LATER NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

Press, Volume III, Issue 347, 10 December 1863, Page 2

LATER NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

By the Storm Birdi, which arrived in Lyttelton during Tuesday night, we have received our files from Wellington up to the sth instant. Although we have no late papers from Auckland since those brought by the Phoebe, we have the following later intelligence which we have extracted from the Wellington Journals. LTEUTEXAXT-GOVKRNOR. Tho Wellington Independent of the sth instant says : — There is a bill now before the House which appears to meet general approval; but not having a copy we are at some loss to understand it. The Nominated Superintendents Bill haviiig been thrown out, Mr. FitzGerald has introduced a bill enabling every province to have v LieutenartGovernor if it wishes, under certain circum*lancee. Not knowing wnat those circumstances arc we cannot express any opinion on the measure, and merely give the parliamentary report us we find it. November 27. Mr. FitzGerald moved for leave to bring in a bill for the appointment of Lieulenant-Governors, under certain circumstances, within the colony of New Zealand. The object of the measure "was simply to authorise the appointment of a Lieu-tenant-Governor in any province which desired it. Mr. Staftokd cordially supported the motion, having been made aware of the provisions contained in the bill. He thought no better plan could be proposed for the efl'ectire administration of the Government. Mr. Fitzhebbert also supported the bill, seeing in it the solution of a great many difficulties. Leave granted. Bill read a first time and ordered to be read a second time on Wednesday next. We notice that Mr. Eyes has brought in a bill to assimilate the election of Superintendents for the provinces created under the " New Provinces Act," with that for those elsewhere—giving to the province and not to the Council the right to choose the Superintendent.

Mr. Eyes, in moving for leave to bring in n bill to amend tin? New Provinces Act, 1.5.18, said Af>. Saunders had consented to withdraw his bill for the repeal of this Act. The present, bill would be a virtual repeal of the incisure as fur as its future operations wore concerned : but he proposed to retain some clauses and insert others -is-eimilutiiif the election of Superintendent in the new pro° vinces already constituted to the mode in use in other provinces. Leave granted. Bill read a first time, and ordered to be read a second time on Wednesday ucst. " } We take the following from the Auckland Correspondent of the New Zealand Advertiser. Auckland, November 20. Last niijlit in the House Mr. FitzGerald moved a resolution, similar to Mr. Domett's, to remove the Scat of Government to Cook's Strait, nnd in a very long speech he shewed the advantages of this step, lie was opposed by Mr. Stafford, who made a set speech against it, and proposed an amendment that it was inexpedient at present to remove the seat of ffovcrnment, and which was lost, there being only 17 for it and 21 against, it. So the removal of the seat of Government to Cook's Strait (to prevent separation) is at last carried. Query, shall it be Nelson, Picton, or Wellington ? 1 hope the latter. Captain Mercer, 11.A., and Captain Fhelps, 2nd battalion 14th Regiment, expired yesterday ; some of the others are so severely wounded that they are not expected to live long, especially now that the warm weather has set in amputation is dangerous, but it is considered necessary in the case of Captiin Gresson, and others. Two men of the 05th (Brown and Cain) have died of their wounds. Cain leaves a wife and family to mourn his loss. It is now rumored that the Maori King was not at Rangiriri, nor Rowi either. White (lags are seen Hying above Rangiriri, at a Native village. Lately a chief sent in a Hag of truce and asked to look for their dead in tho Rangariri swamp ; and a few were found. The next day the same chief solicited terms of peace from the General, who told him he had not the power to do so. Ninety-nine of the Maori prisoners passed through Drury yesterday, and some " friendly natives" were recognised among them. The Thames expedition made a forced march and took up a position vacated by the rebels at Pukorokoro. The General Assembly have petitioned tho Governor to solicit commissioners from the neighboring colonies, to settle the point, as to what place in Cook's Stmit the Scat of Government is to be finally established. Fifty bodies of the rebels were buried in one of their rifle pits at Rangiriri, and thirty-eight of our poor fellows were buried near the Church with military honors. November 27. The Queen of the Mersey arrived yesterday with 125 immigrants from London. A letter was received from Mr. Ward last mail to sax* he had an offer from the I.C.R.M. Co., to provide boats that would run ten knots an hour, and make the passage from Panama to New Zealand in twcnl v-six days, for a subsidy of £60,000 per annum; of this sum it is said New Zealand would only have to pay £30,000. The rebel prisoners were put on board H.M.S. Curaoo:i yesterday, under a guard of one captain, two subalterns, three sergeants, and fifty men of the 50th regt, The rebel chiefs that were taken prisoners wrote to the Waikato chiefs, asking them to surrender their king and land, and to make terms of peace. They asked the General to do so, and he told them that he was going through the Waikato, and recommended them not to impede his progress on the way, and that they should lay down their arms, and wait until Lie EstjoHetvey arrives at headquarters. The prisoners state that niue of their women were killed at Rangariri. The Mahurangi Natives have sent up one ton of new potatoes to the prisoners. November 28. Another slight skirmish ha« taken place between the Colonial Militia and the rebels at Wairoa, the Natives succeeded in escaping. It is said another rebel party has crossed the Waikato, at the Waiuku side, bent upon taking revenge on us. Mrs. Mercer proceeds to England with the invalids in the Himalaya. Thirty-five rebel "prisoners were taken iv a swamp "near Rangariri, where they wore surrounded by our soldiers. There were some narrow escapes at Rangiriri; a rebel bullet struck Colonel Wyatl's havresack and broke a bottle of rum in it, aad the bullet was flattened in his clothes ; the gallant Colonel Gamble, D.Q.M.G., was also struck by a ballet, which slid off his paper collar. November 30. Fifteen of our poor wounded men are coming down from the Queen's Redoubt. It was proposed in town to send them sonic fruit, &c. but nothing lias been clone for them yet. Nothing startling from the Thames. The Lord Ishley arrived here yesterday with 21 volunteers from Dunedin, and 800 sheep from Napier. [From the New Zealand Herald, November 27.] The Maoris who surrendered to General Cameron on the 2lst instant, after the sanguinary affair of the preceding day at Rangiriri, being expected to arrive at Otahului on Wednesday afternoon, we set out for that village, in order to learn anything of interest relating to the captives. We found the village in a considerable state of 1 commotion, a hundred of the Natives liaving just come in under a strong escort of the 50th regiment. The greeting that met them was anything but kindly, indeed if the exasperated wires of the soldiery had been permitted to work their will, the chances arc that the prisoners would have been rather roughly handled. They looked wayworn and foot sore, having marched from the Queen's Redoubt that morning, a distance of at least thirty miles, their guards being relieved at several stages on the road. Some of the Native* were so completely knocked up that they had to be conveyed in ambulance carts. Among those who plodded their weary way the strong lentassistance to the weak. They seemed to be " quite chop fallen." Many were grey-headed old men, others mere boys; and all appeared to be thankful when the tramp was ended and they were received under cover of the huts in the Otahuhu camp. There they were immediately served with the same rations as the troops ; anil there they were visited by the Rev. Mr. Purchas, of Onehuga, by Mr. Interpreter White and others, who recognised several well-known faces as labourers frequently employed by the settlers of the neighbouring districts. We said they appeared to be very much chopfallen, and, if any credit may be attached to their own assertions, they unquestionably arc so. They admit that they have been thoroughly beaten, and that they have submitted once and for ever. They add thai Waikato being the head of the revolt and Waikato being conquered, they are prepared to surrender their lands. Uut they express great surprise that, having made unconditional submission, they should be held in captivity, as they look upon themselves as penitent subjects of tho Queen, to be punished with the loss of land, but not of liberty. They affirm that Waikato will never strike 'another blow; and that WilUaui Thompson and liis 400 would have come in and laid down their arms ou Saturday morning, but that their captivity had deterred Thompson and his party from doing so. Tn reply to a question put touching the general disarming of the tribes,

.. e _ -droitlr fenced it by putting countcr-ques- • 7 \nrh as " What could we, who had all the SFw wn't w«h tllcir lit,lc ones ? " - The while flag is said io be tlyiug throughout the length ontl breadth of Waikato. So did the ««ne deceptive emblem after discomfiture throught tlie heights and hollow* of the Waitara. ? iforch, 1861. There were then abject promises in profusion of future good behaviour; and when the crowning blow should have been struck, mid struck home, more faith was put in the jjrtv bit of calico than in the conciliatory nowers of the British bayonet. Let us not for *rer remain purblind. Let us trust Maori faith us the Romans did Punica fides. Tf it bo not BcJenda est Carthago, now when the power is ours, wo may ngii"> " s Helen McGregor says, "Cry weel awaugh, over our burnt barn yards and eroptv byres," and without any future British legions to redress the wrongs wich we lacked constancy to render of impossible recurrence. The Government very wisely determined to convey the prisoners from the Gamp to the Curaeoa by, water; and, after witnessing the display of temper at Orahuhu, we give the authorities great - credit for their foresight. Yesterday, by 7 a.m., the C'orio steamer, Capt. Turner, had taken up a berth at the nearest possible point of approach to the camp ; and shortly afterwards a strong guard of the 50th regiment, consisting of 50 rank and file, and 3 sergeants, in command of Capt. Lee and Lieut. Preston, marched out. It took nearly an hour to put soldiers' and prisoners on board, and as ' the tide, which waits for no man, had previously been on the turn, by the time the embarkation was completed the Corio was hard and fest, and there was no other alternative but to grin and bear it, the ship heeling 15 degrees to etarboard, and shelving somewhat more by the head. The Maoris, who were down in the main hold, were permitted to come on deck for a smoke, by a - dozen at a time. Their haggard, careworn looks gave one but a very faint idea of the determined warriors under whose withering Gre our dauntless soldiery had four times recoiled. They looked like men who had staked their all upon a cast, iiud who could not but lament that the throw had been against them. One, a grey-haired wretch, pronounced to be the murderer of Meredith and his son, seemed to be particularly disconsolate, as if he feared that ewift and certain vengeance would overtake him. Many wore fine men, of manly form, and pleasant - counteuance. One furnished his sketch of Rangariri and its defences : pointing out a spot where ' nine women —probably killed by shells, which were thrown with much precision, and did great execution —were interred. They peremptorily denied that the king was in the action : on the contrary, they affirmed that he was then at Ngaruawahia*. William Thompson, they allow, was in the fight, and we may infer, from their talk, that the 400 were a reinforcement ' which he had contrived to bring up a little too late for the cause he had so much at heart. Names of the women killed at Rangariri:—Te Paea, Te Ran, Takeri, Te Rau's daughter. Eraua > Kamnanu, Hem Runi, Meriana Tc Waiwhiuwhire, ; " Te Reiti, Tioriori's sister, Torutaha, Tiepa Mohi, Beta Te Kota : a boy about 12 years of age shot in the hut, and one boy about 10 years of age shot in the water. When the white flag was hoisted two caroes came to search, and found two men and one woman in the outlet of the lake; they suppose a great number of men, wonien, and children were shot and drowned by the upsetting of the three canoes. By 6.15 p.m., the tide having made, the Corio moved off, fetching alongside the Curagoa just as eho delivered the evening gun. A transfer of the prisoners and the guards, which occupied an hour, then took place, the Maoris, who seemed as if greatly cowed, hanging back and passing on board the frigate with much seeming reluctance. Toe Rebel Maori Pkisoxehs.—The colonial gunboat Sandfly arrived in the harbor yesterday, with the remainder of the Maori prisoners. She left the Thames about mid-day on Friday, and arrived at the Tamaki about half-past seven o'clock the same evening. She anchored there for the night, and yesterday morning took on board 78 Maori prisoners, the remainder of those who were I captured at Rnngariri, and 44 of the Onehunga Volunteers, under Captain Brookfield, as guard j Sho then started for Aucklnnd, and came alongside j H.M.S. Curugoa about half-past 11 o'clock, and the prisoners, who did not seem to be at all un comfortable, were then transhipped to that vessel. The Drury correspondent of the Daily Southern Cross, writing on the 25th idtiuio, saj's :—Great excitement in Drury when the prisoners arrived. Some were brought down to-day, the remainder to be sent to-morrow. They started from Queen's Redoubt (where they had enjoyed excellent quarters and good rations) at 5 o'clock. As they were paraded, and as the escort was formed, they were somewhat terrified, not exactly knowing what, was to be their fate. The escort consisted of 200 men, composed of the 18th, 40th, and Goth, in command of Colonel Chapman. It must have had a most imposing eflect upon these- rebels as they marched down the road, as they beheld at each military post the men drawn up at the side of the road. The prisoners wero inarched down without any fetters of either rope or chain upon them. With such a largo escort there was no chance of escape. They arrived at Drury a little before 10 o'clock, having been nearly five hours on the rond. There was a dense throng of spectators, many of whom recognised old and familiar faces amongst the prisoners. I heard many remarks such as the following : " Obi there is a fellow who was at Seccoinbe's brewery." "Hallo, there's Mark —Lawry's old servant." " That's tho man who threatened to strike my wife with a tomahawk." "Do you see that cove ? He was a Native minister. , ' In fact, a good many of these rebels were known by the feople of Drury. The large majority of them are, believe, Waipa Natives. Some arc from the east coast, and others from the Lower Waikato. There are various chiefs of note amongst them. " Tell it not in Gath," &c, but if I am not grossly misinformed, there is a most unfortunate printer in this mob—a King's printer —a printer of tho Maori Gazette. What a degradation to such a genius • Some of these prisoners wore i» the affair at Shepherd's Bush, and to judge by some of their countenances thore is no doubt, if the truth were known, that one or two of them have been implicated in horrible and atrocious deeds. Such is said to be the case. Tho prisoners were all dressed, and in Tarious garbs. One, who seemed somewhat of a j " swell," had on an oilskin, a hat, and curried a \ miall " pikau," his wardrobe I suppose. When they got to Drury they seemed thirsty and tired. Some'of them squatted down and had asmoke. Before they got to Otahuhu I expect sorao of them will be knocked up. Au ambulance accompanied them, in case of any not being able to walk. The escort consisted of a largo force of the 50th, under Colonel Warre.