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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 8, Issue 10 (February 1, 1934)

The Last Years of Service

The Last Years of Service.

Two more years of fighting were ahead of Roberts after those two tragic Taranaki battles of 1868. He was Major in command of the right wing of Whitmore's force which invaded the Urewera Country in 1869; he served in every important expedition on the East Coast and the West until the close of the war. He commanded that most remote of frontier posts, Opepe Stockade, near Taupo, in the early Seventies; he made roads, and pioneered the
Our Frontier Soldiers fifty years ago. Officers of the N.Z. Armed Constabulary Field Force, at Parihaka, Taranaki, November, 1881. Major Roberts, Commanding Officer.

Our Frontier Soldiers fifty years ago. Officers of the N.Z. Armed Constabulary Field Force, at Parihaka, Taranaki, November, 1881. Major Roberts, Commanding Officer.

wild places of the frontier. In 1879–81 he commanded the A.C. Field Force and the Volunteers in the Taranaki operations and in the occupation of Parihaka. Our photograph of the Constabulary officers in that expedition shows a splendid set of frontier soldiers, probably the most competent in the work of bush-fighting that any country has ever produced. They are all gone now; Roberts was the last, when he died at Rotorua in 1928. As soldier and as Magistrate he was conspicuous for ability, fairness, and fearlessness. A good and useful pioneer New Zealander, who set an example of fine courage and fidelity to the highest ideals of duty.