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Another Rearguard Action.

That gallant bit of duty was one of the deeds for which Roberts was awarded the New Zealand Cross, the rarest of all military decorations in the British Empire. The other service was his work in command of No. 6 Company of Armed Constabulary at the fight at Moturoa, in rear of the present town of Waverley, in South Taranaki. Roberts had raised that Company (or division as they called an A.C. company of 100 men) in Auckland and on the Thames goldfields, mostly young men whom he quickly drilled into a competent body. They were popularly called “The Young Brigade,” and well they fought in their first bush battle, that engagement at Moturoa. It was an unfortunate affair for the Government forces; a defeat and retreat, redeemed only by the brave rearguard action in which Roberts and his No. 6 took their full share. Colonel Whitmore–Moturoa was one of his very few failures–gave Roberts high praise in his despatches for his cool and efficient handling of his company.