The Navy's Handy Men.

The Royal Navy is proverbially equal to anything. It is as useful on the shore as it is afloat; therein lies the difference between sailor and soldier. It always was so in the Navy, and one is sure it always will be. The association of the Navy with New Zealand was particularly close in the days of the Maori wars, and there were long inland expeditions in which a Naval brigade added strength and skill to the operations of the military. I have just turned up a capital little description of an incident in Hone Heke's war of 90 years ago in North Auckland, which illustrates my point about the handiness of the men-of-warsmen in those days of sail.

The crews of three British warships, the frigates Castor and North Star, and the Indian Government's ship Elphinstone, took part in the march from the Bay of Islands to the bush stronghold of Kawiti and his warriors, Ruapekapeka Pa. Commander Johnson, of H.M.S. North Star, received orders from Governor Grey to send up a 32-pounder to the front, for use in the bombardment of the fort. Johnson was at the time in command of the British camp at Tamati Pukututu's pa on the banks of the Kawakawa River. He manned the gig which had been left in a creek near Tamati's pa, and rowed down to the ship. There he had the 32-pounder hoisted out into the launch, and rowed up with it to the foot of the pa, helped by the flood tide. Two hundred sailors from the frigate also pulled up the river to assist.