Town's Last Line of Defence

“As a last line of defence, should the town ever be over-run by natives, we had an old block-house on the site of the present police station. This was of wood, with the lower par strongly fortified by sand-bags and freely loop-holed. It would have been a hard proposition for any band of natives to tackle. From the block-house, a trench communicated with the old court house situated on Adair Bros.' site—apparently intended as an outlet for the defenders who could use it and then fall on the attackers in a surprise attack from the rear.

“I came after most of the Maori trouble had finished,” said Mr Walsh in conclusion, “but I remember one little experience of my police duty in the towm. Twenty-one of the Ngatiporous came in one day with a big stock of seed, disposed of it well, and then started out to drink up the proceeds as fast as they could. By evening, every man-jack of them was fighting mad and things became very serious. I was the only policeman on hand and so I gathered up any passers-by and went along to see about quietening them. Talk was useless, so we separated them as best we could and took them in batches along to the lock-up—only a small cell. By the time the last of them was packed in, this cell was a solid mass of swearing, fighting Maoris on the verge of delirium. Gradually they quietened down, as the strong liquor took effect, and they fell into a drunken sleep. Next morning one of the sorriest bunches of men I have ever seen appeared before the J.P. and were severely admonished, before being escorted out of town and sent their way in peace.”