Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.

The Wereroa Pah

The Wereroa Pah.

Grey's first term in New Zealand was adorned by a striking incident where he personally figured to advantage— the capture of Ruapekapeka; his second term there was brightened by a similar episode—the capture of an equally fortified pah, that of Wereroa. It was an unfailing theme of his conversation; it figures in Mr. Rees's biography as Grey told it; and it was evidently a source of inward pride to the old Governor. Things did not happen quite as Grey narrated, and Professor Henderson has rendered a service in telling the "true story" of the incident, which a British officer, some years ago, had previously set in its true light.

Away down near the south-west coast of the North Island, at the confluence of two rivers, stood the historic fortress of Wereroa. There, perceiving with a military eye the strength of the situation, the Maoris had entrenched themselves as strongly as once at Ruapeka and (under Rangihaeata) near the Hutt. Esteeming it "the centre and focus of disaffection," the Governor and the Ministers (for once in agreement) deemed it important that the pah should be taken. The English general, Sir Duncan Cameron, believing that it could not be captured with the force under his command, and asking for 2,000 additional troops, on his march westwards passed it by. His decision excited so much dissatisfaction that the Governor determined to attack the fortress himself. Gathering a small force of less than 500 militia, he quickly marched across country from Wellington to the Wanganui River. Arriving in front of the pah, he did not at once show fight. On the contrary, he used all his powers of suasion to induce the garrison to surrender. He nearly succeeded. The chief in command of the pah came out when Grey appeared, and invited him to take possession of it. As it proved, the chief did not represent an undivided garrison. An irreconcilable and stronger section broke away from his leadership, threatened to kill the Governor, who was shielded by the chief, and determined to fight on.

Grey soon discerned the vulnerable part of the Maori Gibraltar. Impregnable on two sides of its triangular formation, it was commanded in the rear by a tongue of land. He promptly sent a strong party to capture the eminence. On a Thursday at midnight the storming party started, misleading the Maoris by leaving their tents standing in face of the pah. They dauntlessly plunged into the forest, guided by a young Maori, who curiously bore the name of the Governor, (Hori Kerei, or George Grey), and, emerging on the heights in the rear, by dawn on Friday they had taken the outworks and captured some 50 natives. Realising that they had been outwitted, the garrison evacuated the pah by that back-door which was made in all Maori fortifications, and the colonial troops entered the fort on Saturday. Not a man had fallen in this bloodless victory. The Governor might well crow over the General, and he continued to crow for the rest of his days.

It was a meritorious exploit, and almost deserved the eulogies it received from friend and foe. Almost, but not quite. It must be said, in defence of Cameron, whose soldierly courage had never been questioned, that he professed to be willing to attack the pah, with or without reinforcements, if the Governor required him to do it. This the Governor refrained from requiring in set terms, but it is plain that he expected the General to attack the fortress. All that Cameron asserted was that, if it could be taken at all, it could be taken only at a ruinous loss. Next, the fighting power of the garrison had weakened since he passed it by; the garrison was now torn by internal dissensions, and its commander was in favour of surrendering the pah. Again, Cameron hoped to compel the garrison to yield without fighting by cutting off their supplies; the heroic defence of Orakau and the Gate Pah had taught him at what cost such rude fortresses are taken by storm. Lastly, the taking of the Wereroa pah was nothing like so important as was alleged. As a matter of fact, its capture had absolutely no effect on the progress of the war. All this being ungrudgingly admitted, it none the less casts a grave shadow on the military capacity of General Cameron that he should have failed to discover how the fortress could be taken without being stormed. He was evidently no strategist. Grey on the other hand, was all that Cameron was not, and if his triumph was marred in a military sense, while it was purified in a moral sense, by its being an easy victory, it is certain or probable that he would still have won, had the defence been more obstinately maintained. Wereroa is now the site of a State experimental farm.