THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
3£5 
intended for Taranaki were ordered to be sent to Tauranga as quickly as 
possible. Small mortars would also be required, but these having, for the 
reason already mentioned, been left in the Waikato district, some very 
old pattern mortars were drawn out of the military store in Auckland for use 
in the Tauranga district. These mortars had been cast in Sydney under the 
directions of Captain Gother Mann, late of the Bombay Horse Artillery, but 
now Governor of the convict establishment at Cockatoo Island (n.s.w.) 
They were cast in 1846 for the war that was then going on in New Zealand, 
where a light species of ordnance, capable of projecting shell with precision 
at short distances was required. The mortars were about half the length of 
the service 5 \ -in. mortar, so that half the circumference of the shell 
projected beyond the muzzle of the mortar. There was a small chamber for 
the powder, and the diameter of the muzzle was sufficient to allow of the 
5^-in. shell being used, and thus one species of ammunition was sufficient 
for the 24-pr. howitzers and small mortars. The bed was of iron and was 
fastened on a flat platform of wood about two inches thick. The mortar 
itself was light enough for one man to carry with ease. The bed and 
platform were rather heavier than necessary, and service-beds were afterwards 
substituted for them. 
It was supposed that, as the fuze projected considerably beyond the 
muzzle of the mortar, the flame of the charge, when ignited, would not 
reach the fuze composition, and therefore it would be necessary to ignite the 
fuze with a portfire before firing the mortar. This, however, proved not to 
be the case. It was found that the fuze never failed to ignite on the mortar 
being fired, and the shells were very accurate up to 400 yards, fired at 45° 
of elevation. 
As fast as the guns arrived in Auckland from the Waikato district, they 
were sent down to Tauranga by sea, and by the 28th April 1864, the 
following pieces of ordnance with about 200 rounds of ammunition per piece, 
and manned by detachments from each of the three batteries in New Zea¬ 
land, were ready for action :— 
Two 8-in. mortars, 
Two 24-pr. howitzers, 
Two 12-pr. Armstrong’s, 
Two 4-f-in. mortars, 
Pour 5^-in. mortars (Captain Mann’s pattern) and three 6-pr. Armstrong’s.* 
On the 27 th April a pah was reconnoitred which had been built by the 
natives about three miles from the camp at Tauranga and, being placed on 
the boundary between the European and native land where the Maories 
formerly had placed a toll-gate, it was known by the name of the “gate 
pah! 3 It was built of an oblong form on high ground, and the enclosed 
ground was about 100 yards long by 15 wide. The front face of the work 
extended down on right and left to swamps which flanked the position. 
On the 28th April, positions were chosen in which to place the batteries 
intended to breach the parapet, &c. Both mortar and howitzer batteries 
were obliged to be placed so that the fire from them would be almost direct 
as, owing to the nature of the ground, enfilade fire was impossible to be 
obtained. 
* The 6-prs. had only about 100 rounds per gun. 
