20 Transactions. 



and about a dozen militia at the Taita." Wellington papers of October, 

 1846, reported, " A sergeant and ten men of the Hutt Militia have been 

 kept on by His Honour Major Richmond, and stationed at the Taita, so 

 that the settlers may have some little force to fall back on in case of 

 accident." 



Porirua District Military Posts of the " Forties." 



Quite a number of military posts were established in the Porirua district. 

 These were to serve three purposes : the protection of settlers, as at Johnson - 

 ville ; defensible camps for military roadmakers ; and, in the case of the 

 Paremata and Paua-tahanui posts, the keeping of a watchful eye on the 

 turbulent Ngati-Toa folk, and to act as an outpost for the defence of the 

 Hutt Valley. Fort Strode seems to have been a small police post, another 

 being situated at Waikanae. All these posts pertained to the lively " forties " ; 

 in the disturbed times of the " sixties " no posts were established in this 

 district, though some troopers were stationed for a while at Paua-tahanui. 



Clifford's Stockade at Johnsonville. 



In the journal kept by Captains Wilmot and Nugent during their 

 walking -tour from Wellington to Auckland, via Taupo, Galatea, and 

 Rotorua, in 1846, occurs the following entry : " March 17, 1846. Started 

 from Wellington in company with the Reverend G. on our road to Whanga- 

 nui. At about 11 a.m. arrived at Johnson's Clearing on the Porirua 

 Road, where about forty of the Volunteer Militia were stationed, under the 

 command of Captain Clifford, and were constructing a stockade as a pro- 

 tection to the few settlers in the neighbourhood. The road thus far is 

 good ; afterwards there is a mere bush path to Jackson's Ferrv." 



The Spectator of the 7th March, 1846, remarks, " On Thursday His 

 Excellency, attended by a guard of thirty men under Major Last, proceeded 

 on the Porirua Road to examine the stockade erecting under the direction 

 of C. Clifford, Esq., and returned to town again in the evening." Other 

 statements in local papers of that month inform us that the Porirua settlers 

 had been armed and placed under the command of Mr. Clifford, under whose 

 direction a stockade had been commenced on Mr. Johnson's section. The 

 site was a hillock on the north side of Ames's accommodation-house at 

 Johnsonville, east of the main road and railway, and on the south side of the 

 road running eastward to the old Petherick farm. We are told that this 

 post was " for the defence of the settlers, and for the purpose of preventing 

 any predatory incursions of the natives, and a company of sixty men has 

 been formed for the protection of the district." For some time sentries 

 were kept on Sentry Hill and Mount Misery to guard against a surprise by 

 Maori. Lieutenant L. R. Elliott, of the 99th Regiment, was in charge of 

 Clifford's Stockade in October, 1846. 



Middleton's Stockade. 



When the military roadmakers pushed on beyond Johnsonville each of 

 their camps was surrounded by a stockade, in case of any attack being 

 made by Maori. The men also carried their arms every day they proceeded 

 to work. It is not stated whether they worked under covering-parties or 

 not, as we did in the Taranaki District in later years. 



The first defensive post or camp north of Johnsonville was Middleton's 

 Stockade, named after Ensign F. Middleton, of the 58th Regiment ; it was 

 situated on Section 26, west of the main road and about half a mile north 



