ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 86, 13 April 1899, Page 7

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

ft THE PORPOISE'S CRUISE

It is reported on good authority Shat 40 were killed on the Mataafa side and a number wounded in the engagement at Vailele. The 'Porpoise' which had gone around the coast, destroyed a number of villages, also boats to the number of about 50, one of which was the ■large boat belonging to Satupuala that measured 150 feet m length. They also had a sharp encounter with the natives, several of which were ; killed. Several villages on Sayan were destroyed. , , One friendly native was wounded by a Snider bullet in the breast. He is attended to by Dr. Andrews, and is doing well. ~ > Two native women who were acting as water carriers to the troops were shot in the arm and another native man through the neck. All of them are under, the care of Dr. Beatty and are progressing favourably. The military authorities have destroyed several houses near the British and American Consulates, in order to destroy the cover. MONAGHAN'S LAST STAND. When the native. search party recovered the bodies on the *u>™*B after the fight, several rebel natives were found lying dead close to the • body of Ensign Monaghan, with revolver wound! in their bodies This brave officer evidently fought to .the ■last, keeping off the enemy iwthjw revolver, until he too was shot dead. . Some cartridges were, recovered on the battlefield, and also P?* 1? 1* *f the Colt automatic gun, which is useless to the enemy. , Vori H.M.S. Royalist's force .haa taken about 100 boats belonging to the rebels have been destroyed. THE OUTLOOK. The present state of »*ain««g£ be considered other than *nßa-£«£ tory. Apia, owing to the Jush-clad Mils rising in its rear, and to^ the . fact that it extends a considerate stretch along the bay, is ™V°s s™l{° defend with the force now ™™™± The great bulk of the Europeans are in Apia, and the most that_can be done is to hold a portion of^the town^ The force that can landed from iHe men of war is insufficient to ac j lively prosecute and bring tie trou ble to a speedy conclusion. Even .n their numbers were greater they are aot suited to the kind of *us*™* liare. that the natives wage, to.tfte meantime £he,rebejs do. *>4 come *Q

gether in sufficient bodies for shelling to decimate their number, and may,,as things at present stand, go on indefinitely potting at guards at night-time, arranging ambushes for parties which make expeditions inland, or looting houses and attacking isolated portions of Apia. That the rebels are kept well informed of what is going on in Apia, and of what are the probable movements of the warships, is only too plainly evident. The Germans are very generally accused of supplying this information, but on the other hand it may come from Samoans in Apia. However this may be, there is an intense antiGerman feeling among Britishers and Americans, and the relationship is exceedingly strained.

All able-bodied Malietoa supporters are to be recruited from Tutuila and various parts of the Group by the Koyalist, and are.to be brought" here. It is understood that another British warship is to be asked for, and arms and ammunition are urgently required for the friendly natives. Once these are available it is estimated that a thousand or fifteen hundred Malietoa natives could be put in the field against Mataafa. Officers accustomed to bush warfare would be required as leaders, and it is to be presumed that these would be drawn from the colonies, under the scheme at present formulated. It is necessary to enter on the suppression of the revolt in a thorough manner, and these are the stejis, as far as known, that those on the spot here in authority deem necessary. The rebels are a body not to be despised, and owing to the advantages that the country gives them may be depended on to make a stubborn resistance. This much is certain, that unless Mataafa and his followers give up the hopeless struggle for some unforeseen reason, the disturbance cannot be effectively quelled by the force at j>resent available.