In 1865 he was gazetted Major in the New Zealand Militia in command of the Arawa auxiliary force operating against the rebel Hauhaus in the Bay of Plenty.
In 1864, after promotion to Lieutenant, he was appointed Resident Magistrate at Taupo and, later, at Rotorua. During the siege of Orakau pa he was directed to call on the defenders to surrender and received the historic reply: “Friend, I will fight against you for ever, for ever”, and, later, when he urged that the women and children be sent out: “If the men die, the women and children must die also”. He showed great courage at Rangiaowhia in assisting to remove under heavy fire Colonel Nixon, who had been fatally wounded. Acting as interpreter to General Cameron, he first took part in the fighting round Pukekohe and, later, at Rangiriri and most other engagements during the campaign. When the Waikato War commenced he joined the Colonial Defence Force, under Colonel Marmaduke Nixon, with the rank of Ensign. John's College, Auckland.Īfter some years on his father's farm at Whangarei, Mair spent three years on the Australian goldfields, returning to Whangarei in 1855. He was a son of Gilbert Mair, a trader and early resident who settled in the Bay in 1824, and was educated by a private tutor, John Fogan, and, later, at Te Waimate Mission Station, by the Rev. William Gilbert Mair was born at Te Wahapu, Bay of Islands, on 20 November 1832. Soldier, Resident Magistrate, and Judge of the Native Land Court.