ATTACK BY THE NATIVES AT RAMA RAMA.

Press, Volume III, Issue 263, 3 September 1863, Page 2

ATTACK BY THE NATIVES AT RAMA RAMA.

[Br Electric Telegbaph.] (From tho Correspondent of tho SoulJiem Cross) Drury, Aug. 25, 5 p.m. Attack of Natives on a working party of the 10th. Two men engaged in clearing bush about Rama Kama Camp saw Maoris gliding towards them. The men ran to meet the escort, and saw the natives rushing across the road for the arms of the 40th, and carried off twenty odd stand of arms; no ammunition. The escort came up,

Hring into the successful natives. The latter killed two of the -10th with their own pieces. One inun of tho 18th wounded. A party of •irmed bushmen fired a volley in the flying Natives. Natives retired west. Three natives killed. One pulled down by a large Coromandcl dog ; on getting up again tho man was shot.

On receipt of the foregoing telegram, a Reporter left this office for Drury, to ascertain the particulars of the untoward event. He returned at 2.30 this morning, and supplied us with the fol-

lowing details :—

To-day (Tuesday) at about 11 o'clock, a.m., fcfto : men who were engaged felling timber for the pur- , pose of clearing the bush from tho Great South iioad, observed several Maoris passing through the bush to the rear, and making towards the working party of the 40th regiment, at tho bend of the road on (lie right, beyond tho camp at Williamson's clearing. The bush at this place comes out towards tho line of road in a sharp corner, and was at all times a locality where an ambush could bo easily laid. The two bushmen referred lo threw down their axes, and ran to the road, for tho purpose of apprising the escort, which was then coming up the hue from Drury. The native ß fired between 20 and 30 shots at them, but without effect. The bushmen made their way good, and reported the circumstances to the officers in command of the escort, who ordered an immediate advance. - Tho Maoris, in the meantime, went straight to that part of the road where the arms of the working party of tho 4-olh regiment were piled; and the escort arrived just in time to sec the Natives carry off" 23 stand of arms. The escort fired into the retreating party, killing two of tho Maoris; a third was shot by a soldier, through of a dog of the bloodhound breed, which belongs to one of (he bush party, and which arrested the Maori, pulling him to the ground, and rendering it impossible for him to get away before the escort' came up, when one of them shot him. The body of this Native'was lying ou the roadside shortly after the affair; the remaining corpses of the enemy were lying where they fell, off the highway a considerable distance. Tho enemy returned the fire of tho escort, wounding Private Laurence Clover, 18th regiment, Royal Irish, Beverelv in the le«». The Maoris, on going up to the pile of arms, it appears, took possession, firing a volley at tho ; working party of the 40th regt., killing two men on the spot. One of these is private Giveny, 40th regt., and another ia a private of the same regt. } < whoso name I could not ascertain. Giveny joiuod the corps in Melbourne. He hod two bullet wounds on liis body—one through the breast, another through the thigh. The second of our | killed was shot in the breast. It seems that no commissioned officer was with the working party of the 40th, although it consisted, I hear, of 2 A men ; but doubtless this circumstance will be carefully enquired into by the proper authorities. The Maoris made good their retreat into the bush, on the westward of the line of road, but en- j countered the fire from a party of bushmenj deeper in the forest than Uie men of the 40th, who had been warned of their danger by the firing around them. Whether any cf the Maoris then fell is not known. The news of tlus raid by the Maoris was brought to the Drury camp by a carter, who i was coming to the Land Transport stables. One < company of the 70th, commanded by Captain j < Tovey, marched for the scene of action, succeeded : i by Lieutenant Rait, R.A., and his mounted • ] troop. All the troops in the camp were under j arms. The troop of cavalry took the road to \ ] Makatu, to cut of the retreat of the Maoris they returned by lhcir former track, but as they 1 retired by a line to the westward, the troopers j < saw nothing of them. \ s

The company of the 70th meeting the escort-, returned to camp. The dead and Hounded men of the 40th aiid IStli were conreyed to the camp in cmbulrtnrc rarts. Tiiis affair histed nearly three quarters of an hour. The natives came down from the cast side, and most likely formed part of the war party encountered by the Forest Hangers at Paparata, us reported in yesterday's Daily southern Cross. I have heard the number of the natives variously estimated at 40 to 100. The Defence Corps, under Col. ISixon, a company of the 18th Regiment, commanded by Captain Ring, and a detachment of the Forest Rangers, under Lieut. Jacison, went to the Hunua Ranges to-day, with what result I cannot say. A portion only of the Defence Corps returned, the remainder of the force being bent on prolonging their journey. QUEEN'S BEDOT7UT. The correspondent to the Soitlltern Cross in a letter dated 22nd ultimo, says: — The enemy and our advanced posts exchange Bhot3 occasionally. The enemy were fired on, at a range of 1000 yards yesterday, and I believe with effect. The sentry, on the river guard, was fired at by the enemy to-day, from the flax swamp, but the range was too distant for harm. [From the Correspondent to the New Zealand€r.~] August. 24. 1863.

Nothing having transpired here lately, I have felt myself quite at a loss for a subject for my communications. The weather I had drained quite dry. The country, most unfortunately, will not bear more than one description of any particular locality ; and my range of observation being necessarily confined to so narrow a limit at tho present time, that subject has been exhausted.

This being the state of the case, I was naturally anxious tins morning, when I noticed nothing novel on the programme of amusement for the day, what should be the matter of my evening's letter. These troublesome thoughts wero happily dispersed about three, p.m., by tbe arrival of a present of two live nanny goats in milk, three turkeys, and five fowls, from General Thompson to General Cameron, also a letter from tho FieldMarshal's own hand, to the purport that the writer followed the injunctions of Scripture, " When thine enemy hunger, feed him ; when h." thirst, give him drink, &c." The present was brought into camp by some of To Wheoro's people, at whose pa it arrived yesterday.

It was originally intended hy the great Maori leader to send down the live stock hi a canoe sent adrift, wliich would be certain to be picked up by tho sailor guard on tho Avon, at the Bluff, but two men and three women from Te Wheoro's pa having gone up the river yesterday, advantage was taken of that circumstance to send them by that safer mode of conveyance.

The General did not scruple to receive the donation in the same spirit in which it was most probably sent; though tho motives which led to the gift may have been, and possibly were, of a political nature, for instance, the effect the cir-' cumstauces would, have ou the undecided Natives, supposing tho present to have been refused ; they would have immediately said, " Sco what a far better spirit Wi Tamihana shews." Other reasons also might havo led to this laughable event, namely, to shew in a substantial maimer, not to be mistaken, that they were not, as yet, at all events short of even the luxuries of life ; but it is hard to believe that they rrally thought, as the letter woidd imply, that we wore hungry, and required feeding!

I believe W. Thompson to be a fine fellow, and some of Te Wheoro's people, who are nearly related to lum, Indignantly deny his ever having urged the massacre of every man, woman, and cluld; they affirm that to have beeu a false report, got up by his enemies, his word having always been " fight only those who fight."

Last night a canoe was seen by the sailors on board the Avon, floating down the stream ; after hailing they fired upon her ; no answer having been returned, and still seeing uo one on board, they put off, armed, in the boat, when they found her without occupants, with a double-barrelled gun and five paddles in her. I hear she drifted away from Mereniere.

BErNTOBCEIIEXTS. [From the Southern Cross, Aug. 26 ] , .The Claud Hamilton brings Lieut.-Colonel Carey, two officers, and 53 rank and file of the 12th regiment, from Sydney, and this appears to be the number of military that we shall at present receive from tliat source. From a statement in tho Sydney Herald of the military force in New South Wales it appears tliat tho whole effective strength there, deducting sick, doily guards, band and officers' servants, is 193, and taking from i that the detachment which arrived yesterday .there remains 143. Whether there will be •any further draft from that number for service hi New Zealand remains to be seen, but we %usp«fct we have got all tliat are available. Our 'SySney correspondent says on this subject:— '" The Governor General lias at length consented to allow some of the troops stationed here to proceed to Auckland, the unsettled state of the country not permitting him with due regard to the safety of the colony to send a larger number." One of the most gratifying items of intelligence by the maii, is, the favourable response of our Overtures with respect to military settlement in New Zealand. The Sydney Herald of the latest date (the 19th inst.) says :—The conditions of the New Zealand Government respecting the granting |of land in the Waikato territory to military setI tiers, seem to be regarded with some degree of fhvonr, as already more tlian eighty eligible candidates for military service have been accepted by the Sydney agent, and it is understood that many applications, from persons resident in the interior, hhve also been received at the offices in Bridgesirect. Again; the Empire of the same date states:—The officers sent by the New Zealand Government have found reason to congratulate themselves on the alacrity displayed by our young men to volunteer for the militia service in New Zealand. No doubt the very liberal terms offered have liad some influence on those enlisting ; but probably many have entered their names from a love of adventure. We understand that on Saturday a company, consisting of a hundred men, will sail by the brig Kate for Auckland.

Wo may supplement the above by an extract from our own correspondent's letter, written under date August 17th. He says " The enrolment of volunteers for New Zealand commenced to-day, and numbers are rushing down to put their mimes on the list; the dullness of trade, and the smal quantity of gold at present to bo obtained, causing hundreds not to know where they can find a meal and on this account I have no doubt you will obtain the number you require." It will be found by tho Melbourne telegram that up to tue 19th inst., over 300 persons had registered their names as candidates for military settlement. It is to be presumed that the troops were about to be sent ■ rro, as the telegram says, provision was being made for the volunteers to do garrison duty.

There is one thing that the Sydney Government has been liberal iv; that is in sending us a considerable quantity of arms, wliich it will bo seen have arrived by the Claud Hamilton. The Herald of tho 17th says, in reference to this, "In compliance with an application from tho 'Sew Zealand Government, the Colonial Storekeeper has been directed to let them have a thousand stand of rifles and two-hundred breech-loading carbines for the service of the war."

There can be no doubt that General Cameron will receive considerable reinforcements from home, when the most serious part of tho war news reaches there. In the meantime it is satisfactory to find that a detachment of the 12th Regiment has already left for this colony. The Home Netcs of the 26th June has the following : " Troops for New Zealand.—The Ist battalion of tho 12th Regiment being considerably below its proper strength, a detachment of 90 men of all ranks, under the command of Captain Vcrekcr and one subaltern, embarked at Gravcsen-l, on board the City of Sydney, for New Zealand, on June 16."

The Tasmania, or sorno other vessel, with the troops from Hobart Town, may be hourly oxpected, so that bj r degrees we may hope to see a force here ultimately which will bo able to cope with the rebels, and teach them the necessity of subjection to the British rule.