was formed, consisting of the Hon. Sir James Carroll, Sir Maui Pomare (Western Maori), the Hon. A. T. Ngata (Eastern Maori), Dr. Peter H. Buck, whose Maori name is Te Rangihiroa (Northern Maori), and Mr Taare Parata (Southern Maori). This committee at once began its task of allotting the proportions of the Contingent of 500 thus: Tai Tokerau (Northern District) 100 men; Tai Hauauru (Western Maori) 180; Tai-Rawhiti (East Coast) 180, and the Wai-Pounamu (“Waters of Greenstone”—the South Island) 40. Thenceforth the Maori Committee kept steadily at work throughout the Great War. Two of the original members were replaced by others soon after the war began. Dr. Buck went on active service, and his place as member for the Northern Maori District was taken by Mr Tau Henare; and Mr. Parata died, to the great regret of his colleagues, and was succeeded by Mr. Uru.

The Committee issued through the “Kahiti”—the Maori Gazette—a notice to all the tribes, calling for volunteers between the ages of 21 and 40 years willing to serve the King for the duration of the war. “E te iwi, whitiki! Whiti, whiti e!” the appeal of the “Komiti Whakahaere” concluded. It was the old war-cry of the chiefs when danger threatened: “O tribe, gird up your loins! Rise up, rise up!” And the Maori people rose eagerly at the challenge and appeal. Volunteers came from the remote gumlands of North Auckland, from the farms and forests of the Kaipara, from the shores of the Bay of Islands and the Hauraki, the King Country and Bay of Plenty coast, the lakeside villages of the Arawa, the sheep farms and rich agricultural country of mis-named Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay; from the shores of the great central Lake Taupo, the terraced banks of the rushing Whanganui and the plains of Manawatu and Wairarapa; then across Cook Strait the call was answered from the little townships and farms of the Ngai-Tahu. From Parengarenga, the most northerly harbour in the Dominion, down to the old whaling and sealing stations on the shore of Foveaux Strait, came athletic brown lads, intensely elated at the prospect of fighting shoulder to shoulder with their white fellow-New Zealanders against the common enemy

Those Pakeha New Zealanders who knew the Maori well were delighted to think that he was being given an opportunity to display his fighting qualities after many years of peace. One, an old missionary in Auckland, said: “If they are true sons of their fathers, they will be brave and gallant fighters, they will show courage and resource in battle, and they will treat wounded enemies and women and children with kindness and courtesy. I would not be afraid to trust the Maori in war. He will be truly British.” A veteran of the wars of half a century previously, said: “I could not wish for better fighters and comrades than the Maoris with whom I fought. When they trusted the white man they could be relied on absolutely. As scouts, of course, there was nothing to touch them. The present generation of Maoris will probably make splendid soldiers.” Another old New Zealand colonist, referring to the military traditions of the Maoris, said: “These traditions, stories of great and glorious deeds of warfare, are the best guarantee we have that the Maori, even under the strange and disturbing conditions of modern warfare, will be a soldier of whom the Empire may be proud. All Maoris are intensely loyal to their race and intensely jealous of its reputation, and now that the Maori race is merged in the British Empire, that loyalty and that jealousy are transferred to Britain. The proposal is to send the natives to Egypt to do duty there, and I know that these men will do their duty thoroughly; but if they are sent to the fighting line there will not be a man of them who will shrink from laying down his life for the Empire of which he is a part. I know that these men will welcome any chance to bring new glory to the Maori race, even at the sacrifice of their own lives.”

The Defence Department and the Maori Committee jointly made arrangements for the medical examination of volunteers and their enrolment for service, and the first camp was established in the middle of October, 1914, on the grounds of the racecourse at Avondale, the olden Whau, a few miles west of Auckland city. The first Maori detachments to enter camp were small parties from Mangonui, North Auckland, and from the Auckland district. On October 19th a party of 50 young men arrived from the South Island and 36 from the Hauraki and Ngati-Maniapoto tribe. On the following day 92 recruits came in from the West Coast, representing the tribes of Whanganui, Ngati-Apa, Ngati-Raukawa and Ngati-Toa. These young soldiers were quickly followed by ninety composed of Te Arawa, of the Lakes District, Maketu and Matata, Ngai-Awa from Whakatane, Whakatohea from Opotiki, and the Whanau-a-Apanui and kindred tribes as far as Tikirau (East Cape). The famous fighting Ngati-Porou followed; these young men were from the Tai-Rawhiti villages from the East Cape southward toward Gisborne. The Ngati-Kahungunu from Hawke's Bay and some more Ngapuhi from Kaikohe and other Northern districts completed the 500 men in training under canvas at Avondale.

These young Maoris, the pick of the race, gathered from all corners of the Dominion, entered with the utmost eagerness and zest into their soldierly duties under pakeha instructors. All who visited the camp were pleased with the cheerful temper of the men, their great alacrity at all tasks (“fatigue it was their pride,” to quote Kipling's sergeant in “The Men Who Fought at Minden”), and the quickness and intelligence they brought to bear on the work in hand. Their physique was the theme of praise by inspecting military officers. On parade they attracted great admiration for their stature, their muscular development and their alertness and soldierly bearing. On October 24th, Sir James Allen, Minister for Defence, inspected the Opé Maori, and addressing the recruits expressed his great pleasure at the Maori being the first Native race to offer for service abroad, with the exception, of course of the men of India, who were soldiers already. He praised their quickness and pride in soldierly training and said he was sure they would acquit themselves as creditably as their pakeha fellow-soldiers. The Minister made mention, too, of the number of college-bred young Maoris in the Opé, boys from Te Aute, Waerenga-a-Hika Mission School, St. Stephen's (Parnell, Auckland), Hikurangi (Wairarapa), Otaki, and the Three Kings Wesleyan College, Auckland.

Hon. Sir Maui Pomare, C.M.G., M.P., M.D. Member of the Executive Council, Minister for the Cook and other Islands; Chairman of the Maori Recruiting Board and Maori Regimental Committee.

Hon. Sir James Carroll, M.L.C. (Maori War Medal) Member of the Maori Recruiting Board and Maori Regimental Committee. (Died at Auckland, October 18th, 1926.)

The proposal to send the Maoris away in two companies, one to Samoa and one to Egypt, was debated among the tribes, and was strongly opposed by the principal men. The feeling gathered weight that it would not be judicious to divide the contingent, and the unanimous opinion was soon expressed that the Maori should be sent to Egypt as being near the seat of war. The men naturally were anxious to reach the actual battlefield and were not enthusiastic about garrison duty. Sir Maui Pomare and his committee conveyed to the Prime Minister a general request that the whole of the force should be sent to Egypt, and this request was sent on by the Government to the British Secretary of State for the Colonies. On November 7th a cablegram from London to the Governor stated that the wishes of the Maoris and the New Zealand Government had been acceded to, and that all the Maoris would be despatched to Egypt.

The Contingent was now divided into two companies, A and B, composed as follows:—

A Company (Northern Maori, West Coast—South Island): Platoon (Ropu) 1—Men from the North Auckland district, extending from Tamaki (Auckland isthmus) to the Rerenga-Wairua (Spirits' Leap, in the extreme North).Platoon 2—Tamaki to Pari-ninihi (the White Cliffs, North Taranaki), including Ngati-Maniapoto, also the Hauraki and Tauranga tribes and Ngati-Tuwharetoa of Taupo. (These were the tribes of Tainui stock).Platoon 3—West Coast: Waitotara, Whanganui and inland tribes from Taihape to Manawatu.Platoon 4—Horowhenua to Wellington, also the South Island.

B Company (Rotorua and East Coast): Platoon 5—Te Arawa.Platoon 6—Te Awa-a-te-Atua (Matata) to the East Coast and Waiapu.Platoon 7—Uawa (Tolago Bay) and Gisborne.Platoon 8—Ngati-Kahungunu, from Te Mahia to Napier and Wairarapa.

The organisation of the Contingent having been completed, training was carried on steadily in infantry work under Captain Peacock and Permanent Force instructors. Squad, platoon and company drill, route marching, musketry, bayonet practice, assault practice, trench digging, night attacks and all other details of instruction kept the Contingent busy until its departure for the Front.

Several veteran officers with Maori War services were anxious to lead the Contingent, and it was at first proposed that Colonel T. W. Porter, C.B., who had a distinguished record in the New Zealand and South African campaigns, should go in command. No better choice could have been made. Colonel Porter had served continuously in the Maori Wars from 1865 to 1871 as an officer of native forces; he knew the Maori temperament as few pakehas did, and the men would have placed complete confidence in such an experienced and sympathetic leader. However, it was considered that he was too old for further active service. Another veteran extremely anxious to serve was Captain Gilbert Mair, N.Z.C., perhaps the most dashing and enterprising of all our New Zealand-born and bred soldiers. He had won his New Zealand Cross by a most gallant feat of arms, his defeat of Te Kooti near Rotorua in 1870. Mair was the hero of the Arawa; from 1866 to 1872 he had led them on active service. Even in his old age he was the most active of men; at seventy-eight years of age he made a long horseback journey through the rough Urewera country over the old fighting trails, with the present writer. Yet another volunteer was Major J. T. Large, who had served with the Urewera campaigns. Rejected in New Zealand in 1914, he went to Australia and tried unsuccessfully to join the forces there; and by way of demonstrating his fitness for active service, in spite of his age, he undertook a long walking tour through the North of Auckland. But it was the day of the young man; the old warriors were reminded that their place lay in the homeland; and they loyally accepted the position and exerted themselves in recruiting and in lending a helping hand to the fortunate ones chosen for the battlefield of Tu. Colonel Porter, in the latter part of the war, was engaged by the Government to carry out special work, as an Inspector of Recruiting Services, and he also gave useful gratuitous service as Commandant of the New Zealand National Reserve.

Early on February 10th, 1915, the Contingent packed up and bade farewell to the camp and set out on the long trail to the Old World. The Hokowhitu a Tu, “The Seventy Twice-told Warriors of the War God,” the Maori chiefs christened the force, in allusion to the favourite number of a war-party, 140, for a desperate attack in the days of old. Marching through Auckland city, the men went aboard the troop-steamer “Warrimoo,” which sailed for Wellington. On Saturday, February 13th, the Maoris landed at Wellington and with a pakeha contingent paraded in Newtown Park for final review and farewell. An official account of that memorable good-bye parade, published in Maori in the Government “Kahiti,” described the march and the park ceremonials thus: “The Pakeha people who beheld the march of that 500 will never forget the sight, the spectacle of that splendid war-party, those tall strong men, their fine marching—it was equal to the drill and appearance of the best soldiers in the world. There were some who said that the Maori soldiers were the finest body ever seen on parade in Newtown Park. There they bade farewell to their assembled relatives; they displayed their skill in the accomplishments of their ancestors—the haka, the tutu-ngarahu (war-dance), canoe-paddling songs and other chants; excellent their leaping in the war-dance, their drill of hands in unison, their waiata-chanting.”

There were speeches of exhortation and affection from the Maori chiefs, counsel to uphold the warrior fame of the Maori and touching songs of farewell from the native assemblage. The Maori was about to take that long, long, sea-road to the faraway land of his birth in the mists of time; he was to see, perhaps, the veritable shores of Hawaiki-nui, of Hawaiki-roa, of Hawaiki-pa-mamao, the shadowy land of legend whence his fathers came, sailing ever eastward to “the gateways of the day.” Somewhere there on the south coast of Asia, the Arabian littoral, his long-ago ancestors had sojourned, from a score of countries perhaps had drawn some of their racial traits; maybe it was from the sea-going Arabs of the Red Sea coasts that they derived their skill and enterprise as sailors. Now the Opé Hokowhitu a Tu was retracing the way to the first of many Hawaikis; it was a crusading army, upholding the name and fame of the Maori to the whole world. It might well be that those splendid young men would return no more. They paraded proudly before their fellow-countrymen, Maori and Pakeha. There was the spirit of the ancient Roman in their last march-past: “Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant!” They marched away to the sound of high and pathetic farewells: “Haere, haere! Haere, e hoki! Haere ki te ahi e ka mai ra i Oropi! E tama ma, kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawa-nui! Haere ra!”

Early on the morning of February 14th, the Maori troopship, which was commanded by Captain Edwin, quietly moved out from her Wellington berth and steamed away for Suez via her only Australian port of call, Albany. As the Indian Ocean was reported free of danger since the destruction of the German cruiser “Emden,” by H.M.A.S. “Sydney” at Cocos Island (November, 1914), there was no warship escort for the “Warrimoo” and her consorts the pakeha troopships “Maunganui,” “Tahiti” and “Aparima.” (The last named ship was afterwards sunk in the English Channel.) Captain Edwin took his ship close in to Cocos and gave the Maoris a good view of the battered enemy raider lying on the reef. There was one death on board during the voyage across the Indian Ocean, Corporal Mikaera Te Moananui

When passing through the Red Sea the Maoris heard the distant noise of a bombardment. It was a British cruiser shelling a Turkish position on the coast. On the voyage the musical talent in the Contingent was assembled and a band was formed under the direction of Captain Pirimi Tahiwi and Lieut. Stainton.

The Maoris disembarked at Suez and entrained for Cairo, where they were loudly welcomed by the pakeha New Zealanders, and marched out to Zeitoun Camp. A week there, and then came orders for Malta, whither the transport Runic carried the Maoris, to begin garrison duty at Ghain Tuffiah Camp (about 16 miles from Valetta).

Hon. A. T. Ngata, M.A., LL.B. Member of Parliament for Eastern Maori District, and Member of Maori Regimental Committee.

Mr. Tau Henare, M.P. for Northern Maori District. Member of the Maori Recruiting Board and Regimental Committee.

Major Peacock, who had trained the Contingent in the Avondale camp, had been given command of the force for the voyage and overseas service, but, to his own great grief and to the deep regret of his men, he was taken seriously ill on the passage and had to be landed in West Australia, and invalided home. The Maoris were very sorrowful over this misfortune, for Major Peacock was not only an excellent instructor and capable leader but he had a real liking for the Maori people, and his sympathetic attitude heartened them greatly. His place was taken by Major Herbert, who was given the command of the Contingent on arrival in Egypt and retained it at Gallipoli until after the battle of Sari Bair (August, 1915), when he was appointed to the command of a British battalion. Major Peacock, on resuming duty in New Zealand, was placed in command of the training camp established at Narrow Neck, overlooking Rangitoto Channel, Auckland. Here the work of training Maori and South Sea Islands recruits was carried on after the evacuation of the Avondale camp. His death when in charge of the Paeroa Defence District in 1924 was a matter of grief to all his old comrades and indeed to all who had known him, whether in his military or his private capacity.

Recruiting the Reinforcements.

As time went on, the heavy wastage of the battlefields and the sickness, due to the conditions under which the War was waged, necessitated considerable reinforcements to keep the Contingent, or, as it became, the Pioneer Battalion, up to field strength. When the Battalion was in France in 1917, two returned soldiers, Lieuts. Te Awarau and Puke Cross, were engaged as recruiting officers in the North Island, going from tribe to tribe and addressing the people. A notable unofficial recruiting agent was Ruatapu-nui, the Urewera long-haired prophet aforetime, who, after getting the worst of a tussle with the police at Maunga-pohatu—a fatal affray in which one of his sons was shot dead—and serving a term of imprisonment, became a staunch supporter of the King's authority, and brought in towards the end of the war some fifty volunteers, his young men from Ruatoki and other settlements. The Arawa were particularly enthusiastic and self-sacrificing supporters of the British cause; even the elderly men were anxious to enlist. On August 9th, 1915, Hone Te Awe-Kotuku wrote to Sir Maui Pomare from Te Ngae, Rotorua: “We, the parents of those who went to Egypt, are sorry that we were left behind. We now hear that those up to 55 years are being listed. That age of life includes most of us, and the whole of the Arawa are agreed.” To this the reply was that only men between the ages of 20 and 40 years were being enlisted.

There was one important exception to the general eagerness of the tribes for active service abroad. This was Waikato, embracing most of the people under the mana of Rata Mahuta, the great-grandson of the famous Potatau te Wherowhero, the first Maori King. The Maori Kingdom, dating back to the Fifties of last century, was now but a shadow of its olden greatness, but the memory of the Waikato war, when ten thousand British and Colonial troops were required to subjugate the Kingites, was ever before Waikato, for in that war they lost the greater part of their lands, confiscated by the Crown. “Give us back Waikato,” had been their cry for fifty years. They neither forgot nor forgave that act of wholesale confiscation; and their perpetual grievance against the Government was made their excuse for declining to volunteer for the great war abroad. The Waikato, with their numerous clans, Ngati-Mahuta, Ngati-Naho, Ngati-te-ata, Ngati-Tipa, Ngati-Tahinga and others, and the Ngati-Haua—the tribe of that fine patriot of former days, Wiremu Tamehana Tarapipipi, the Maori Kingmaker—could have furnished a company of first-rate fighting men, athletic and enterprising. But the influence of their elders, the old diehards, who still regarded the Potatau family as their royal line, was sufficiently strong to prevent most of the young men from volunteering for the Opé Maori. They put up a passive resistance, declaring that, while they were willing to defend New Zealand from attack, they did not wish to serve outside the country.

The Maori Recruiting Committee, jointly with the Defence Department, made strenuous efforts to bring Waikato and allied tribes into line with the rest of the nation. Sir James Allen, Minister for Defence, Sir Maui Pomare, and several high chiefs of the tribe visited Waikato, argued with Rata, his “Premier” and chief adviser Tupu Taingakawa (the great Wiremu Tamehana's son), and appealed to the people to make common cause with their fellow-countrymen against the nation's foes. One of the most eloquent advocates of recruiting was Te Heuheu Tukino, M.L.C., the paramount chief of Ngati-Tuwharetoa, of the Taupo country. Te Heuheu was loyal to his race and at the same time a thorough-going advocate of Maori participation in the great struggle overseas for the liberty of the world. The principal burden of persuading Waikato to enlist lay on the Hon. Sir Maui Pomare. In one of his speeches at a meeting with Waikato under Rata, at Waahi village, Sir Maui addressed his countrymen and constituents as follows:—

“Waikato, I return your greetings, according to the customs of our race. I have listened with an attentive ear to your words—the reasons why you are resisting the law. It is bad. You are not only grasping shadows, but you are kicking against the pricks. I will show you presently that you are untrue to the traditions and unfaithful to the sacred words of your great and illustrious dead.

“You say conscription is against the Treaty of Waitangi. I ask you to consider Clause Three of that Treaty. What does it say?—‘In consideration thereof (that is, in the Maori version, agreeing to the Government of the Queen) Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the Natives of New Zealand her Royal protection, and imparts to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects.’ Now, our ancestors signed that treaty. They agreed to the Government of the Queen. I ask you this question,—What is a Government for? Is it not for the purpose of making laws? And what are laws for? Is it not for the protection of the members of the State? And are not the laws made for us to obey? Then, in order to keep the Treaty inviolate, we will have to keep the laws made by the Government that our ancestors accepted.

“The British monarch extended us the Royal protection. Has not that bargain been kept? Have we not been protected from that time to this? ‘And imparts to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects.’ Is it not our privilege and our right to fight for King and country? I want to point out to you that no right and no privilege can exist without the corresponding responsibility. Now do you see how the Treaty favours conscription, and how you have erred in regard to its provisions?

“Now in regard to Potatau. Do you recollect his coronation oath? When my predecessors made him King of the Maori tribes, do you remember what they said, ‘Potatau, we make you King. Henceforth you and Queen Victoria shall be united—the law shall be the carpet [whariki] for your feet and the religion of Christ your joint religion for ever.’ And what did Potatau say? ‘Yes, for ever. There is but one eye to the needle, through which the white, the black, and the red threads must pass.’ You tell me to-day that Potatau's needle must have more than one eye; for you contend that there should be a different law for the Maoris, that conscription should be a different law for the Maoris, that conscription should not apply to them. ‘Beware of Kura's urn, lest the dust from the feet of your ancestors arise and smother you.’

“It is true that Tawhiao (the second Maori King) spoke the words, which you have quoted, regarding the banishing of war from New Zealand, but were not these words uttered by him at a peace conference with the pakeha? Has not war been banished from these shores? Is there fighting between Pakeha and Maori to-day? ‘I have sheathed the sword.’ Mark, he did not turn the sword into a ploughshare, neither did he destroy it, but he sheathed the sword. Why? In order to protect the sword from rust and from being blunted, so that whenever the time should arise, when it should again be wanted, it would be found still keen and bright.

“Tawhiao returned all fighting across the sea. Where is the fighting now? Is it not across the sea? Therefore, in order to keep his words sacred, in order to keep the fighting across the seas, you must enlist, you must see that your sons fight across the waters, and not allow the foe to fight here. ‘Beware and do not shift the landmarks of your ancestors, lest the gods curse you.’

“Now I come to your fourth reason—the shedding of blood is against your religion. I ask, are you Christians? Did not Christ say, I come not to bring peace but a sword? Did he

Mr. Henare Whakatau Uru, M.P. for Southern Maori District. Member of the Maori Regimental Committee.

Group of Ngati-Tuwharetoa Soldiers taken at Opaea, Taihape, under the command of Lieut. K. H. Hakopa.

not say to Peter to catch a fish, and when the fish was gutted was not a coin with Caesar's superscription found on it? And did not the Founder of the Faith say, ‘Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things which are God's.’ Now, Caesar is demanding from you the things which are his. Are you Christians?

“Which of you, having a child who is being tortured to death by another, will hand him a Bible and say, brother, love your neighbour as yourself. It is our Christian duty to root out all evil, and the greatest evil of the age is the German evil.

“You say the Pakeha must right the wrongs which he inflicted by the confiscation of our lands during the Maori war. I will not go into the merits or otherwise of your claim, because I know some of the confiscated lands were paid for by the ‘Takoha’ monies. That question involves a legal wrangle, which I hold you still have the option of bringing before a legal tribunal. That is a family quarrel. Put aside the petty quarrels of the family, and take hold of the battles of the Nation.”

Conscription Applied.

However, Waikato were obdurate, and as the other tribes, especially Te Arawa, Ngati-Porou and Ngapuhi, and also the Defence Department, considered that some degree of compulsion should be applied, the conscription principle embodied in the Military Service Act, 1916, was extended to the Maori race, by “Gazette” notice on June 26th, 1917. This Act provided for the compulsory calling up of suitable recruits for the Expeditionary Force. Waikato as a tribe held out to the end, on principle—though the refusal of the old people to sanction volunteering greatly chafed many of the young men—and it was deemed necessary to assert the law, in fairness to the other tribes, by compulsorily taking several young men to camp at Narrow Neck. One of these was young Te Rau-angaanga Mahuta, brother of Rata. Once in camp Te Rau entered cheerfully upon his training work, and so enamoured was he of soldiering duty under the wise and sympathetic command of Captain Peacock, that he wrote to his people announcing his conversion to the principle of service and appealing to them to fall in with the Government's wishes. He got his stripe as Lance-Corporal, and very likely would have obtained a commission, but by this time (August, 1918) the war was nearing its end, and Waikato's services, willing or otherwise, were not required.

After the application of the Military Service Act to the Maoris, three ballots were held. The first took place in May, 1918. The number of recruits actually produced by these ballots was small; most of those who served were volunteers. The Maoris called up in the three ballots, up to August 17th, numbered 479; of these 136 were passed fit. There were 51 men awaiting medical examination in November, 1918, 117 men had not been traced, and 146 had been classed C2. Nearly 80 names were struck off the lists after inquiry. The compilation of the Maori roll was a task of great difficulty. The Government statistician found it impossible to get the Maoris to complete their registration schedules, and other means had to be adopted of preparing a list of First Division natives of military age. For this purpose every Maori drawn in a ballot received, with the notification that he had been so drawn, a military order to parade on a specified date for medical examination.

The Polynesian Volunteers.

The men who came from the Pacific Islands to serve with the New Zealand forces were all volunteers. In response to the offers of assistance made by the Administration of the islands adjacent to New Zealand, voluntary recruits were accepted for service with the Maori section of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. In some cases the Administration paid the cost of transport and equipment, and, further, paid the men themselves. Rarotongans, Niue men, Gilbert Islanders, Ellice Islanders, and others were brought over to New Zealand in such numbers as the Administrations decided on and received their training in this country before embarkation for active service abroad. Military and medical officers in the service of the Administrations of the island groups were appointed as attesting and medical officers respectively, so that, in the majority of cases the recruits were attested after having passed medically fit in the islands. Thus only fit men were sent to New Zealand and the procedure saved both Governments considerable expense. Of those sent to New Zealand 631 had embarked for active service or were in a camp of training in New Zealand on Armistice Day.

Throughout the period of the war, the welfare of the lads in the trenches was the constant thought and care of a hardworking committee of native ladies, under the presidency of Lady Pomare. In every kainga which had sent men to the war, the women and girls made or gathered together comforts for their loved ones on the battlefields, and these were sent to the central committee in Wellington, which toiled, too, at sewing and knitting for the soldiers. Large quantities of such articles as shirts and socks, packages of cigarettes and sweets, and cases of mutton-birds from Stewart Island and toheroa shellfish from the west coast of North Auckland, were despatched to the Battalion, and the periodical arrival of these proofs of the loving thought of the people in far-away New Zealand was a matter for great rejoicing in the billets and dugouts of war-swept France and Flanders.

The crucial battle of the Gallipoli—Dardanelles campaign was over; the grand effort had failed—a glorious effort which would have been crowned with success had not the new English troops at Suvla Bay disappointed their comrades desperately holding the right of the line. After the Sari Bair fighting the Maoris spent about another eight weeks at Anzac and early in October were sent across to the island of Lemnos for a rest, anticipating the final evacuation of Gallipoli by eleven weeks. During the further fighting in August, when Sir Ian Hamilton made a final great effort with his reorganised troops, the Maoris shared with the pakeha troops, Imperial and Colonial, the attack on the hill of Kaiajik Aghala (Hill 60), and suffered heavy losses, in company with the Canterbury and Otago Mounted Rifles.

On August 20th, Captain Buck and the Padre, Captain Wainohu, saw General Godley, who congratulated the Maoris on their conduct in the operations of the 6th-9th. He said also that the Colonel of the Ghurkas and British officers, had spoken highly of them. The General said that, in order to give them better opportunities, the Maoris would be distributed and attached to the four infantry battalions, but that they would not lose their identity as they would be kept as distinct platoons. This temporary eclipse of the battalion as a body was not at all to the liking of the Maoris' officers; still there was some comfort in the knowledge that the platoons would remain distinct in each pakeha battalion. The breaking-up of the Battalion in this way brought strong protests from its members, and later on, as the result of united action by Sir Maui Pomare, Sir James Carroll and the other members of the Maori Recruiting Committee in New Zealand, the whole body was again united, and was in the end reconstructed as a Pioneer Battalion.

For correspondence on the subject of the splitting-up of the Contingent and the Maori protests, see Appendices.

The Doctor and the Padre were ordered to report to the Infantry Brigade Headquarters. Brigadier-General Johnston told them that he had watched the Maoris go into action on the Monday. There was no hesitation about them and they did splendidly. He was very pleased with them and considered that the Ghurkas “were children compared with them.” He was very pleased to have them in his command.

In the evening of the 20th the O.C., Lieut.-Col. Herbert (who had been warmly praised by the G.O.C. for his services in command of the Contingent) mustered the Maoris and bade them farewell. He said he was going as Colonel to the Worcesters and Captain Ennis was going with him as his adjutant. Captain Buck gave the men the General's message.

On August 21st orders were received for 100 men to report to the Canterbury and Otago Mounted Rifles, for an attack on the left front. Capt. Buck went with them with one hospital orderly and four stretcher-bearers. At 2.30 that afternoon the warships began a heavy bombardment of the Turkish trenches, and the shore howitzer batteries joined in. Our men were waiting behind the South Wales Borderers' trenches. Captain Buck, describing the operations, wrote in his diary:—

“At the end I was on, there were about 25 Maoris. They were to form part of the third line, and were put under Lieut. Blackett. Lieuts. Walker and Stainton of the Maoris were further up. Our attack was launched as the bombardment ceased. Looking over the trenches I could see our men running across the ridges like deer, then resting in a slight gully, and on again. Our men soon caught up to the others. On the flat on our left Australians and Tommies were advancing line on line under a hail of shrapnel. It was like a picture battle. Afterwards I learned that all the hills and ridges near Walker's and stretching back were crowded with our men watching the battle. The firing slackened, and I slipped over the trench and dropped into an oblique little gully running down into the main one. Here I was almost on top of a wounded Canterbury man. I lay beside him and put on his first field dressing. He was wounded in the muscles of his back, not badly. He kept saying, ‘I'd be much happier if you would keep your head down a little; I've been watching the bullets pitch alongside.’

“A little lower was young Warakihi lying on his face stone dead. I took his identity disc and passed on down to three wounded. Called for my orderly who hopped over the trench with haversack. Fixed up the wounded and carried one—a sergeant—down into the gully, where we found Captain Guthrie and others. Captain Guthrie himself had a wound through the fleshy part of the back of the neck. I went on and could see wounded men able to walk getting over the trenches into the South Wales lines. The firing was fairly frequent on the table lands, so I worked down the gully and struck a sap in a gully running towards the trenches taken by our people. The Connaught Rangers were widening the sap. Met several of our men (wounded) coming down, and labelled them, including Sergeant Ngamoko Kingi and others. Went on and came to a raised bank behind the trenches, where several wounded were lying, also some of our men in reserve (under Sergeant Te Hau), as the trenches were too crowded. I fixed up the wounded, including Sergeant Wihapi, fractured femur, and Skipper, shot through the hip. Skipper apologized for not securing me a pair of Turkish field-glasses. He said, ‘I get hit too — quick.’ Guthrie turned up and carried on, in spite of his wound, until we got most away. Captain Cave, of the Australian Field Ambulance (Light Horse) came and helped get the remaining ones out. Got Corporal Paraone out of the trenches, badly wounded. The Connaught Rangers were digging a communication trench. The Padre and I dug a bivvy in the bank, where we stayed all night. The Turks seemed to make a counter attack every two hours, when there would be a heavy fusilade, with bombs exploding, and the Rangers stood to arms. Once we heard loud cries from the Turks and then a desperate fusilade.

“The trench which our men helped to take is called Kaiajik Aghala, and the gully with the sap running up to the right is Kaiajik Dere. Our men were praised by the General for the good work done in these trenches.

“Lieut. Walker was struck in the side of the face and neck by a splashed bullet from the edge of a machine-gun loop-hole. This was a Turkish machine-gun captured in the trenches, which Walker fixed up and turned on the enemy. I sent him back to No. 1 Post. Walker was pleased with his men in the charge across the table lands. As he found they were getting too low down to the left he gave them ‘Half right form.’ They did it perfectly, under rifle, machine-gun and big gun fire.”

On August 23rd, Dr. Buck and Padre Wainohu took a party of six men and a sergeant to bury the Maori dead, but were told by Brigadier-General Russell not to attempt it, as the table lands traversed by the forces in the attack were swept by machine-gun and rifle fire. The officers were told that most of the dead had been buried by a party the previous night. The total Maori casualties were believed to be 48 or 49.

The remainder of our men in the Kaiajik Aghala trenches only got out on the 24th. On that day the Maori Contingent paraded for the last time as a separate unit. The men left camp and joined the various battalions of the infantry brigade. Dr. Buck and Padre Wainohu joined the Auckland Regiment (Major Alderman in command) on Rhododendron Spur as the most central. Sergeant-Major Tingey received a commission as 2nd Lieutenant, and joined the Wellington Mounted Rifles as machine-gun officer.

On the afternoon of August 27th, the bombardment of the Turkish positions was renewed by the warships and land batteries. Huge columns of dust rose at Kaiajik Aghala where the shells struck. When the big guns ceased firing machine-gun and rifle fire commenced and continued till early next morning. It was learned in the morning that the infantry in the night attack, had taken two lines of trenches but failed to take the third. The greater part of Hill 60 was now held by our men. The Connaught Rangers did well but had to give up one trench. Next night the attack was renewed, and the hills rattled with heavy rifle fire and bombing.

On August 29th, General Russell delivered another attack on the Kaiajik Aghala trenches. The 10th Australian Light Horse took the third line of trenches and held it against bombs and rifle fire. Our men had now complete possession of Hill 60 and consolidated the position and also established communications across Kaiajik Dere with the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade.

An entry, in a Maori officer's diary, on September 9th read: “Life here is very quiet and there is no excitement.” What the humorist implied, no doubt, was that no shell dropped into his bivouac that day.

The British now held the line from Anzac to Suvla securely, but neither side was in a position to launch another great attack. There was considerable shelling on both sides daily, but the hostilities on shore were restricted to trench warfare, with its intermittent machine-gun and rifle firing and bombing. There was much sickness; dysentry was very prevalent.

On September 14th, Captain Buck, noting in his diary the progress of events, wrote that he went up to the Apex to report to Major Alderman, who was in command of the Maoris, and of various New Zealand Details, with Captain Ennis as his adjutant. All the lower slopes of the hills were occupied by Australians; and the Apex by the 28th Australian Infantry. There was intermittent shelling on both sides daily. On the 18th, the Turks started shelling the Apex with 75's, and made it very hot. Then they started to fire on our trenches. The firing spread along to the left, where the flat was under heavy shell bombardment. All hands stood to arms and there was great excitement, for it was thought that another strong Turkish attack was impending. However, it fizzled out; only two of our men were wounded. The warships and our howitzers replied to the enemy fire for some hours. The 19th—Sunday—was “a quiet peaceful day”; just a few shells in the morning, and the Turks “plunked in a few in the afternoon.” One Australian at the Apex was killed. The Maoris held a church service in the evening, and the Australians was interested listeners because of the novelty of it.

On September 20th, a burst of shrapnel caught one of the Maoris (Pte. Herewini) in the chest. The enemy still shelled the Apex, sending in single shots at irregular intervals. A warship shelled the enemy trenches at 6 p.m. and put two shots into a blockhouse. The batteries on the beach also sent over several rounds.

On September 21st, in the afternoon, after a quiet morning, the Turks threw some bombs fairly close to the Maoris but fortunately on the uninhabited slopes of their gully. Some of the Maoris gave the alarm when they saw a bomb with a long tail coming down, and everybody dived into the dugouts. Later, the Turks sprayed shrapnel on the slope below, half-way down the sap. There was an immediate call for stretcher-bearers and Captain Buck went down and found three Australians hit. He went into a dug-out to attend to them, and while there shrapnel frequently burst close by. This slope was in full view of the enemy and there was no protection whatever except in the dug-outs. Thus, when cooking or other work was going on and a few men were collected together, the Turks burst shrapnel over the spot, having the range exactly. More men had been wounded in this place—bad wounds, too, in chest and abdomen, often mortal—than anywhere else about. Five Australians were wounded here this day.

Early in the morning of September 22nd, the Turks started shelling with a seventy-five from the west hills, firing shrapnel accurately on “Mafish Slope,” as the Australians' exposed position was christened. Five men were wounded in the early morning bombardment. After breakfast, Captain Buck was half-way through his sick parade when the gun started again. The cries from below for stretcher-bearers, then for another stretcher, and next for a doctor. On going down he found a case at the end of the sap on the exposed slope facing the west hills. Seeing a strecther-bearer near, he called to him to take cover. An Australian was lying in the open shot through the back of the neck, dead. Buck dived into a shallow bivouac near, but as it already had three occupants he got out and ran to another dug-out. He had only just got down into cover when a shrapnel shell burst over the shelter. Hearing a groan next door, he looked over and saw a stretcher-bearer lying in the dug-out bleeding. The man had been looking out to see what he could do and a shrapnel bullet penetrated the top of his head. His condition was hopeless; he was just breathing when Buck put a dressing on, and left. Immediately afterwards there was another burst of shrapnel. Going down the road the surgeon came on two more wounded men, hit in the legs. He carried one out to a safer place. A breathing spell and a smoke with the Australians, the cool and plucky doctor clambered back to the top of the hill. He stopped to pass the word to the Padre about the wounded men below, and dropped down into his dug-out just as another burst of shrapnel swished along outside the shelter. Again the cry came from below for a doctor. Descending the hill again he found a man dying with a wound in the throat. That made three killed and six wounded to be chalked up against that gun for the morning. Later in the day the ‘75’ got some more Australians, including one mortally wounded in the head. So the wastage tally of these people, the 28th Australian Infantry Brigade, was fairly heavy.

About 11 o'clock that morning, some 40 Maoris and some 60 New Zealand Details were sent down the gully to the Canterburys' old camp; the rest were to follow next day. The Turks sent over this day, among other souvenirs, a bomb at the end of a stick about six feet long, fired out of some gun or other. They were also firing rifle grenades.

The Australians on “Mafish Slope” shifted out of it this day, and the sap was deepened.

On the 23rd, in the evening, the Turks shelled the Canterbury Ridge, and then vigorously bombarded the flat towards Suvla Bay. The flashes of the guns could be seen on the far range of hills. The enemy sent some shells close to the warships at Suvla, and the cruiser there shifted out further. A mortar was used in the Anzac trenches, throwing bombs at the Turk blockhouse. The enemy sent another stick bomb over. It could be seen whirling through the air as it came and landed in our trenches;—nobody was in its way.

Occasional night “demonstrations,” with rifle fire and machine-guns, and daytime intermittent shelling, went on for some weeks. This was the entry in Captain Buck's diary for Sunday, September 26th:—

“Another beautiful day; the sea looked very calm and placid from here [the Apex]. The cruiser which lies nearly opposite, always looks lazy, and the only active things are the destroyers, which kept up their endless patrol. For morning service, the Turks sent us some bombs, and one caught the end of the sap near the latrines below us. One poor man [Australian] had his leg blown off, the other leg shattered, his bowels were fully exposed, and both arms were broken. Yet his voice was quite strong when he asked for assistance. Another had several wounds, including an abdomenal, and he died on the stretcher. Two others were wounded; a facial artery spouted away. Later we put the howitzers on to the Turks and there were some terrible explosions. Had sick parade below this afternoon. My cold fairly tight; have now given up shorts—too cold…. Vague rumors that the Balkan States are in the war, also the inevitable prognostication that the campaign will end in days now. Meanwhile the New Zealanders and Maoris continue to supply men for trenches, and can only supply the numbers by sending in sick men. These men should be away now. Another bomb went off to-night below us, and we heard a call for stretcher-bearers—but don't know what happened, as the Australian medical officer went down there.

“September 27th.—One man last night slightly concussioned by a bomb. The Australian Army Medical Corps decided to shift half-way down the hill to the water-tanks; I went with them. Had both sick parades in the morning. The A.A.M.C. dug in a dressing station at the bottom of the sap near the tanks in a good place. Captain Kenny and I got a fine dug-out on the side of the hill, just below the fire trenches. We can make it into a real good place. Last night, about 7 o'clock, word came to stand to arms, so I went up the hill. There was a strong attack on the left. The warships, were firing their big guns incessantly. Fires broke out on the lower slopes of the west hills and the far hills. There was also brisk rifle fire, and rockets and star-shells were going. A warship in the Gulf of Saros was using a searchlight well in advance of our position, on the far hills. The firing lasted about an hour and fizzled out… A bomb went off in the afternoon near the dug-outs at the Apex, wounded a Maori (Pirika) in the thigh and a New Zealander in the arm.”

Departure from Gallipoli. A Rest on Lemnos.

On Sunday evening, October 3rd, the Maoris broke up camp at their various posts and went aboard the mine-sweeper “Partridge,” which left next morning for Mudros, the famous haven of Lemnos Island. The British cruiser “Endymion,” was passed on the way. On landing at Mudros, the Maoris were broken up in platoons and located with their previous regiments. The camp, at Sarpi, was 3½ miles out from the port. For an account of this camp and the doings of the Maoris there, I give extracts from Captain Buck's diary, in the absence of official regimental diaries for this period:—

“October 5th—We had a good rest; missed the sound of bullets. The Maoris are with various battalions; a good many have been sent to hospital. Went for a walk this afternoon with Major Alderman, Captain Ennis and the Padre to the nearest village, Sarpi. Went to see Lieut.-Col. O'Neill (Major previously) who now commands the New Zealand Medical Corps.

“October 6th.—Review of troops to-day by General Godley. It was a pathetic sight to see the Main Body men, few in number, battered in appearance, with faded uniforms and weary step, as compared with the 6th Reinforcements. They are a likely looking lot. The infantry number about 1000 and the mounteds about 1100… More of our boys sent to hospital.”

A change of food, plenty of rest, cricket and football matches for those well enough to play, and camp-fire concerts, were some of the things that compensated the war-worn soldiers in Sarpi Camp. British officers of high degree came and had a look at the Maoris.

(A Maori diary entry: “A general wearing a monocle rode over; also saw an admiral wearing one. The Padre wanted to know how it is the English get weak in only one eye.”)

One or two of the Maori officers were anxiously awaiting word from the steamer “Aragon,” lying in Mudros Harbour, as to when they would get the long-expected leave for a run to Alexandria and Cairo. Their impatience found vent in this diary entry, “writ sarcastic,” out of a full heart:—

“The ‘Aragon’ is a vessel that is anchored in Mudros Harbour. The Navy moves in spheres remote and no man knows what they are doing or what they have done, or when or where they may break out in a fresh place. But with regard to the Army, they revolve round the ‘Aragon.’ All things Military going and coming have to report to the ‘Aragon.’ The subaltern going away on sick leave or the General coming in with an Army Corps has to report to the ‘Aragon.’ In fact, reporting to the ‘Aragon’ is the one thing that is absolutely necessary towards winning the war.”

The M.O. and Padre Wainohu went to Alexandria on leave, and looked up several Maoris in hospital. At Suez they found invalided Maoris in camp, waiting to be sent back to New Zealand—A. Simeon, Te Toa, Mason and Woods. Simeon had been the Doctor's orderly; he was disabled by a bullet which lodged behind the knee cap.

Te Toa—right well named!—was a man who had displayed remarkable stoicism after being wounded in the head in the attack on Chunuk Bair (August 8th). He had lost the sight of one eye, and the other was threatened.

On October 26th, the troopship “Waitemata” (Captain Nicholson) arrived at Suez from New Zealand, bringing 300 Maori reinforcements. The officers of the reinforcements were: Captain Rice, Lieut. Ashton, 2nd Lieuts. H. Kohere, H. Dansey, O'Neill, Kepa Ehau, Hall, McGregor, Bush, and Pekama Kaa; Chaplain-Major Hawkins, Captain Duncan, N.Z.M.C. Major McKenzie was in charge of the ship. The Maoris went into camp at Zeitoun.

Captain Buck wrote from Egypt to the New Zealand members of Parliament representing the Maori race:—

“All who have come through the Gallipoli campaign, where pakeha and Maori have shared the fatigue, danger, and incessant vigil of the trenches, side by side, recognise that the Maori is a better man than they gave him credit for, and have admitted him to full fellowship and equality. With a separate unit occupying its own trenches, these friendships which will cement mutual respect and esteem between the two races, do not have the same opportunities of being made as where they are working and fighting side by side. One of the finest incidents in the history of the two races took place when the Maoris left the trenches during the Anzac vacation. Their pakeha comrades who were remaining behind for a later shipment, carried their packs down into the gullies, and many stood clasping hands when the moment of separation came, with their hearts too full of aroha to express themselves in words.”

By New Zealand Divisional Orders (February 20th, 1916), the formation of a New Zealand Pioneer Battalion was authorised. The Battalion was to consist of officers and other ranks drawn from surplus of N.Z.M.R. From the Otago M.R., and the whole of the Maori Contingents (two) then serving in Egypt with the New Zealand Infantry Brigade. At this time, the remnants of the original Maori Contingent, together with the whole of the 2nd Maoris, were divided up by tribes among the various battalions of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade and were in camp at Moascar, Ismailia. The Otago M.R. were also at Moascar as Divisional mounted troops, but owing to the decision of headquarters that Divisional cavalry were in future to consist of one squadron only, they were equal to the strength of two squadrons and headquarter's details available for transfer to form the nucleus of a pakeha half-battalion of the Pioneers. The balance of the pakeha officers and other ranks were drawn from the N.Z.M.R. then in camp at Serapeum (Suez Canal). The original Maori Contingent consisted of two companies and headquarters, but during August, 1915, they were divided up at Gallipoli as follows:—

Nos. 1 and 2 Platoons (Ngapuhi and Waikato) to Auckland Battalion; Nos. 3 and 4 Platoons (West Coast of North Island, Wanganui and Wellington) to Wellington Battalion; Nos. 5 and 6 Platoons (Arawa, Bay of Plenty, Ngati-Porou, and East Coast, Taupo and South Island men) to Canterbury Battalion; Nos. 7 and 8 Platoons (Poverty Bay, Wairoa, Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa) to Otago Battalion. The 2nd Maoris who had joined the 1st, on January 19th, 1916, had been divided up as above and attached to the original Contingent. The principle of this tribal distribution was adhered to throughout the organisation of the Pioneers except in a few cases where the numbers would not fit in.

The Pioneer Battalion was organised in accordance with the wishes of the G.O.C. N.Z. Division as follows:— A Company—Nos. 1 and 2 Platoons Maoris, Nos. 3 and 4 Platoons pakehas (7th Squadron).B Company—Nos. 5 and 6 Platoons, Maoris, Nos. 7 and 8 Platoons, pakehas (5th Squadron).C Company—Nos. 9 and 10 Platoons, Maoris, Nos. 11 and 12 Platoons, pakehas (12th Squadron).D Company—Nos. 13 and 14 Platoons, Maoris, Nos. 15 and 16 Platoons, pakehas (N.Z.M.R.)

Officers were appointed as follows:— C.O.—Major G. A. King, N.Z.S.C. (from Auckland Mounted Rifles).Second in Command.—Captain P. H. Buck, N.Z.M.C. (from 1st Maoris).Adjutant.—Captain W. S. Cooper (from Wellington Battalion).Quarter-master.—Captain G. D. Hamilton (from Wellington Mounted Rifles).Medical Officer.—Captain H. M. Buchanan, N.Z.M.C. (from Otago Mounted Rifles).Instructing Machine-gun Officer.—2nd Lieut. J. O'Neil (from 2nd Maoris).Transport Officer.—2nd Lieut. M. Broughton (1st Maoris).A Company.—Captain E. G. Saxby (Auckland M.R.); Second in Command, Lieut. R. I. Dansey (1st Maoris). Lieut. S. J. S. Cooper (1st Maoris), 2nd Lieuts. T. Hetet (1st Maoris), H. Wilson (Otago M. R.). P. Kaa (2nd Maoris), L. H. Reid (2nd F. Coy., N.Z.E.), L. G. Ashton (2nd Maoris).B Company—Captain W. S. Pennycook (Otago M.R.), Second in Command, Captain P. Harris (Canterbury M.R.), Lieut. J. C. MacLean (Otago M. R.), 2nd Lieuts. J. C. Tikao (1st Maoris), T. Hiroti (1st Maoris), H. R. Vercoe (1st Maoris), J. K. A. Ehau (2nd Maoris), G. A. Bush (2nd Maoris).C Company—Captain F. M. Twisleton, M.C. (from Otago M.R.), Second in Command, Captain R. M. Gairdner (Otago M.R.), Lieuts. J. Short (Otago M.R.), W. H. Stainton (1st Maoris), 2nd Lieuts. W. H. Walker (1st Maoris), H. Kohere (2nd Maoris), G. Masters (2nd F. Coy. N.Z.E.).D Company—Captain C. E. Clifton (Wellington M.R.), Second in Command, Captain W. O. Ennis (1st Maoris), Lieut. L. S. Gibbs (Canterbury Battalion), 2nd-Lieuts. H. Dansey (2nd Maoris), J. Hall (2nd Maoris), J. H. Gilmour (Canterbury M.R.), A. P. H. Kaipara (1st Maoris).

The C.O. and Adjutant reported at Divisional Headquarters for duty with the Battalion, and were instructed to lay out a camp south of the aerodrome at Moascar. This was done. The Maoris marched into camp on March 6th, and started the erection of tents and cook-houses. The camp was soon complete and things squared up. Fatigue duties and drill occupied the newly-constituted unit until the 15th, when orders were received to pack up camp and move east of the Canal. Camp was quickly struck and the Battalion marched at 10.30 a.m. with transport, baggage and tents. The Canal was crossed by pontoon bridge at Ferry Post, and after a halt for lunch on the east bank the corps marched on to the Reserve Camp and pitched tents just east of the Second Infantry Brigade camp and on the south side of the road. Here the Battalion was joined next day (March 16th) by the Third Maori Reinforcements, under Lieut. Sutherland, and other officers, 2nd Lieuts. A. L. Melles, S. Moore, A. McDonald, G. R. Fromm, E. Goodwin, and R. Karauria. The reinforcements consisted of 112 Maoris, 125 Niué Islanders, and 45 Rarotongans, total 282. These new-comers landed at Suez, and came on to Ismailia by train; they were met by the C.O. and Lieut. R. J. Dansey and were marched into camp. As there had been an outbreak of measles during the voyage, the recruits were put into isolation camp 400 yards west of the Pioneers' camp. Fifteen Niué Natives had been left behind in hospital at Suez. On the 17th, General Sir A. J. Godley inspected the Battalion at work, and addressed the reinforcements. On the 18th, a very hot day, with a desert gale blowing and the air full of sand, Major Buck, with twelve officers and 447 Maoris of all ranks, marched from camp with camel transport and took over maintenance of a section of the trenches about six miles east of the camp. The C.O. followed with a detachment, and after a very trying march, reached the trenches. Camp was made alongside the 10th Squadron (Auckland M.R.) who were holding the line. On the 20th, Major Buck was ordered to return to the Reserve camp owing to an alteration in the plans, and with seventy camels for baggage the Maoris marched back again, reaching the camp at noon. It was hard going under the tropical sun trudging those burning sands, but all stuck to it well and no man fell out. Orders were now received for the Battalion to return to Moascar, and on the morning of the 21st, the camp was cleared up, all the other New Zealand infantry units were also moving. At 10 o'clock the Battalion, in hollow square, was inspected by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, and various other officers. After the inspection the Ngati-Porou, under Lieut. Kohere, entertained the Prince with a rousing haka. Soon afterwards the Battalion was on the move, and crossing the canal, marched into Moascar and took over the old camp ground. The tents did not arrive till next day. The 3rd Reinforcements, having now been released from isolation, were allotted to the various Companies.

The Battalion was put through some more solid infantry training, and was inspected on the desert by General Godley.

The question of the suitability of the South Sea Islanders for coming work in a cold climate was discussed, and the G.O.C. instructed that all Niué men unlikely to stand conditions in Europe would be left in Egypt. A very careful inspection was accordingly held (March 30th), and all the more delicate-looking natives were weeded out and sent to the Base Details Camp en route to Gizeh, Cairo.

Steady training was continued during the early part of April. The Pioneers made a good showing in a parade of the whole Division held in the rear of the aerodrome on the 3rd, for inspection by General Sir Archibald Murray. Next day the General inspected the Maoris at their camp, and the customary hakas of welcome were performed in his honour. A haka party, under Lieut. Kohere, was drawn up in the hollow square formed by the other platoons. The Ngati-Porou and Arawa tribes gave a vociferous song and dance of greeting. This was followed by a dance and chant by the Cook Island Natives, who also sang a lively marching song.

Major Buck, on behalf of the Maoris, addressed a speech of welcome to the General, who replied briefly and expressed satisfaction at the appearance and bearing of the Battalion in the previous day's review. Generals Godley and Russell and the G.H.Q. Corps and Divisional staffs were present at the ceremonial.

The Departure for France.

On April 5th, the long-expected orders were received for the exodus from Egypt to the great theatre of war, and the succeeding two days were spent in preparing for the move. The evening of the 6th, was a lively time in the big camp. All the canteens were raided and burned by the troops. As soon as the disturbance was reported Major King paraded the whole of the Battalion and had the roll called. No one was missing, so that the Pioneers stood clear of any share in the row. On April 7th, the Battalion was on the move on the first stage of the journey to France. Tents were struck, the camp cleared up and all hands, except the baggage guard, went down for a last bathe in Lake Timseh. That night the Battalion, in two train loads, numbering altogether 28 officers and 948 other ranks, travelled to Port Said, where they embarked early next morning on the transport “Canada.” This troopship also took the Second Canterbury Battalion of infantry, under Lieut.-Col. H. Stewart, who was O.C. on the ship.

At five o'clock in the morning of April 9th, the “Canada,” steamed out of the harbour bound for Marseilles.

For the voyage up the Mediterannean, the usual danger-zone precautions were taken. All hands were told off to boat stations, and were practiced in standing to the boats. All the Lewis machine-guns were mounted in commanding positions and gun crews were told off in 4-hour reliefs by day and 2-hour reliefs by night. Look-out men (50) were told off to watch for submarines and were arranged in reliefs under Captain Twisleton. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th, an enemy submarine was sighted, about 800 yards away, on the port side. The ship's course was altered and the steaming rate increased, and nothing more was seen of the raider. The “Canada” carried enough boats to accommodate all on board, but in most cases they were three deep on the davits and there would have been very small chance of launching them all in case of emergency.

Malta was passed at 5 a.m. on April 12th, and next day the coast of Sardinia was in sight. This day gas helmets and pockets were issued to all ranks, two per man, one to be carried in the satchel, and one in the pocket sewn in the skirt of the jacket.

The Pioneers had carried on their trench duties with admirable courage and endurance under harassing conditions but were getting impatient for an opportunity of taking the offensive and having a cut at the Germans. So early in July, the G.O.C consented to the Battalion making a raid, and there was keen anticipation of an exciting night enterprise. Fifty men were picked from each Maori company, from volunteers, and training was started under Captain R. I. Dansey.

One night (July 3rd), about 9.30 o'clock, Lieut. Dansey saw a man on the roof of a factory in rear of the billets holding a light in the direction of the camp's trenches. He searched the roofs but failed to catch the fellow, so he put, all the civilians in the building under arrest and handed them over to the Assistant-Provost Marshal. An enemy bombardment of Armentieres followed immediately the showing of the light. The shelling was particularly heavy and lasted until midnight; the guns used were 5.9-inch, 8-inch, and 11-inch howitzers; incendiary shells were also fired. Several buildings were burned and considerable damage was done, but the casualties in the town were not great. The same night the enemy raided L'Epinette Salient and captured a bombing post of five men. The German barrage de feu which encircled L'Epinette, caused a hundred casualties in the 1st Auckland Regiment, who garrisoned the post.

The Maori raiding party was engaged in bombing practice and physical training, and a model of the section of the enemy's trench to be attacked, was laid out on the ground near the Pont de Nieppe. All ranks were very keen about the coming night adventure, and the volunteers were far in excess of requirements. The C.O. and his officers reconnoitered the ground over which the attack would be made.

At 10.45 o'clock on the night of July 9th, a party, consisting of five officers and 80 other ranks under Captain Dansey, attempted the raid on the German trenches. The raid was to have been made on the 12th, but instructions were received from Divisional Headquarters to get it off on the 9th, so preparations were rushed on. The party, however, found the wire in front of the salient had not been cut, and therefore, was withdrawn. On the return across No Man's Land the men came under a heavy fire of shrapnel from the enemy, and one man (L.-Cpl. Toka) was killed and three were wounded. Trench 84 and the post at Petty Curry were also heavily shelled for about half an hour and four men were wounded in the trenches. The New Zealand artillery put up a counter-barrage fire but were stopped by telephone after ten minutes. The raiding party returned to billets at 4 a.m. It was a bitter disappointment to the Maoris, who had thus lost their longed-for chance of using the bayonet on their foes.

A Raid that Failed.

Next night, July 10th-11th, half an hour before midnight, the Maori raiding party went out again and had a nerve-trying experience in the dark. The wire was cut by trench mortars between 7 and 8 p.m., but scouts found that the fire had not sufficiently destroyed the entanglements, so half an hour's shelling was spent in clearing a track for the raiders. The attacking party, however, were nearly cut off by an enemy force in No Man's Land and had to retire to Petty Curry. There were no casualties. The New Zealand artillery fire was immediately opened and it was hoped caused some casualties among the enemy massed in the open. The Germans' return fire was very poor, and no casualties were caused in the trenches. During the raid the N.Z.F.A. shelled the Railway Salient and put down a barrage fire on the communication trenches in rear of it. Smoke was released from the Pioneer trenches, and drew a heavy fire from the enemy's guns and mortars and a considerable amount of shelling directed on the town.

The following is Lieut.-Col. George A. King's report on the Pioneers' attempted raid of the night July 10th-11th:—

“Scouts under Lieut. Vercoe left the gap south of Petty Curry at 11 p.m. At 11.22 they reported to me that the gap in the enemy's outside wire was not passable owing to the way the artillery had blown it about. The remainder of the raiding party then moved out into No Man's Land and formed up in rear of the scouts. The wire was very difficult and a gap was not cleared until 12.30 a.m. The scouts then moved round the end of the second wire and found a good gap in the third row and so got up to the enemy's parapet, which was about fifteen feet wide on the top. Many Germans were walking about on the parapet to the right of the gap, and as their movements seemed out of place Lieut. Vercoe sent two scouts down inside of the third wire. By this time the whole party was inside the wire and extended ready to rush the trench. Up till now there had not been a shot or a flare fired from any of the enemy's trenches opposite trenches 83 and 84, and this unusual quiet on the part of the enemy caused a general feeling among the raiders that a trap had been set for them.

“At about 12.45 a.m., one of the scouts who had been sent along the wire to the right (south) reported to Lieut. Vercoe that he had counted the heads of 69 Germans crawling along outside the middle row of wire to cut the party off. Captain Dansey immediately swung up the left flank of the raiders to meet the Germans with bombs. The movement was not complete before another scout reported a still larger body of the enemy outside the entanglement nearest our trenches also trying to cut off the raiders. The party was moving in a crescent formation.

“Captain Dansey then decided, as the danger of getting surrounded was too great, to withdraw his raiders. The party withdrew quickly and in good order, the scouts forming the rearguard. The enemy followed up as far as the line of small trees about 75 yards from our post at Petty Curry, throwing bombs.

“As soon as the raiding party got inside our wire I gave a signal for artillery barrage to be formed. The first howitzer shell arrived within 30 seconds of the rocket breaking. The infantry garrison at Petty Curry opened rifle and machinegun fire on the enemy, who were plainly visible at one time. The 18-pounders' fire covered most of the ground across which the enemy were retiring and the howitzer shells were bursting well along the German parapet. I consider that the fire of rifles and guns must have caused considerable loss to the enemy, as considerable noise and confusion were observed amongst them as they retired, which they did rapidly.

“The Pioneers retired on to the right flank party of the raiders and returned to the trench via south end of Haig's Barrier. The whole party, including raiders, communication post and flank party, were safely in our trenches by 1.30 a.m. without any casualties.

“Lieut. Vercoe is quite satisfied that the gap through the enemy's inside entanglement had been specially made by the enemy to encourage our party to rush the parapet, and I am of the opinion that Captain Dansey undoubtedly saved the party from total loss by withdrawing when he did, and that great credit is due to Lieut. Vercoe and his scouts whose careful work disclosed the trap in time for it to be avoided. All ranks behaved exceptionally well during the retirement under bomb-fire, and there was absolutely no noise or confusion.

“As a raid the operation was a failure, as no information was gained, except that the enemy is very much on the alert and that he had at least 150 men available for a counter-stroke.”

On the night of the 16th, Lieut. Kaa took a patrol out ready to go into No Man's Land, but was not allowed to make the raid owing to a New Zealand gas attack having been arranged. Next night Lieut. Vercoe took a patrol (A Company) out from Petty Curry but saw nothing of importance.

After this date patrol parties went out frequently at night. One of A Company, led by Lieut. O'Neill, reported having located an enemy listening post and also found a telephone cable running from No Man's Land under the German wire; this they cut.

There was at this time tremendous artillery activity along the front. The Pioneers' O.C. wrote in his diary on July 19th: “There is an awful row going on from our people and the Boches is shelling an oat paddock about 200 yards north of us, with 5.9 h.e.”

On July 20th, the Hon. Sir James Carroll arrived with the G.O.C. on a visit to his fellow-countrymen, and received an

N.W. France

exceedingly cordial welcome from the Maori fighting men, with hakas and greeting chants after the good old fashion. “Ta Hemi Kara” spent several hours with the Battalion. He was banquetted on pork and puwha, the latter gathered from the deserted gardens of Armentieres. The French-grown puwha was particularly welcome and served to remind the veteran of the feasts of his homeland.

At this time the duties undertaken by the Pioneers in defence of Armentieres were multifarious and heavy. B Company parties were working on the support and second support lines in the 3rd Brigade sector between La Chappelle and Armentieres and the Bois Grenier; D Company was engaged in the sawmill and on concrete works and R.E. dumps.

The following were the instructions for the N.Z. Pioneer Battalion raid on German trenches:—

(July 8th, 1916.)

Battalion Orders NO. 1.

Armentieres, 8/7/1916.

Orders for Minor Enterprise on Night of July 10th-11th, 1916.

(1) Attacking Party.—A party as under, will carry out a raid on German trenches at C. 23.0.8.7. on night July 9th-10th if wire is cut, failing which on night July 10th-11th. O.C. Scouts.—Lieut. Vercoe, Sergeant Dufaur and 10 other ranks.Assaulting Party.—Sergeant Heath and 14 o.r.No. 1 Bombing Party.—Lieut. Vercoe and 8 o.r.No. 2 Bombing Party.—Sergt. Roto-a-Tara and 4 o.r.No. 3 Bombing Party.—Cpl. Johnson and 8 o.r.No. 4 Bombing Party.—Lieut. Kaa and 8 o.r.No. 5 Bombing Party.—Sergeant Angel and 4 o.r.Communication Party.—Lieut. Dansey and 2 o.r.Right Flank Patrol.—Lieut. O'Neill and 6 o.r.Signallers.—4 o.r.Stretcher-bearers.—Cpl. Otene and 4 o.r. (2). Object.— (a) To capture machine-guns and trench mortars.(b) To secure two prisoners for identification.(c) To kill as many Germans as possible. (3). Objective.—The German salient 500 yards west of Les?? ?—Hallots and communication trenches within a radius of 50 yards. (4) Organisation.—The O.C. attack will move out from starting point at Petty Curry at zero, preceded by scouts. Assaulting party will accompany the O.C. attack. These parties will move in best formation for ground. Bombing parties will move in rear of assaulting party in line of parties in single file; No. 1 on the right. Communication party with telephone will move in rear of bombing parties. Cpl. Otene and two stretcher-bearers will accompany communication party. Right flanking party will move at zero from gap south of Petty Curry and get into position at corner of drain at C. 23 C. Centl. One sapper N.Z.E., will accompany Lieut. Vercoe and another will accompany Lieut. Kaa to demolish machine-gun emplacements, etc. Two men from scouts will enter trench after a footing has been gained and act as Intelligence party. (5) Preparations.—All officers concerned in attack will make a special reconnaissance of the position to-night (July 8th-9th). All other ranks will be exercised over specially prepared model of the objective to-night after dark. Identity discs and all maps, papers or other means by which men could be identified will be left at Battalion H.Q. before marching out. No N.Z. buttons will be worn on the jackets. All ranks will be clothed as lightly as possible, and no web equipment will be worn. All ranks will carry 10 Mills bombs in special carrier. No rifles or bayonets will be taken. Officers and sappers will carry revolvers. Other ranks will be armed with mérés. Officers will carry luminous watches, which will be carefully checked before starting. Faces will be well blacked. White armlets six inches wide will be worn by all ranks on both arms, but will be covered until enemy's wire is reached. Only Maori will be spoken by all parties after leaving starting point. (6) Plan of Action.—The whole party will leave Petty Curry at zero and will crawl out and take up position as near as possible to the enemy's wire without being seen. Communication party will take up position in large shell hole half-way across No Man's Land and keep touch with starting point by telephone. At 20 minutes past zero (0.20) the artillery will commence diversion on Brume Rue (1.5B. 4.8). Scouts will examine breach in enemy's wire and if necessary will clear a track through to enemy's parapet, and on completion of the job will report to O.C. attack. O.C attack with assaulting party will then rush point of salient. Nos. 1, 2 and 3 bombing parties under Lieut. Vercoe, will move under cover of enemy's parapet for 50 yards south and will then enter enemy's trench and clear it out. Nos. 4 and 5 bombing parties will enter trench in rear of assaulting party. Scouts, except for two Intelligence men, will not enter the trench but will make all arrangements for a clear get-away for the party. O.C. attack will remain at point of entrance to trench throughout, and will keep up communication with O.C. Communication Post in No Man's Land by means of orderly. A white tape will be run out from gap in our wire by rear man of No. 1 bombing party and will be fastened to end of gap in enemy's wire on arrival, and will serve as a guide for return journey. Gap in enemy's wire will also be marked with white rag by scouts while attackers are in enemy's trench. Prisoners will be handed over to scouts at entrance of trench and they will hand them over to O.C. Communication Post. In the event of a machine-gun being captured, O.C. raid will at once send it with two men to our own trenches. Wounded will be carried back to Communication Post and taken thence to our own trenches on stretchers. Raiders will not remain in enemy's trench longer than 15 minutes, and may be withdrawn earlier at discretion of O.C. raid. Signal to withdraw will be given by whistle by O.C. raid, and on signal sounding it will be passed on by all who hear it, and O.C.'s parties will then withdraw their men to entrance, and get them across No Man's Land as quickly as possible. After satisfying himself that all men have left the trench, O.C. raid will form a rear-guard of the scouts, and cover the retirement to our own lines, picking up Communication Post on the way. (7) Rolls.—Will be made out in triplicate and will be checked before men leave billets. The men will be checked into trench on return from the raid, and again by Major Buck at the junction of Wessex Avenue and Subsidiary Line. (8) Return.—On entering our trenches raiders will move straight into support trenches—A Company into S83, C Company into S84—and will remain until bombardment stops, and will then proceed to billets via Wessex Avenue and “Y” Route. (9) Position of Officers.—During the raid the C.O. and M.O. of the Battalion will remain in Petty Curry locality and keep touch with the raid via Communication Post. (10) Artillery Fire.—The artillery of centre and left groups will make a diversion on 15.b.4.8 from 0.20 until 0.65. If the O.C. raid wishes a barrage de feu put round the section attacked he will put up our S.O.S. rocket, when artillery will switch on to that section and continue until notified to stop by telephone by O.C. Battalion. (11) Flank Patrol.—Lieut. O'Neill's party will leave our trenches at the junction of trenches 82 and 83 and will crawl out and take up position in No Man's Land and prevent enemy patrols or machine-guns from firing on raiders. They will return on seeing signal for barrage fire or on hearing whistle for withdrawal of raid, and will report at S83.

GEORGE A. KING, Lieut.-Col.

Commanding N.Z. Pioneers.

On August 12th, orders came for the New Zealand Division to move to Blaringhem area to rest prior to a move south, presumably for active operations. The Pioneers were alloted to the 3rd Brigade group for the transfer. The Division was being relieved by the 51st (Highland Division), and the Maoris' ground was to be taken up by the 5th Battalion, Royal Scots (Pioneers).

On the 14th, the Battalion with other troops marched to Steenwerck, six miles, and entrained for E'taple, where the Pioneers detrained and found billets waiting, in a very clean little village, surrounded by rich farming land all in crop. Some days were spent here, a pleasant relief from the trench work under shell-fire. Captain Ennis took over the position of Adjutant vice Captain Cooper, evacuated sick from Armentieres.

On the 19th, orders were received to move to the region of the Lower Somme, near Abbeville. Next day the Battalion marched to St. Omer, and there entrained for Longpre, and the Somme. From Longpre the route was an easy march to Hallen-court, where good billets had been made ready. A syllabus of training was laid out, to cover six days, but was not finished, as there was another move in a few days to Fricourt cross-roads. Here the Battalion was about five miles behind the front line, but there were big guns all round and there was the continual roar of artillery battle. The Germans were very busy shelling Fricourt Wood, just in front of the Pioneers' position. The traffic on the roads was continuous. There was a continual stream of all kinds of vehicles passing all the time and the never-ceasing procession of infantry and guns.

“I don't care for the position of our bivouac very much,” Lieut.-Col. King wrote in his diary, “as it is on the forward slope of a hill running north to Ancre Brook and alongside cross-roads, which seem pretty sure to be shelled sooner or later.”

The Pioneers were not long in commencing trench and dugout work. The allotted ground was in Delville Wood, where old trenches were cleared up. The trenches were in a very bad state and mud was everywhere. The road to Montauban was particularly bad. The roads and trenches were under heavy shell-fire and there was much gas from exploding shells, mostly lachrymatory.

On the 31st, one man was killed and five wounded and a sergeant and three men were gassed. Nearly everyone was affected by the tear shells which, as an officer expressed it, “were a damn nuisance, but otherwise pretty futile.” About seven o'clock that evening, the Germans shelled the cross-roads beside the camp. There were no casualties, but the O.C. decided to move camp next day to a more comfortable spot.

Various details of trench and road work occupied the force at Fricourt for some days. A number of the men in A Company were feeling the effects of gas, and on September 2nd, Sergeant Duff died of gas poisoning. On the same day Pte. Barton was killed and one man was wounded by a bomb. This occurred when the Corps was sent to fresh ground just west of Fricourt Circus. The C.O. and Company Commanders laid out the lines for new communication trenches, French and Turk Lanes, from Montauban to the front line between High Wood and Delville Wood. There was very heavy fire from our guns (the Australian heavy howitzer battery included) all the afternoon, but not much return fire.

On September 3rd A, B, and C Companies each worked one shift on Turk Lane. DCompany worked one shift on dug-outs for themselves on the ridge behind High Wood. There was very heavy fighting this day all along the front from French Right trench past Bezantin Le Petit. The British flammenwerfen was in action in High Wood, and the C.O. remarked in his diary that he “would not like to be at the wrong end of it.” Huge volumes of flame at least 100 feet long and 50 feet high, tore through the wood and must have had a terrible effect on the garrison of the German trenches. Many German prisoners passed through the camp during the evening. At ten o'clock that night, all the companies started on Turk Lane, and full shifts were worked, each platoon being away from camp for 10 hours. Work on Turk Lane went on well for some days, the men digging into it in good style. There was very heavy firing at times towards Pozierés and Givinchy. On September 8th, General Russell came up to see the Battalion's work and expressed his appreciation and that of the Commander of the 15th Corps of what had been done. On the 9th, all the companies were engaged in cleaning up and “duck-walking” Turk Lane, which was now fit for traffic from Montauban Alley to Black Watch Trench, and duckwalks had been constructed to the bottom of Devil's Valley, the junction of Turk and St. George Lanes. No work was done after noon on the 9th, owing to an attack by our British left flank Division on High Wood and Wood Lane. The C.O. and Major Buck went up and watched the attack from Pommiers Redoubt but could not see much, owing to the smoke and dust of the bombardment. The attackers took Wood Lane and held it, but the attack on High Wood was only partly successful; the Germans still held the N.E. corner, where Great Trench starts from. The camp, near the transport lines, was shelled at about 4 p.m., from the direction of Martinpuich, and three men were killed and nine wounded. A horse and a mule were killed and a G.S. waggon was smashed. This damage was caused by the explosion of one shell. Major Buck, describing his observations of the British attack, which was preceded by severe bombardment, wrote:—“We were sitting near a Brigade H.Q., and it was interesting to see an aeroplane fly low over it sounding a horn to attract attention and then dropping a message with a red, white and blue streamer on it. We also saw one of our' planes come circling down slowly and (then) precipitately with a little flicker of light noticeable. She struck the hillside rather suddenly on the opposite side from us and burst at once into flames. There were two German' planes up a little while before, but whether they were responsible I do not know.”

Twenty reinforcements arrived in camp on September 8th, all for the Maori companies. They included some Samoans.

Orders came through on the night of the 10th, that work could be recommenced after midnight, so Major Buck went out with Lieuts. H. Dansey and Kaa, and set various jobs in hand. A deep dug-out for Brigade H.Q., 20 feet below ground, was finished by D Company, assisted by R.E. miners. Several shells were put on Turk Lane, and there were fears of gas at times. The platoons came off work at 8 a.m. (Sunday, the 10th). One man was killed by H.E.. General Russell went round with Colonel King and the R.E. officer and it was decided to take Turk Lane trench forward to Wood Lane, and the position of assembly trenches for the coming attack was also fixed. This day the 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade took over the trenches on Bezantin Ridge, and the 2nd Brigade moved up to Fricourt and Mametz Wood.

On September 11th, the Battalion moved up and dug-in east of Pommiers Redoubt, so as to be nearer the work. One platoon from each company was still employed on Turk Lane, making it six feet deep through from Black Watch Trench to Worcester Trench. This day 2nd. Lieut. D. Bruce arrived from the base with forty reinforcements, mostly Maoris. Entry in Major Buck's diary: “Went on to end of Turk Lane into Black Watch Trench and found the work D Company had been shelled out of. Put men on work and explored down trench to the right, the previous front line. Dead men, Germans and English, everywhere in the trench, in the sides of the trench and about in the open, unburied,, and smell fearful. Our artillery started putting in to the German front line stuff like shrapnel but which sprayed out fire like fireworks; it seemed like liquid fire. Fritz sent up distress rockets and the Germans started sending over heavy H.E. We hurried back to our men, who were fairly deep. They went on working, and the bombardment ceased without our men being hit. Captain Harris and I explored to the left and decided on trench to follow on. Everyone thinks highly of our trench, Turk Lane. Got home at 2 a.m.”

Next afternoon (September 12th) the C.O. and Majors Saxby and Buck went up and laid off work in advance of Wood Lane ready for the advance, also the line of an assembly trench from Tea Trench to Coffee Lane, which A Company was to dig that night. Heavy shelling started, and hung up the work for about an hour, causing several slight casualties in the 3rd Brigade trenches. The country between Black Watch Trench and the German front line (Great Trench) was in what the C.O. described as “an awful state.” The shell craters were so thick that they overlapped one another, and there were men of both sides lying unburied all over the place. Some had been dead since the British cavalry first took High Wood in July.

“The trenches,” wrote Colonel King, “are nothing but a wreck, and no one seems to consider it his job to clean them up. Truly the British are a wonderful people. They would rather sit in a busted trench and get shot than do a little work on the end of a pick and shovel. The 3rd Brigade are digging new trenches to live in, which will serve as assembly trenches for the advance.”

Of that day's experience under shell-fire, Major Buck wrote:—“While we were looking round the Germans started heavy bombardment with H.E. Saxby and I got into a little bit of old trench about three feet deep and hung it out. It lasted about an hour. The Colonel was over on the left, also in for a hot time. All heartily pleased when it stopped—the severest thing I have experienced and not at all pleasant. Glad to get out…. In the evening we saw some more of the fiery shells [British] going over High Wood. Spirits of men good and we are in for a big push on the 15th.”

Next day there was more shelling, but the Maoris kept their work going. On the 14th, work was suspended; all hands had a spell before the offensive of the morrow. Orders for the Battalion's share in it were got out and issued, and in the afternoon all the officers met and talked the whole programme over so that everyone knew what his job was and how to do it. About a dozen tanks, the new armoured caterpillars, passed the camp on their way to Green Dump ready for the next day's work. This diary entry of the C.O. indicates that these engines of warfare had then been seen for the first time by the Battalion:—“They are weird-looking things and ought to scare hell out of Fritz.” That evening the camp was shelled from the direction of Morval, and the bombardment while it lasted was severe. Six men were killed, 2nd.-Lieut. Henare Mokena Kohere was severely wounded, and ten other ranks were wounded. The casualties were sustained mostly by C Company.

Lieut. Kohere died of his wound on September 16th at the Casualty Clearing Station, and his Ngati-Porou and other comrades deeply mourned him. He was a grandson of Major Mokena Kohere, who with Major Ropata Wahawaha fought the Hauhaus on the East Coast from 1865 on; the two Ngati-Porou leaders received swords of honour from Queen Victoria. Kohere had command of a full platoon of Ngati-Porou, and his cousin Lieut. Pekama Kaa, commanded a platoon that partly consisted of men of that tribe. He was thus the senior Ngati-Porou officer. His wound was in the groin, but the high explosive fragment had been deflected up into the abdomen. He soon realised the hopeless nature of his injury. Before being removed by the Field Ambulance his last request was that Pekama Kaa should be given command of the Ngati-Porou Platoon. The request was acceded to. Thus on a far-away battlefield in France, there was re-enacted a scene that had occurred on many a Maori chieftain's death-bed in the homeland of Aotearoa. Whether college-bred platoon commander or old-time tattooed chief of a tribe, the warrior's last dying thoughts and instructions were for the welfare of the people he commanded.

The Battle of Bezantin Ridge. (September 15th, 1916.)

Early in the morning of the 15th, the advance began. Colonel King moved the Battalion headquarters to an old communication trench between the Savoy and Carlton trenches, and just after 5 a.m. the various companies moved to various forward positions. Brigade headquarters watched as much of the advance against the Crest and Switch trenches as was possible from the Savoy Trench. At 10.37 a.m. the C.R.E. issued orders through Captain Shera (liaison officer with 3rd Brigade) to carry on work on various rear portions of communication trenches as detailed in operation orders. A and B Companies moved out at once and marched on to their jobs. At this time things looked fairly quiet along the rear front.

Early in the afternoon casualties began to come back from B Company, mostly slightly wounded, and Captain Harris reported that his company was coming under shell-fire. At 2 p.m. Major Saxby reported that A Company's digging task was well in hand, and that things were comparatively quiet on his side.

Colonel King went off to reconnoitre the road from Longueval towards Flers and found a battalion of English Pioneers working on it just north of Longueval cross-roads. The road towards Flers was under fairly heavy shell-fire, but was passable for waggons so far as the surface was concerned. B Company of Maoris was having a hot time of it. The workers were heavily shelled, and the trench they were at was being blown in as fast as it was done. Captain E. Harris was dangerously wounded and Lieut. Sutherland slightly. Twelve men were killed, and forty wounded. Total Maori casualties for the day's advance, fifty-two—a heavy list. The facts were reported to the Royal Engineers' commanding officer and Colonel King withdrew the company to bivouacs at about 5 p.m. Previous to this B and C Companies had been sent off to work on a road from Caterpillar Road to Longueval in accordance with the C.R.E.'s orders. A Company reported their communication trench work completed, so Colonel King went out and inspected it and found it was rapidly being blown in again by the German shells. All the workers were back in the bivouacs by dark after a day of hard work and many losses. The Battalion diaries naturally are confined to details of trench and road operations in this battle, which is described so well in Colonel H. Stewart's excellent History “The New Zealanders in France” (pages 69-85).

In the operations, the village of Flers was captured by the 41st Division and made secure by the New Zealanders, and other ground was won, which was quickly consolidated and held strongly under severe bombardment.

The battle was renewed on September 16th, and as a part of the general attack by the Fourth Army. Colonel King went out at daylight and made a careful reconnaissance of the ground in front of that won the previous day, and marked the lines for the Pioneer working parties who would go out that night. Most of the trench work done on the 15th had been destroyed by the enemy's shell-fire, more particularly B Company's work, and it was hard to see where they had been

Map of Entrenchments, Bezantin Ridge—Flers—Gueudecourt, September, 1916

except for the dead who were lying about. A Company's work had escaped more lightly, and it was continued that night towards Flers via the line called Coffee Lane. All day C and D Companies were employed working on the roads; D Company later, working under shell-fire, put through the now famous Turk Lane trench from the Crest to the Old Switch Trench. B and C Companies put in eight hours' work on the road between Caterpillar Wood and the top of Bezantin Ridge. The machine-gun section was employed in putting in dug-outs for the 3rd Brigade Headquarters in the Carlton Trench. On the night of the 17th, a lot of hard work was done, following up the further success of the Army (the advance line had been moved a mile forward over a front of six miles). D Company completed Turk Lane to the New Switch, and cleaned up a lot of B Company's old work knocked about by shell-fire. A Company dug the approach trench called Fish Alley, from Switch Trench to Point 41 (Ferret Trench). This was all new work, as the Pioneers found that the old German Fish Alley was simply a line of old pot-holes, mostly filled in and altogether useless. Colonel King and Major Buck, after a visit to the advanced works, were coming back when they were shot at by snipers. The men in the trench said the snipers had killed Captain Jennings and wounded another. The Pioneers picked up another of their dead, Poule, and also a R.F.A. officer, 2nd.-Lieut. Leggat, lying dead in the trench.

Early on the 18th, the Colonel and Major Buck went out to the right. Major Saxby was unable to finish his side owing to shell-fire. New German trenches which were inspected were full of enemy dead and so was the country in front of it. Most of the dead were without equipment, an indication of their complete surprise by the attack; a great many had been killed with the bayonet. Everything now was very wet and muddy, and the work of consolidating the trench positions won was hard and dirty.

Trench work on Bezantin Ridge occupied some days. On the night of September 20th, 1917, the Battalion was much worried by tear-gas shells in the bivouacs, and in the morning every depression seemed full of the stuff. That afternoon, General Russell came up and told Colonel King to ask the First Infantry Brigade for as many men as he liked; so he obtained the assistance of several hundred men to carry duck-walk material. Turk Lane and Fish Alley were duck-walked over the crest of the ridge.

On September 21st, Major Buck and Lieut. O'Neill had a marvellous escape. They were returning to camp down Fish Alley when a “whizz-bang” grazed O'Neill's right shoulder, knocking him down, and burst in the ground just in front of Buck's feet. O'Neill, who was walking behind the Major, escaped with an abrasion of the shoulder; his tunic, cardigan, shirt and singlet were cut. That day the 1st Canterbury Regiment distinguished itself by taking a portion of the trenches at Flers. They had a stand-up fight with bombs, killed 250 of the enemy and sustained 150 casualties.

On September 24th, operation orders were circulated for the Battalion's share in the new advance on Flers by the 4th Army. The 55th Division was on the right, and the 1st Division on the Left. The objective of the New Zealand Division was to capture Factory Corner and establish a line thence to a spur running N.E., in conjunction with the general advance, and to maintain touch with the 3rd Corps. The Pioneers' special job was to construct various advanced lines of communication trenches. The advance was begun by the 1st Infantry Brigade at 12.35 p.m. on the 25th. At 5 a.m. that day, Colonel King went up to the back of Flers with the Company Commanders and reconnoitred the ground as well as possible for the evening's work; and the officers also went over to Turk Lane and had a look at the country from there. During the morning the companies moved up to their positions of readiness as ordered, each man with his pick and shovel, and the Battalion headquarters moved up to Crest Trench.

The afternoon's attack by the infantry was watched by the Colonel from Switch Trench, and there was a good view of the whole operations, as it was a very clear day. The artillery barrage opened exactly at 12.35 p.m. It was a tremendous afternoon of noise and fire. The thunder of the guns was deafening, and as far as the eye could range there was a line of bursting shrapnel and H.E. The artillery work was marvellously accurate, and Major Buck noted in his diary that the shells seemed to be bursting six inches apart. The watchers saw the infantry leave their trenches and advance leisurely behind the creeping barrage, travelling at a rate of 50 yards a minute. Factory Corner, our objective on the right, was reduced to a mass of ruins, shattered into fragments which were hurled hight into the air by the big shells. It was soon obscured by smoke, and the advance of the 1st Canterbury Infantry Battalion could not be followed. The Auckland men in the centre and Otago on the left could plainly be seen. The various waves of men were soon formed into one irregular line. They could be seen hunting about in the gully and the sections of trenches looking for “Fritz.” The barrage remained stationary for a few moments in order to allow the infantry to do their work and then went creeping on again, with the men following steadily behind it.

Now and again a high explosive projectile came over from the Germans, and the line could be seen to open out or bend to this side or that to avoid what looked like a shelled area.

The Black Watch Highlanders, who belonged to the 1st Division on our left, could be seen working along Flers Trench; some of them ran along the top of the trench to where they were to junction with the New Zealanders; they then planted a flag to show that they had reached their objective. Our men had further to go, having to sweep up-hill and incline to the left. While they were yet some two hundred yards away, the Germans in Goose Alley climbed out at the rear of the trench and fled ignominiously without attempting to put up a fight. They bunched together, and seemed to hesitate, as if some officer was endeavouring to rally them. Then shrapnel burst over them and they ran for the valley beyond. Our men could not chase them owing to the intervening artillery barrage. The line advancing up the hill extended on either flank and went leisurely on. Any bits of trenches or holes were dealt with on the way. Everything was done in a most systematic orderly way, splendid to see, quietly except for the artillery thundering, rocking and crashing. None of our men seemed to fall, but a wounded man now and again was seen coming back. Goose Alley was reached but the Germans had fled, with the exception of a few, and there was no fight in them.

Our troops reached their objective on the left with hardly a casualty, and up went a red flare to announce the victory. This was at 35 minutes after zero. Almost immediately afterwards, through the smoke and dust on the right, up shot two red flares to show that Canterbury had gained the shell-battered Factory Corner. Away to the right again could be seen flags in the advanced trenches. The 4th Army had reached its objective all along the line.

Later a few prisoners came along, carrying stretchers. They were Bavarians and poor specimens of soldiers, being mostly either young or fairly old men. There was some excitement later when British cavalry were seen coming over, but they took up a position somewhere behind Flers, waiting for the right moment. All night the Pioneers laboured with pick and shovel, at the new trenches. Some very deep dug-outs found in sunken roads were utilised by our people. In some parts our artillery interfered with the pushing on of the lines. Some of the 8-inch howitzer shells fell short and made it very uncomfortable for the working parties. The infantry in the firing line immediately in front was very pleased to know the Pioneers were behind them, as the line was very thinly held. King, Saxby and Buck went out in the hope of seeing the cavalry attack, but there was “nothing doing.” The news came later that some cavalry went through, and the Germans started a counter-attack, but the artillery crumpled them up. In the evening the report came that Gueudecourt, on the right flank, had been captured by the 55th Division, and also Theipval, and that patrols had entered Combles.

During the night of the September 25th-26th, Lieut. Stainton's party from A Company, completed their digging task to Factory Corner, a standard-size trench 160 yards long. C Company, under Lieut. Dansey, dug 650 yards northwards and joined the North Road up with the outpost line. D Company, under Captain Gibbs, dug in 500 yards of standard-size along Abbey Road connecting up the outpost line on Ridge. Next day all these parties rested, and the rest of A and B Companies carried on with the duck-walks in Fish Alley and Turk Lane. On the 27th, the works were pushed on with vigour. C Company were pushing on with Turk Lane when they got shelled off the job, with four casualties. That afternoon the 1st Brigade and 55th Division captured Gird Trench and Gird Support. No work was done by the “Diggers” that night, everyone standing by for orders. At a late hour the orders came from the C.R.E. to return to the bivouacs, as the position of the Gird line was too obscure to carry on work. The following day saw various jobs pushed on well. A party consisting of men from all companies, under Major Buck, after knocking off work on Turk Lane, towards Gird Support, were heavily shelled as far as North Road and had two men mortally wounded (Pte. Ovens, D Coy., and Pte. Pineaha, C Coy.) and seven wounded. Next night 250 men from all companies completed Turk Lane through to Gird Support except for 40 yards in the centre only down three feet. There was heavy German shelling part of the day, from Factory Corner to Abbey Road, and about 450 yards long. but it quietened down, and there were no casualties during the night. The work on hand having been completed, Colonel King, at the C.R.E.'s request, set the Pioneers at a communication trench and assembly trench combined from Turk Lane to the recently captured Goose Alley, parallel with the road via Factory Corner to Abbey Road, and about 450 yards long. 250 men started on the job at 8 p.m. and finished it by early morning. Major Buck made a diary entry: “All worked well, especially the Rarotongans.” These men suffered several casualties during the month.”

The British push forward was renewed on Sunday, October 1st, and the Colonel and principal officers watched the great attack from Switch Trench. The Pioneers had no part in the action beyond carrying on with Turk Lane and Fish Alley. The attack was very successful along the New Zealand front, but the 47th Division got hung up badly just past Eaucourt L'Abbeye. Our casualties were pretty heavy. Two tanks took part in the operations on the New Zealand left flank, but later went over towards Eaucourt and got bogged out of action. During the battle the Maoris kept steadily at work. Turk Lane was duck-walked as far as Grove Alley, and Fish Alley to within 250 yards of Flers. Turk Lane was completed right through to a depth of five feet in the solid, and four feet wide.

Describing the day's battle, as seen from Switch Trench, Major Buck wrote:—

“We saw plenty of big guns in the gully, including 9.2-inch howitzers. There was not time to form a fixed emplacement, and after each shot the guns worked backwards and forwards on their wheels. The 18-pounders have moved forward, and the valleys round Flers are full of them. At 3.15 p.m., a very intense bombardment began. We have a far larger number of guns than when we started. Saw the infantry leave the trenches and advance in great style behind the creeping barrage. Two tanks going along slowly, crossing trenches, like huge antediluvian monsters nosing round for what they could kill.

“The Tommies went across very thick. Saw 47 prisoners come back from the left. Fritz sent some H.E. on to the ridge behind us, and we had to scale forward. Saw the yellow flares go up, showing that the position was taken. Saw the tanks disappear into the valley near Eaucourt L'Abbeye. Six German aeroplanes came over, and there was much firing in the air. One was hit and fell straight down into Gueudecourt.”

On the following day, the shell-fire was very heavy, and some damage was done to the trench work.

Next morning (October 3rd) the Battalion shifted camp via Pommiers Redoubt to a site near its first camp at the cross-roads near Fricourt, and on the 5th moved on again, to a reserve camp at Fontaine-sur-Somme, en route back to the A.N.Z.A.C.

The trench work done by the Battalion during the strenuous period from August 28th to October 2nd, totalled 13,163 yards. In addition, brigade headquarters had been built at 4 places, dressing stations built at 3 places, and two companies worked 5 days on the roads. The best work was done in Pioneer Lane, where 210 men dug 482 yards of trench 5 ft. x 3ft. in 5½ hours.

On the morning of October 3rd, Lieut. J. O'Neill, the Battalion's machine-gun officer, who had been lent to the Brigade, was killed by a shell when coming out of the front trenches and crossing over from Goose Alley to Abbey Road, after having been relieved. “Bad luck, as he was one of the best men we had,” wrote Major Buck. O'Neill was hit in the back and had a leg broken. Five other men (No. 2 Machine-gun Coy.) were killed and several wounded. O'Neill had been reported as left dying near a deep dug-out, and on the 5th, Major Buck took out a cross which had been made and made a search for his late comrade. Dead machine-gunners were seen lying on Abbey Road but no sign of O'Neill. The cross was put up at the junction of Abbey Road and North Road near his last resting-place. The Pioneers of the Middlesex Regiment were seen at work near there on the trenches. A machine-gun officer later informed Major Buck that the men had carried Jack O'Neill down to the deep dug-outs in Abbey Road, but as they had so many wounded they left him on the side of the trench and asked the English soldiers to bury him. This was evidently done, and the spot must have been quite close to the cross the New Zealanders set up for him.

General Russell expressed himself very pleased with the Maoris' work. He announced that he was putting the Pioneers on the same footing as an infantry battalion as regarded the number of honour awards, viz., 2 D.C.M.'s and 10 Military Medals.

On October 11th, after a rest of several days at Fontainesur-Somme, the Battalion with transport entrained at Longpre for Caestre (west of Armentieres), and from there the men went on by motor lorries to Neuf Berquin. On arrival there, in good clean billets, word was received to prepare to take over from the 5th Australian Pioneers, who were in the Sailly-sur-la-Lys section, as the New Zealand Division was to relieve the 5th Australian Division there. Arrangements accordingly were made for renewed hard work. A, B and C Companies went into billets at Rue de Bruges, and D Company to billets at L'Attargette—Armentieres, as the 2nd N.Z. Brigade was to be attached to Frank's Force now holding the Armentieres section. Each company and platoon were allotted the respective frontages along the subsidiary line which the Battalion took over. Each company had a total frontage of 2,000 yards, and each platoon 500 yards. The total length taken over was 6,000 yards. Each Company had three platoons in the line and one in billets at Rue de Bruges. Of these, one platoon was at the disposal of the C.R.E. and two for drainage jobs under the direction of the Section Drainage Officer (Captain Perrett). The subsidiary line consisted of a series of strong points in fairly good repair, connected by a system of trenches only small patches of which were completed. The rest of the line was dug out to an average depth of 3 feet, without any revetting. The trench system consisted of a traversed fire trench, with a winding traffic trench about 20 feet in rear. From October 16th to October 31st, the Companies each worked one platoon on the subsidiary line and two platoons on winter quarters for themselves in rear of the line. The roads also were put in good order. The men housed themselves comfortably, and a cinema theatre was built at the junction of the Rue de Bruges and Rue de la Lys. Screens for traffic on the road between Sailly and Estaires were constructed. D Company (two platoons) ran a sawmill and burster factory, and one platoon ran the trench tramways and railways; the fourth platoon did emergency work about the town. October 31st was medal decoration day. General Godley arrived with Mr. Massey, Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Sir Joseph Ward, and the Canterbury men and the Pioneers were inspected by them. During November and December the various works were quietly carried on. Among the details a lot of barb-wire entanglements were erected along the 1st Brigade support line.

Christmas was spent peacefully in good winter quarters, and the men enjoyed a bountiful Christmas dinner, consisting chiefly of pigs and fowls bought locally. All the meat and vegetables were steam-cooked in hangis in the good old Maori way and were pronounced tino pai. “Our guns,” wrote the O.C., on Christmas Day, “were very active during last night, and today and this evening, especially the 60-pounders.”

The New Zealand Division was now preparing for its part in the new offensive around Ypres. The Anzac troops under General Godley relieved the Fifth Army Corps in the northern sector of the extended Second Army front, and the Pioneers had a very busy time preparing the way for the artillery's movements and the passage of troops and transport. At 6 a.m. on October 4th, our guns opened a tremendous barrage fire on the German defences. Those who heard that artillery fire say it was the heaviest of the war. Besides the big howitzers, the New Zealanders were supported by one hundred and eighty 18-pounders and sixty 4.5-inch howitzers, and there was also a machine-gun barrage to take the assaulting columns forward, break up counter-attacks, and protect the infantry on the captured objectives. As it proved, our attack only just anticipated an intended enemy attack. The Anzac infantry moved out in splendid order, covered by the splendidly accurate barrage and soon were closely engaged with the Germans, capturing trenches and “pill-boxes,” shooting, bayoneting and taking prisoners.

See Colonel H. Stewart's history, “The New Zealand Division, 1916–1919,” pp. 250–293, for an excellent detailed account of these operations, known as the Third Battle of Ypres. The present narrative is necessarily restricted to the Maoris' share in the great offensive.

The day's work resulted in the establishment by our men of a new line beyond Gravenstafel and Abraham Heights, and the capture of over 1,000 prisoners. The enemy's shelling was not heavy west of Kansas Cross, and at 11 a.m. B Coy., and later A Coy. Pioneers commenced repairs on the road forward to Kansas Cross. The Maoris did excellent work on the roads and artillery tracks, but wet weather on the 6th and several days afterwards, and the trains of pack mules along the newly formed earth road turned it into a quagmire. For several days it was a steady fight with mud. All available men were set to work carrying fascines. Guns and horses were bogged everywhere. The Maoris pulled many guns out and into position but the road was in a fearful condition. The O.C. noted: “The trains of pack mules, with their small feet and incompetent drivers, are our worst trouble, as they play havoc with our work.” Rain every day (7th-10th). On October 11th all possible assistance was given to the R.F.A. who were trying to get their batteries into position. D Company took three platoons over to assist the N.Z.F.A., who were getting their guns forward on the St. Julian Road.

On the 12th, the New Zealand Division renewed the attack but were held up by machine-guns and wire on Bellevue and suffered heavily. “It was the Division's one failure on a large scale,” wrote Colonel Stewart. The casualties included Lieut.-Col. King, D.S.O., late C.O. of the Pioneers, also Captain A. E. M. Jones, Lieuts. French and Watson, late of the Pioneers, all of whom were killed.

It was with great sorrow that the Battalion heard the sad news that its late Commander had been killed in the assembly trenches before moving out with his Battalion. Lieut.-Col. Saxby went out with a party and brought in Lieut.-Col. King's body, and the funeral took place on the 14th (Sunday) in the Military Cemetery in Ypres. General Russell was present.

Work on the roads was continued with great energy under heavy shell-fire. By the 20th, the road had been improved greatly, and the guns and transport had a good hard bottom as far as Deuce Farm. The Canadian Pioneers then arrived to relieve the Maoris. The Pioneers' casualties during the heavy operations were comparatively slight, totalling four men killed or died of wounds, and one officer and 30 men wounded.

On October 21st, the Battalion moved on by 'bus to billets at Bournonville, where training and musketry were carried on. A Foden disinfecting lorry spent two days there treating the men's clothing and blankets. Captains Tahiwi and Stainton and 2nd Lieut. Pohio arrived from the base on the 24th.

On October 22nd, it was announced in orders that Military Medals had been awarded by the Army Corps Commander to Corporals T. W. Nicholls (D Coy.) and A. Sparks (A Coy.). Ptes. A. Conway (H.Q.), W. Tangatake (B Coy.) and T.-Cpl. J. Apa (B Coy.).

The month of November, 1917, carried varied work for the Battalion, and although not without casualties the losses were light. For the first ten days training, route marching, musketry, and recreational exercises were carried on, and a sports meeting came as an agreeable change. These sports were held at Bournonville on the 6th and 7th. The mules in the “New Zealand Pioneer Grand National Steeplechase” were the best fun of the meeting. No spurs or whips were allowed. C Company's “Pioneer Stew,” led the field to the turn, where he was challenged by D Company's crack mule “Pork and Beans,” which after a desperate finish, won by a head.

The following soldiers of the Battalion were awarded the Military Medal for work at Ypres:—Sergeants W. Barclay and A. Rogers, T.-Cpl. J. Munn, L.-Cpl. A. Hughes, Ptes. H. T. Leefe, R. Ngapo, G. Maxwell, J. Panoho and P. Te Amo.

Captain Ferris and 2nd Lieuts. Paku and Parakuka now joined the Battalion from the base. Lieut. T. R. Overton was seconded for duty with the N.Z. Light Railway Operating Coy. The bandmaster of 1st Canterbury took charge of the Maori buglers and drummers for a fortnight, and they were soon able, the O.C. noted, “to make a most joyful noise to cheer us on the march.”

On the 12th, the Battalion was on the move again, bound to Dickebusch, a two-days' journey on foot and in train.

Lieut.-Col. Saxby met the O.C. 14th Northumberland Fusiliers (Pioneers) and arranged to take over the maintenance of the Chateau Road, otherwise the work that the Englishmen had been doing was out of the New Zealanders' area. A Company began work on that road and Glencorse Lane. After moving to Ridge Wood Camp, Lieut.-Col. Saxby went round with the Commander of the Royal Engineers and Captain Bruce and arranged to lay off a new tram system as far as Crucifix, also to take over the road forward from Westhoek. Captain Bruce found a good grade for the tram line and 100 men started work on it. On the 21st A and D Company, working on the roads, were heavily shelled and had three killed and ten wounded. Next day A Company commenced to double the

Scene of the New Zealanders' Work at the end of 1917.

duck-walk track from Polygonveld to Black Watch Corner and also kept maintenance going on Glencorse Road. The O.C. arranged with the C.R.E. to shift the Battalion gradually to Y pres. Among other works C Company and a platoon from D Company started work on a new communication trench required from Butte to the neighbourhood of Jolting Houses. Captain Tingey had charge of the job. The water here was very close to the surface, so the trench was not dug very deep. It was duck-walked as the digging proceeded. The weather was now getting colder, and leather jerkins were issued.

The New Zealand Division was now holding the front covering Polygon Wood to Reutlebeck. From here the front line cut away in a S.W. direction. The divisional area was a long narrow strip, the northern boundary of which just intersected the south part of Y pres. This meant that instead of running back at right angles to our front the area lay at an angle of of 45°. The effect was that the Germans' barrage lines lay diagonally across the New Zealanders' communications and therefore covered a great deal more of our ground than they would have done had our area been at right angles to the line. Consequently the country between Birr Cross Roads and the Westhoek Ridge, a distance of over 2,000 yards, was all subject to the enemy's heaviest barrage. The piles of derelict waggons and dead animals showed very plainly the effect of this diagonal and therefore deeper barrage line. The Pioneers found the quietest time for work here to be between daylight and 11 a.m. The working parties were only once fairly caught in this shell-fire, which was particularly heavy that day. Intelligence reported that 15,000 enemy shells fell in the Chateau Woods area alone. The month's casualties were:—Killed, six men; wounded, one officer and 22 men. Most of the wounds were slight. The health of the Battalion had on the whole been good, and the evacuations per thousand were well below the average of the Division.

Early in December the Battalion headquarters, A Company and one platoon of B Company moved to new billets in Y pres. The Corps Commander's certificates for meritorious service were allotted to Sergeant A. Anderson, L.-Cpl. S. M. Hodge, L.-Cpl. S. G. Karetai, and Pte. G. A. Moore. D Company on the night of the 4th dug 240 yards of support line by Polderhoek Chateau; other work was as usual. Permission was obtained to build stables for the horses east of Ypres-Comines Canal, and the Rarotonga natives' platoon, which was awaiting orders to join the Rarotonga Company in Egypt, moved to billets near the site and was employed on the construction of the stables. The remainder of B Company moved into new billets in Ypres, and D Company returned to their work on Westhoek Road.

On the 7th, two shells caught B Company on the way to work. Two men were killed, one died of wounds and six were wounded. On the whole, though, the Germans' shelling had eased up considerably and had interfered little with the works. Padre Wainohu left for England that day on duty.

By the 12th material was coming up to the Maoris' work by the light railway, which greatly facilitated the laying of the Westhoek plank road. The weather now became very cold and it was freezing steadily, making the ground hard to work. On the night of the 20th, a number of shells were thrown into the Pioneers' camp but did no damage. Next night German 'planes came over just after dark and dropped several bombs in the Battalion's area. The men in billets were all right, but some who were out loading a waggon which had just come in were caught. Three were killed and two wounded. One bomb burst on the roof of a bivouac, but thanks to its instantaneous fuse the men inside were unharmed, though the roof was smashed in. Another bomb was apparently after the Adjutant and succeeded in knocking his house in almost on top of him. The chief anxiety was for the safety of the pigs which had been collected for Christmas, but the excitement cooled down when it was found that neither these nor the beer had suffered.

Christmas Day was devoted to the serious business of disposing of the extra food collected. The porkers and potatoes were steam-cooked in hangis after the good old Maori style. The O.C. noted officially of the festival:—

“Although one poor soldier is reported to have written to his friends that he had received only a few extra carrots to mark Christmas Day, the next sick parade showed that the

Mr. Massey (Prime Minister of New Zealand) and Sir Joseph Ward inspecting the Pioneers at the Bois de Warnimont, June 30th, 1918. Lieut.-Colonel Saxby, O.C.

New Zealand's Prime Minister addressing the Pioneers, Bois de Warnimont, June 30th, 1918.

A Haka for the Chiefs, at the Bois de Warnimont, June 30th, 1918.

rest had managed to do themselves pretty well. Every man received most acceptable parcels from Lady Liverpool's Fund, while the Y.M.C.A. most kindly sent cases of chocolate, etc., for distribution. The mid-day meal was a dreadful exhibition, but luckily Lord Rhondda [the British Food Controller] did not appear on the scene, and the Battalion relapsed into a more or less comatose state for the rest of the day, waking up somewhat towards evening to polish off the remainder of the feast.”

Twenty reinforcements arrived on Christmas Day to fill up wastage. Work was resumed next day, and one of the stables was finished and was occupied by 48 horses. On December 28th-30th the enemy's artillery became more active, and on the 30th A Company had to leave their digging job for Fritz to play with. He threw over between 400 and 500 shells, and the Battalion was fortunate in having only one man slightly wounded. On the 31st, Lieut. Paku's platoon of C Company was caught by a shell in the early morning at the junction of Saville and Zouvebeke roads. The losses were six men killed and Lieut. Paku and 14 men wounded, two of whom died. A most unhappy ending to 1917.

The Lessons of the Push.

The Battalion's experience of the last three weeks, Major Ennis noted in his official diary, had demonstrated the vital necessity when an advance was made of pushing roads, light railways and tram lines forward with all possible speed. When the 2nd Anzac Corps took over this sector practically nothing forward of Wieltje had been done. No attempt had been made to make the road to Steenbeck fit for heavy traffic; the light railway was only laid as far as Wieltje, and nothing had been done in the way of tram lines. The front line was only 4,000 yards from Wieltje and our Division had to attack on the 4th October, the day after coming into the sector. The various corps at once commenced laying a plank road from Wieltje to Steenbeck, while the New Zealand Pioneers had to carry the road from Steenbeck as far forward as possible, and commence laying tram lines from Brigade Farm forward. The Light Railways were expected to have their line to Bridge Farm by the 3rd, but did not actually get there until about the 5th. They were therefore of no use in our first advance, and later were only used for their own construction and ammunition for the heavy artillery.

The Maoris made a start at once on road and tram line. For the latter they were at first promised three miles of 20-lb. track; this was altered to 1,500 yards of 9-lb., and finally, after labour had been wasted on formation it was found that only 500 yards of bare 20-lb. rails were available at Abeele, without sleepers, fish-plates and dog-spikes. Tram lines were at once stopped and the Pioneers never laid a rail. Attention was therefore concentrated on the roads. From Steenbeck to Spree Farm was a shaking bog, and it had to be fascined. Sufficient material was not available, so only a single track could be laid. Some guns got past this; many more were bogged. However, the weather kept fine until the night of the 3rd, and the attack of the 4th was well covered by the artillery. After the 4th the Battalion took over the road as far as Spree Farm, and with practically no material we had to make the road forward passable for guns. This could easily have been done in fine weather, but in the wet weather that followed, and hampered by the continual and increasing trains of pack animals the Pioneers had no chance. No further attempt could be made to push forward the tram lines owing to the lack of material. Even had this been available the congested state of traffic on the road from Ypres to Steenbeck made it almost impossible to get waggons with material forward.

The 47th Division relieved our infantry and were timed to attack on the 8th October. After their failure the New Zealand Division returned to the attack on the 12th. Both these attacks were failures, because—from the Pioneers' point of view—of the failure of roads, light railways and tram lines. With material available, a tram line could have been laid very quickly, at least to the bottom of Gravenstafel Hill, and would have been invaluable, if only for supply of ammunition and evacuation of wounded.

Casualties and Sick, December, 1917.

Though there had been no serious epidemic the Battalion's evacuated sick for December were rather heavy. Besides the wounded, two officers and 80 other ranks had been sent away and although many returned after a few days at the rest camps the wastage was considerable. All things considered, the men were fairly comfortable. The bivvies now in use were warm and dry; firewood was plentiful; the rations were good; and the men got a daily change of socks—a most important item in the field. Footballs had been provided, and platoons commanders were responsible for the use of these by their men, also camphor treatment for the prevention of “trench feet.” There had been a steady dribble of casualties, which made a rather heavy total for the month, vix.:—

Killed and died of wounds, 15 men; wounded, five officers and 41 men; total casualties, 61.

The reinforcements nearly balanced the total losses and evacuations.

An opportunity was given the members of the Battalion to subscribe to the New Zealand War Loan, and over £4,500 worth of bonds were taken up.

The total strength of the Battalion in the field at the end of 1917 was 928 of all ranks, consisting of 29 officers and 899 other ranks. A Company numbered 196, B Company 203, C Company 182, and D Company 236; transport 66. In addition there were about 50 men at Etaples ready to come forward, a further contingent at Sling Camp, and 15 N.C.O.'s at the O.T.C.

November, 1918, proved the last month of warfare. At the beginning of the month the New Zealand Division was still holding the line in front of Beaudignies, which was taken on October 23rd, but to our left the advance was still being pushed on well. Even at Valenciennes the enemy was being squeezed slowly out of his positions. At the beginning of the month the Battalion was occupied in repairing the roads round Beaudignies and neighbourhood in preparation for the coming advance.

On November 4th, the Pioneers moved up to Beaudignies, where with the exception of the transport, camped on the out-skirts all the men were billeted in the village. That morning saw the memorable offensive preliminary to the capture of Le Quesnoy. The New Zealand Division attacked at 5.35 a.m., in conjunction with the British Divisions on its flanks. The object was to establish a footing in the line Franc a Louer-Herbignies-Tous Vents, and if opportunity offered to continue the advance eastward through the Forest of Mormal. Heavy fighting continued all day and gave the New Zealanders a splendid opportunity, and the last, as it developed, of displaying their dash and their pertinacity. Le Quesnoy was not directly attacked at first, but the troops moved round from north and south and encircled it, the movement involving some hard fighting. The ancient town, with its deep and wide moat and its lofty bastioned ramparts, was a fortress dating from the Middle Ages, and its fortifications showed the additional defences designed by the famous Vauban. Its great ditch and its strong high walls presented an apparently insuperable object, garrisoned as the place was by German artillery and infantry. Our New Zealand infantry, however, were not to be beaten. With scaling ladders a few daring men entered the place, after some rifle and machine-gun fighting, and others followed. It was singular to see at one part of the ramparts our men and the Germans fighting for possession while a few hundred yards away the civilian inhabitants were joyously cheering the New Zealanders on. In the process of cleaning up the town it was found strongly held in places and defended with machine-guns. After some street fighting, however, the whole of the garrison, numbering about 1,500, surrendered. The day's operations were thoroughly successful. Practically the whole of the Foret de Mormal was cleared, and a total of 27 officers and 2,050 other ranks were captured, besides over 40 guns.

That morning, soon after the infantry had advanced, the Battalion commenced to work on the roads in the newly captured territory, and as the town of Le Quesnoy was at the time holding out, they had a very trying time of it. The Maoris were under sharp machine-gun fire most of the day. In spite of this, however, some very good work was done.

One dangerous task well accomplished deserves special mention. A German motor-lorry was lying disabled on the road, where it was blocking traffic. It was noticed that the clear part of the road had lately been disturbed, and on examining it the place was found to be mined. Owing to the position of the lorry the first vehicle to go along the road would have had to pass over the mine, with serious results. However, in a very short time the mine was safely cleared away, and the road was repaired.

On the afternoon of November 5th, the Battalion moved forward from Beaudignies to billets in Le Quesnoy. The roads ahead of the captured town were not in a bad state so far as shelling was concerned, but all important junctions, bridges and culverts had been mined. The most important of these was the bridge over the railway at Pont Billon, which was completey destroyed. This necessitated the making of a deviation over very soft ground, which had to be fascined for the heavy traffic. The Battalion carried on with repairs on the roads forward of Le Quesnoy. These highways were for the most part fairly good, though in many places craters had been blown. In many other places they had been mined, and were ready for exploding, but the rapid advance of the New Zealanders had given the enemy no time to trouble about firing them; he was too busy saving his own skin.

The New Zealanders had pushed on again with the advance on the morning of the 5th, and got well forward of the Foret de Mormal and nearly on the line of the River Sambre. On the night of the 5th-6th, they were relieved by the British 42nd Division.

Then on the morning of November 11th came the joyful news that hostilities were to cease at 11 a.m. The Maoris regretted that owing to their being so far away from what they termed “civilised parts,” they could not celebrate the Armistice in a manner befitting the great occasion. However, all hands were pleased at the cessation of the fighting and particularly at the silence of the guns, which had been thundering almost without ceasing for a period that seemed a lifetime.

Road repairs were carried on with until the 15th. Route marching and recreational travelling followed. On the 18th, the O.C., Lieut.-Col. Saxby, D.S.O., went on leave to England. This brave and able officer, unhappily, was destined never to see his Pioneers or the shores of New Zealand again. On the 28th his comrades received the news that he had died of pneumonia in London. The whole Battalion grieved deeply for their gallant leader, who was liked and admired by all for his personal qualities and his soldierly ability.

Orders to move came on the 21st and a billeting party, Y.M.C.A., and the regimental canteen went next day to Bevillers, followed on the 23rd by the Battalion. The Company cookers left ahead of the Battalion and halted at Romeries, where at mid-day the men found a hot lunch awaiting them. At Bevillers the mornings were spent in route marching and ceremonial drill, with a little physical training and bayonet exercise. The afternoons were devoted to recreational training, in the form of inter-platoon football matches, cross-country runs, and wood-chopping competitions. On the 26th the first round of the New Zealand inter-Battalion Rugby football matches was played, the Pioneers beating 1st Auckland by 27 points to 3.

On the 27th orders were received to move to Viesly, but at the last minute these were cancelled and the Maoris were told to hold themselves in readiness to march to Germany. Next day the journey was begun. Before leaving Bevillers, 116 men whom it was thought were unfit to undertake the march were sent to the Base. The Pioneers' blankets on the way eastward were carried in motor lorries, and the Battalion, headed by its drum and bugle band, marched very well. Solesmes was the first halting-place. On the 29th, the force reached Artres, where billets were found for the night. In the morning the march was resumed to Heau-sur-Hon, near Tasnieres, a long day's tramp, broken near Wargnies for midday meal and rest. The weather was very foggy and cold and not at all the sort of weather one would choose for a walking tour; however, it was Peace. That day it was announced that the Corps Commander had awarded the Military Medal to Pte. A. Anderson. On the 15th of the month the IV. Corps, of which the New Zealand Division was a part, came under the command of the Fourth Army.

The Battalion remained at Tasnieres two days, and on December 3rd, moved on to Roncq, on the Sambre, about four kilometres from Maubeuge. Here there was difficulty with the transport, and repairs were necessary to the bridge before the waggons could cross it. From Roncq the Pioneers marched via Jeumont and Sol-sur-Sambre to Merbes-le-Chateau. Here, as the Maoris marched into the town headed by their band, they were given a hearty welcome by crowds of the Belgian inhabitants. This was the first Belgian town entered since the route march began. On the 5th, Gozee was reached; from here a few of the Battalion visited Charleroi by steamtram. Charleroi was one of the principal commercial cities of Belgium and was the finest place the Pioneers had yet seen in that country. Couillet, one of the suburbs of Charleroi, was reached on the 7th. When the billeting party started their work they were most warmly greeted by the civilians, who all wished to have soldiers billeted on them; and so practically every one in the Battalion had a bed. Anti-German feeling ran high. On the day the Maoris arrived the inhabitants were going round the town smashing the windows and breaking the furniture in the houses of those who had done more than tolerate the Huns during their occupation of Belgium. Jemeppe-sur-Sambre was the next halting place. Here the Pioneers were again made very welcome; the people on whom they were billeted treated them with great hospitality. St. Servais, a suburb of Namur, was reached on December 9th. As the Pioneers were doing three days' march and then having a day's spell, the Battalion had nothing more than a foot inspection on the 10th. The men stood the long march very well, especially considering the fact that the weather was very wet. Major Sutherland was now appointed Second in Command of the Battalion, under Lieut.-Col. W. O. Ennis; Captain P. Tahiwi took over the command of D Company and Captain J. H. Hall took over A Company.

Marching on by way of Gelbressee, Couthiun was reached on December 12th. Headquarters there were in a very fine billet, the Chateau d'Envoz. Two companies, A and B, were also quartered in a large chateau. Here the Maoris saw something of the wanton destruction for which the enemy had become so infamous. The Chateau which had been beautifully furnished, was in a shocking condition. Horses had been stabled on the ground floor; mirrors had been broken, pictures ripped from their frame, and furniture of all sorts smashed to pieces.

Everywhere along the line of march the Belgian civilians turned out to welcome the New Zealanders, and everywhere they were hospitable to their Allies quartered on them. On the 16th, at Amay, a football match was played between the officers and the other ranks, resulting in a win for the men, by 9 points to 7; an exciting game.

Angleur, a suburb of Liege, was the halting place on the 17th. On the 18th the Battalion moved to Pepinster, and on the 19th a halt was made at Stembert. That night the billeting party under Lieut. Bevan left on bicycles for Herbesthal, just across the German frontier, where they entrained early next morning for Ehrenfeld, a suburb of Cologne. The Battalion was to move into Germany in three groups, halting at Herbesthal. However, on December 20th, orders were received cancelling the move for Germany and instructing the Pioneers to go to Dunkirk for England, en route for home again.

Timi enjoys one of Sir Joseph Ward's cigars, at the Bois de Warnimont.

New Zealand Ministers addressing the Entrenching Group, Pas, August, 1918.

Slinging a Presentation Gun into lighter, at Rarotonga, 1919.

Sir James Allen addressing Returned Soldiers at Rarotonga, 1919.

So, on the morning of the 24th, the Battalion left Stembert and marched to Verviers. All Christmas Day was spent in the train, going through Tournai, Lille, Armentieres and Haze-brouck, and by 5 o'clock next morning the Maoris gladly jumped out of their trucks at Dunkirk, their long, long months of campaigning on European soil over.

Dunkirk was a wet and comfortless camp. It was practically under water and all the men were in tents. Major Sutherland, Captain Dansey, and over 60 men went into hospital, most of them with influenza, and Lieut.-Col. Ennis and many others kept to their blankets, sick. On the 28th, the Transport went to Calais and gave over their horses and equipment and returned to Dunkirk on the 30th.

Entry in the O.C.'s Diary:—

“During the stay in the camp the men had the day to themselves, and in the evening leave was granted till the night of the 31st. They seemed to take leave of their senses. It appears that there was a bit of indiscriminate shooting going on, and when the piquet appeared on the scene and attempted to arrest one of the offenders he resisted. Lieut. Wickham, one of the officers of the picquet, tried to gain possession of the revolver, but was shot and died of the wound. Lieut. Angel was also slightly wounded.”

Early in the month four representatives were picked from the Battalion for a representative football team from the Division, to go to England. The players chosen were, 2nd Lieut. W. Barclay, centre-threequarter; 2nd Lieut. H. Jacob, wing forward; Sergeant F. Barclay, five-eighths, and Pte. S. Gemmell, forward. However, nothing further was heard of the proposed tour.

So ended the ever-memorable year which had seen all the phases of the Great War from the German offensive of March-July, when things looked black for the Allies, to the glorious Allied attack which began on July 18th and never ceased until the enemy had been driven right out of France and out of half of Belgium, pushed so far that recovery was hopeless and acceptance of the Armistice the only alternative to an invasion of Germany.

The Battalion in England.

Major Sutherland and Captain Dansey returned from hospital on January 2nd, 1919, and on the same day orders were issued for embarkation for England on the following morning. Crossing in the steamer “St. George,” the Battalion disembarked at Southampton, whence they went by train to Amesbury.

From there they marched to No. 5 Camp, Larkhill, which was to be their home until they embarked for New Zealand. It was a most agreeable change to be quartered in huts with fire-places and bunks and to enjoy the use of bath-houses, recreational halls, and the two dining-halls given over to the Battalion. On January 7th, the Battalion was inspected by the G.O.C., Brigadier-General Stewart, who complimented the Maoris on the work they had done in France, and informed them that they were to march past the King, at Whitehall, before leaving for their homes.

For some time thereafter the Battalion practised ceremonial drill for the Royal review. On the 10th, a draft of 100 men arrived from Germany. This was the billeting party, and the men who had been sent back when the Battalion was on the march across Belgium. Owing to the prevalence of measles in the neighbouring camps it was found necessary to have an inspection by the M.O. every day, but fortunately there were very few cases in the Battalion. It was ordered that before leaving for New Zealand every man must undergo strict medical and dental examinations, and in order that this should not have to be done hurriedly at the last moment the men were put through before embarkation leave was granted. On January 12th, the first batch, 400 men, left on 14 days' leave, and the rest of the Battalion left in parties between that time and the end of the month. On the 13th, the Battalion drummers left for a course of instruction at the Guards' School, London.

Owing to an outbreak of influenza while most of the Maoris were on leave, the camp was put under isolation. The epidemic was severe; seven or eight cases a day were sent to hospital, but very few cases proved fatal.

After leave, the Battalion was kept busy preparing for demobilisation. Clothing cards and demobilisation cards had to be made out in duplicate for each man, and all shortages in clothing and equipment had to be made up.

When the Battalion left France the O.C. received a message from Lieut.-General Sir A. Godley, complimenting them on their good work done as infantry on Gallipoli and as Pioneers in France, and wishing them a safe and speedy return to New Zealand.

February of 1919, found the Battalion still in No. 5 Camp, Larkhill, anxiously awaiting the day of embarkation for their far-away home. Towards the end of January the epidemic of influenza had abated somewhat, and it was hoped that it would be possible to remove the edict of isolation; however, owing to a fresh outbreak early in February this was found impossible, and the camp remained in isolation until the Pioneers left. The whole of the officers and men were inoculated against influenza.

On Tuesday, February 4th, the Battalion was inspected by Brigadier-General Stewart, G.O.C., who said he was well satisfied with the smart and soldierly appearance of the Maoris. The Battalion was again paraded on the 11th, when the G.O.C. presented decorations as follow for gallantry in the field:—Distinguished Medal.—Sergeant F. Barclay.

Military Medal.—C.Q.M.S. M. R. Jones; Sergeant J. Munn, Corporals A. Sparks and G. Maxwell, L.-Cpls. T. T. Morgan and R. Ngapo; Ptes. T. Taiapa, P. Te Amo, T. Te Patu, T. Brown and H. T. Leef.

Meritorious Service Medal.—Sergeants H. M. Davies and H. Kerei.

At an investiture in Buckingham Palace, on February 13th, three officers were decorated by His Majesty the King. Lieut.-Col. W. O. Ennis received the D.S.O., and Captains Stainton and Hiroti received the Military Cross.

The pakehas remaining with the Battalion were, with a few exceptions, transferred to Sling Camp (four officers and 45 men). Classes were started during the month in general education and elementary agriculture, and the good attendance showed how keen the men were to avail themselves of any opportunity of making themselves more fit for their occupation in civil life.

Football was the men's great sport during the month. The Battalion football team played three matches. The first was against the Royal Naval Depot at Devonport; in this game the Maoris won by 6 points to 3. The second match was played at Swansea against Swansea, and was also won by the Battalion—the score being 9 points to nil. The last match, played against Llanelly, was won by the Welshmen by 6 points to nil.

On the 25th, the final inspection of the Battalion was held by the G.O.C., who wished officers and men a safe and speedy return to their homeland and to all who were waiting for them there.

The final move came on the morning of February 28th; when the Battalion entrained at Amesbury for Liverpool, where the transport for New Zealand, the steamer “Westmoreland,” was boarded late in the afternoon. At ten o'clock that night the troopship hove up her anchor in the Mersey and steamed out for sea on the long home voyage to New Zealand.

The Home-Coming.

The “Westmoreland” made the passage direct to Auckland, via Panama Canal. The reception of the soldiers on their native shore was a soul-stirring welcome-home after their long heroic adventures at world's-end. Pakeha and Maori alike, the people delighted to do honour to the returning Hokowhitu a Tu. The Battalion, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Ennis, marched through the flag-decorated city, cheered by thousands, and up to the Auckland Domain, where a grand Maori reception and feast had been prepared. Many hundreds of people, from a score of tribes, were encamped on the Cricket Ground oval, awaiting with intense excitement and overflowing hearts the coming of their young men. It was a scene of old Maoridom revived, the return of the war-party from the fighting trail. The waiting Maoris were assembled by tribes, and after the first tremendous roaring chorus of welcome from all, they sprang up, iwi after iwi, from Ngapuhi southward, chanted and danced their powhiri of greeting, and sang their waiata of praise and affection to the warriors. Sir James Allen (Minister for Defence) and Sir James Carroll addressed the soldiers; “Ta Hemi Kara's” speech was poetically eloquent in the true Maori manner.

All the old war-songs were sung, the ancient war-cries were heard again. Chants that inspired the defenders of Orakau and the Gate Pa and many another battlefield came from the grey-beards of the tribes; from the women and girls came songs, composed for this day, and the rhythmic and melodious poi enchanted all eyes and ears. And the grand old “Toia Mai” chorus of greeting to the honoured ones was heard again and again: it likened the soldiers to a canoe crew returning to the loved home shores:

A-a tōia mai Te waka! Kūmea mai Te waka! Ki te urunga, Te waka! Ki te moenga, Te waka; Ki te takotoranga I takoto ai Te waka. Toia mai te waka Ki te urunga!

Oh haul away The war-canoe! Oh hither draw Our grand canoe! To the resting-place, To the sleeping-place, To the abiding place— Our great canoe. Oh haul away! For home comes our canoe!