Best. — Old Redoubts, &c, of the Wellington District. 25 



at the Roman Catholic end of the settlement. The Wairarapa Maori 

 were also disturbed, and some of the settlers in that district had asked 

 that blockhouses be erected there, though curiously enough the sheep- 

 run men, the most isolated and exposed of the settlers, did not sign the 

 petition. The Wairarapa Maori strongly objected to soldiers being sent 

 to their district, and, as a matter of fact, none were sent. 



Rumours of Maori raids in 1860 led to the erection of two blockhouses 

 near Wellington, the one herein described and another near the bridge at 

 the Lower Hutt. A number of Volunteer corps were also formed, and these 

 became numerous in the land. The blockhouses were not actually utilized 

 as refuges, simply because those raids never came off The Wairarapa 

 Maori never became openly hostile. They probably remembered the 

 answer given by a local chief to Te Rangihaeata in 1846, when the latter 

 wanted Wairarapa to join him in a raid on Wellington — " Kei a ivai he 

 tahurangi maku ? " (With whom is a tahurangi for me ?) Tahurangi was 

 the Maori name of the old-fashioned red blankets. The wise chief knew 

 that to slay the pakeha would be to cut off the supply of European 

 products, hence the red blanket saved Wellington. The memory of those 

 old-time fears and dangers has passed away now, and no one worries about 

 Maori raids. 



The following is taken from the New Zealand Sjiectator, of Wellington, 



for the 5th September.. 1860 :— 



Engineer's Office, Lower Hutt, 18th August, 1860. 

 Sealed tenders in duplicate will be received at this office until Wednesday at noon 

 of the 5th September next for the erection of 



Stockade asd Blockhouse 



at the Upper Hutt, on McHardv's Clearin". according to plans and specifications 

 No. 1 and 2. 



Further particulars can be obtained upon application to Corporal Tapp, Royal 

 Engineers, at this office. 



Persons may tender for either Plan No. 1 and No. 2, or both. The lowest tender 

 will not necessarily be accepted of. 



W. Rawsox Trafford, 

 Commanding Wellington Militia and Volunteers. 



The defences consisted of a stockade and trench, with a two-storied 

 blockhouse in one corner. The stockade, which has long been pulled down, 

 was 9 ft. high and bullet-proof, as described below, though its form of loop- 

 holes is not given. The blockhouse projected outside two faces of the 

 stockade so as to act as a flanking angle, the opposite corner being provided 

 with a bastion as shown on the plan : thus each covered two curtains or 

 faces. The northern and western curtains were each commanded by eight 

 loopholes in the blockhouse, four on each floor. The western and southern 

 sides of the stockaded area still show a parapet on the outer side of the fosse, 

 or trench. Presumably the stockade occupied this low parapet, while the 

 defenders would occupy the fosse inside it. 



The space enclosed inside the trench, is 30 yards east and west, and 

 somewhat more north and south. The measurements given in the report 

 would doubtless be those of the line of stockade. The trenches now contain 

 a considerable amount of debris, but were probably 2|ft. or 3 ft. deep 

 originally, the width being about 5 ft. at the bottom. The spoil from 

 these trenches was evidently used to form the parapet, of which, however, 

 we now see no sign on the north and east sides. The entrance to the 

 enclosure was probably at the side of the blockhouse where for a space of 

 18 ft. no signs of a trench are to be seen. 



