all arrangements to commence business. It was
like old times again. Who could have told me, when I was leaving London,
three months before, as I thought a cripple, that I was going to be at
work again, as fresh as ever, within three months, at the other side of
the world? One introduction led to another, till I found it difficult to
find time to take advantage of all the kind invitations that were given
me.

I had decided, however, that it was to Wellington, the seat of the New
Zealand Government, that I had to make my way. It was at Wellington that
the responsible head of the New Zealand defence and police force
resided--good old Colonel Reader. I had letters of introduction to him,
and I thought it advisable, in view of my experience in Dunedin, to
interview him as early as possible, as he might consider my experience as
a Gunner of some value to the Government. I left my friends in Dunedin
with many regrets, and full of promises to return to their hospitable
city should the authorities at Wellington deem it advisable to appoint an
instructor to their district. I was sorry to leave Dunedin. The town
possessed, and possesses, one of the nicest clubs in the southern
hemisphere--the Fernhill Club, a most comfortable residence, standing in
its own grounds, quite in the centre of the city.

On reaching Wellington I called upon Colonel Reader, and apparently my
luck was in. He told me that he was looking out for a Drill Instructor
and that he would be pleased if I could take the appointment. The
emolument seemed to me enormous. It was just four times the amount I had
been receiving as a lieutenant in the artillery. In addition, it carried
travelling expenses and other perquisites. I accepted at once, and was
ordered to take up my duties at first in the North Island, at a place
called Tauranga, not far from the scene of the fight at the Gate Pah,
during the Maori War. Anyone visiting Tauranga can still trace the site
of the old British camp and the remains of the old trenches.

Not far from the Gate Pah, in what was then called The King Country, lay
Ohinemutu, the Maori settlement, alongside which rose the celebrated
Terraces--later on, somewhere about 1885, the scene of the terrible
eruptions which completely wiped out that wonderful country, submerged
the terraces and mountains, and formed fresh lakes in what is now well
known as the Rotorua district. How soon or how late further eruptions
will take place in this distri