Ben Biddle, Scout.

The veteran Benjamin Biddle, who lives near Whakatane, is the very last, I think, of the real old bush scouts of the Maori War days. He is a New Zealander born, a backblocksman and colonial soldier from his boyhood days. His pluck is attested by his New Zealand Cross; he is the last survivor of the gallant little band who wore that reward of valour, the rarest military decoration in the Empire. He is bedridden now, ‘with disabled legs, but his voice, when last I saw and talked with him, was hearty and strong, and he could tell the tales of his fighting years in the bush.

Ben Biddle was once a marksman of note in the Armed Constabulary Field Force. He was a particularly good and quick shot with a revolver. This is a tale of his years of peace, when he and his Maori wife and family were living at Ruatoki, the large settlement of the Ure-wera tribe, up the Whakatane Valley. Some disagreement arose between Ben and the Urewera, and some of the Maoris decided to evict the white man from the village and put him across the border, the land-confiscation line. A friend warned Ben, “They're going to put you out tomorrow morning.”

A party of Ruatoki young bloods marched in through Ben's gate next morning. He went out to meet them. “What do you want here?” he asked in his big bull-like voice. “We've come to put you across the line, Ben,” said the head of the deputation.

Ben pulled out his old revolver in a flash, and levelled it at the leader. “Haere atu!” he roared. “Clear out of this or I'll shoot!” And in a few seconds the front garden was clear of the evicting party. Ben was not a man to be bullied.

[Since the above was written the death of Mr. Biddle has been announced from Whakatane.—Ed.]

(From the W. W. Stewart collection.)

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