THE CAMPAIGN IN NEW ZEALAND. (From the Times.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1378, 26 February 1861, Page 5

THE CAMPAIGN IN NEW ZEALAND. (From the Times.)

Wg ajre permitted to publiih the following interesting Jejter, written by » young military officer, at present ivifch our fojrce* iji Jlew Zealand :— The Camp, Waitara, July 27, 1860, New Zealand. My Dearest Mother, — You will h»ve received my last ihorfc letter from AuckUnd about a month before you get this one, and your will have alw had- news of the war up to the beginning of this month, including the account of the fight of the 27th June. ,1 shall, therefore, trouble you a» little a* posiible with any

occurrences previous to th»fc date, but will commence my story *t the period I, left Auckland for Taranaki. On the 3rd July, lute in the evening, newi was received in Auckland of the affair of the 27th, by a steamer called the Airedale, running between Auckland and the South, which was ohujtered at that time by the commissariat for the transport of provisions and spirits intended for the use of the troops at Taranaki and the Waitara camps. The account of the fight created a great sensation in Auckland, and there was that evening a council at the Government-house as the steps to be taken. Later in the evening it was decided that a reinforcement, consisting of 86 men of the 66th Regiment, including the band, together with 18 non-com-missioned officers and men of the Royal Engineers, should be sent to the head-quarters and scene of operations. Commodore Lonng, of the Iris frigate, laying in Auckland haibour, offered the Governor a naval brigade from his ship, and it was \inderstooAt the time that this offer was rejected. It was intended that the tioops should depart eaily the next morning, but thendeparture was postponed till mid-day. This arrangement did not, however, suit the commissariat, who had to get all their stores on board, and who had chartered the vessel to remain forty-eight hours on her return from Taranaki, a non-compliauce with which condition would have invalidated the contract between both parties. It was in the power of the Governor to send her off immediately ; but in that oTent he must, or the Government must, have paid the £600, which was the sum agreed upon for the trip. In consideration, therefore, of these circumstances, the departure of the troops was postponed till the following day, sth July, and it was not tiU close upon the time of embarkation that I could obtain leave from Colonel Mould, commanding the engineers and the garrison, to accompany them. At 7-30 a in , the troops inarched out to the Manukau haibour, where the Ahedale was lying, a distance of about sK miles, and I rode on to provide breakfast for the men, as they had none prior to starting. When all the men were on board, the Airedale drifted alongside of the screw coivette Cordelia, Captain Vernon, lying in the Manukau, and took oir board two 8 inch guns, belonging to the Iris, and destined for the Waitaia camp. This business being performed, she steamed out to the "heads," twosteep piomontones at the entiauce of the harbour ; and the captain, admonished by the angiy appearance of the sea breaking over the bar at the mouth, prudently dropped Ins anchor and waited for morning. We weighed next morning at 8 am, and made our way at the slow rate of four or five mile 3 an hour. We reached Taranaki, which is distant 120 miles from the Manukau, in 24 hours — that is to say, atjB the next morning — and the troops weie landed in about an hour and a quarter. There is no harbour at New Plymouth, and the communication between the ships, which lie from a mile to half a mile at anchor, and the shore, is by means of large surf boats, which transport cattle and horses, and can each carry fiom lour to five tons. In these the men were landed. They then marched up to their quarters, which consisted, in the case of most of the new arrivals, of tents. The loadstead at New Plymouth is considered good, and the indented shore, together with, two sugar-lonf, rocks, stretching out to the right, looking towards the town, give it the appearance of a bay. Vessels, on the approach of bad weather, are constrained to leave their anchorage and seek a safer, though less pleasant, abode in the open sea. The coast abounds in rocks and sandy spits, which renders it dangerous to remain. When the wind is high, and especially when it blows inland, there is a tremendous surf. On these occasions the surf boats cannot live, and are hauled up on the beach. The first object which strikes the beholder on arriving in the morning within sight of hind is the snowy and cloud capped majesty of Mount Egmont, the highest laud in New Zealand ; it riies to a height of nearly 9,000 feet, and in isolated grandeur presents in its snowy mantle an aspect of singular wildne3s and sublimity. There are no emulating mountains at hand to deprive it of its striking appearance of height, while the fleecy driven snow, crowning its summit and half way down its sides, presents a remarkable contrast to the brown and sombre vegetation at its base. It is winter here, but more like a cold English autumn. Taranaki is like an English village, and on a sunny day looks exceedingly pretty from the sea. The barracks are on an elevated mound called Marsden Hill, and the tow u itself is straggling and bmlt on a succession of steep slopes. The number of civilian inhabitants is about 2,000 At present the town presents an exceedingly military appearance, red coats being predominant. There are about 1,500 regulars, including blue jackets, in the town, and at the block-houses dotted about. Thiee days ago one hundred and nine officers and men of the 12th Regiment arrived from Sydney, in the Pawn (our companion in the tropics), and two hundred Came from Melbourne, in the City of Hobart, with Colonel Leslie and the head - quarters of the 40th. General Pratt is expected daily from Melbourne with his staft. Altogether, including a detachment of men ! at a station between the Waitara andfTaianaki, called the " Bell Block," we number upwards of 2,000 men, besides the volunteers, which may be put down as 700. The state of the streets and roads about the town would let;d a stranger to suppose that the inhabitants of New Plymouth had never heard of MacAdam In wet weather the mud is literally knee deep, and as the bullocks wend their way through the tenacious clay, with considerable difficulty, many are the objurgations bestowed on them by their drivers, especially when they have to leave the comparatively clean footpath, in order to belabour their unwilling team up the steep ascents which characterise the streets of the town. The Maori drivers are more expert in the difficult operation of bullock-driving, and get the beasts on with less thrashing than the more favoured Europeans : probably the, space between them and the beasts of the field being less great, they understand bullock nature the bettot. Numbers of friendly Maoris are to b3 seen in the sfcwfets with a large V.R. embroidered on their frocks, before and behind. The fidelity of these natives is more than doubtful, and it is suspected that they convey information to the rebel tribes. The officers have a good mess in a room over a shop, and are, considering the great cnish, extremely comfortable. I left for Waitara on Monday, the 9th July, and, consequently, had little opportunity of observing the country; it appeared to me to be covered principally with fern, among the stalks and leaves of which cattle find an excellent pasture. The horses in this country are seldom or ever kept in stables, but allowed to run loose, and are caught when required. The exposure to the weather seems not to mjuie them. Ihey are rarely shod, and are not employed here for the purposes of draught, that being the peculiar province of bullocks. I arrived at the Waitara river about an hour and a half after I left Taranaki, in the Tasmanian Maid, a, small steamer, engaged by the Government at the rate of £60 or £70 per week, to ply between Taranaki and the above-named river, the land communication being cut off by the hostile natives. The Waitara river is distant about twelve miles to the north-east of New Plymouth, and there is a bar at tho mouth, over which the steamer can only pass at high water. The whole coast line abounds with a fine iron sand, which contains about six per cent of iron, and is of the same kind as the ore from which the best Swedish iron is manufactured. The long-hidden cause of the excellence of the Swedish ore has been, I believe, foimd to be owing to the presenpe of a metal, called titanium, which exists in large quantitiei in the sand of this district. Within, I suppose, a certain limit, the excellence of the iron is in proportion to the quantity of titanium it contains. There is, therefore, ground for presuming that the iron sand of this district will, at no distant period, become an important article of commerce, either m a raw or manufactured itate. There are, however, obstacles which must be surmounted before this desirable object can be attained, and not the least of these are-r-lst, the great want of capital, without which industry cannot be diverted into a new channel ; and, 2nd, the high price of labour, which is more profitably employed in agricultural pursuits, and those embracing the common requirements of civilisation. Political economists hold, and in molt cotes they are right, that the supply and demand regulate themselves from natural causes as regards labour, and every other marketable property. This is not, however, the case when the source of that labour, the inorease of population, is insufficient, and when it needs the long journey of 16,000 miles to supply the demand. The latter increases in far greater proportion to the increase of colonists and the supply of emigrants, and the result is an undiminished and even an increasing rate of wages. Those people who have their bodily labour to dispose of, naturally wish to do so to the utmost advantage to themselves, and this design ii secured by employing it m cultivation of land, in sheep farming, &o , and in the common trades, such as shoemaking, which, by-the-bye, is the most lucrative occupation in the colony. The land, naturally fruitful, and rendered more so by a climate admirably adapted to agricultural purposes, requires little more than the actual clearing of the ground and sowing of the seed, while it yields an ample return. From these and other causes I believe that New Zealand will become an agricultural country before she derives much of her wealth from the mineral* with which Nature has liberally provided her, and it is probable that this war will do much fbr her advancement, as it will' be, I presume, an Imperial stipulation, on ihe arrival of peace, that the chiefs who hold the greater portion of the interior shall permit roads' to be constructed through their lands, which at present'they entirely prohibit. Tlw Waitara river is, as I have told you, twelve miles to the north-easji of Taranaki,' or New Plymouth, and I enclose a lough plan of the ground, with explanatory notes, jvhich wiHjjive you an idea of the poaition of the camp, and the surrounding

country. Marked on the plan you will also find * detail of the operations of the 27th Juno, which resulted in ft failure, and the loss of lixty odd killed and wounded. Tiiii failure ii not to be ascribed to wont of skill or conduct in the officer commanding, but to the 'Unexpected *nd overwhelming force of native* brought to bear upon the small force sent to the atUok from the pahs in the surrounding country, and to the \v*nt of support from the troops under Col. Gold, the com-mander-in-chief, who wn staying at the river Waioir- '■ gonn,, a mile and a half diitsnt, and would not advance, though he had a force with him amounting to 480 men. The firing wa» distinctly heard by the officers and men under hi* command, and the soldiers begged to be advanced, but the colonel refused, and ordered Iho men to retire, after they had waited there five or six hours. The blue jackets, when they received the order, saluted it with groans and hisses, and Colonel Gold requested Lieut. Kelly, E.N., in command, to " try and make it smooth with them." The last-named officer replied that he could do nothing to soothe their irritation. It is the general opinion that, had Colonel Gold advanced, the result of the affair would have been different, and that our brave soldiers would not have lost their lives in vain. Be that as it may, I shall refrain from passing any opinion on the matter, as these are dangerous subjects to handle for an officer in an inferior position. I have no doubt, however, that you will nee the matter fully canvassed m the papers, and on reading the official dispatches a lnoie correct estimate can be formed. Certain it is that no news gave greater satisfaction than the announcement that General Pratt was coining from Melbourne, to take the command. Major Nelion, 40th Regiment, the officer in command of the attack on the 27th of June, and of the camp here, is all that can be desired. Possessed of great bravery and coolness, he has been active »ervice in India, and is looked up to by all under his command. He feels keenly the reverse our troops experienced, the more so as much was expected of him. He did, however, all that man could do to ensure success, and who could do more ? The pah has been greatly strengthened since I have been here, but lately two 8-inch guns have been opened upon it from the camp, and the natives have evacuated it in feai of the shells, which now are mode to diop pretty accurately. They are, however, always at hand to garrison it should an attack be attempted, but oidera have been to remain quiet till fuither reinforcements arrive. These having come it is to be hoped that something will be done. I went out a few days ago, about 1,200 yards from the camp, to reconnoitre, with an officer of the 40th, and riding through the high fern, we suddenly came upon 15 or 20 of the enemy, about 80 yards from us. One of them, however, was nearer, and we saw him about 15 yards off, when, seeing he was discovered, he jumped up and fired at us, the ball whistled between our heads, and we turned and galloped home. Their object was to have let us pass, and then they would have had us to a certainty, but our discovery of the nearest chap foiled them. lam living in a tent which but ill protects me from the rain. I have been busy here on field works, &c., and have not had time to write till this last day or two. To-morrow will be the laat opportunity of sending a letter which will present itself. Ono of the clergymen of the district generally rides out to the camp from Taranaki to read the service, and he will take the mail *s he returns. It will thence be forwarded to Auckland and Sydney. The Maoris respect clergymen, who frequently ride to the enemy's pah, and read the service there, for the Maoris are Christians. They (the clergymen) ride everywhere unmolested by the natives. A great gloom was thrown over the camp to-day (20th) by a sad event which occurred in the afternoon. A bullock cart went down with the driver and a soldier, to gather firewood at the beach, near it blockhouse, situated about a hundred yards from the mouth of the river. They went on about three quarters of a mile along the beach, and halted the cart, and the driver, named Harris, went on to see if better wood could not be obtained. He advanced about eighty yards, when two hoitile natives jumped down from a sand-hill close by. One tomahawked him on the back of the he»d, and the other, when ho fell, put his gun to his head and shot him, the bullet passing through the skull. Of course, death was instantaneous". The man who remained at the bullock cart thus fired at by five men, but, not being hit, he ran ofi to the blockhouse, situated at the mouth of the river, and brought the news. An armed party was sent out to recover the body, and the poor fellow was found quite dead. They saw the tracks of natives in the »and for about * mile, and lost them on arriving at a swamp. What makes the affair more sad is, that the man was the sole support of his family, consisting oE * mother and two sisters. It is unsafe to go half a mile from the camp, except in the direction of the blockhouse, as the Maoris are constantly prowling about. The bush is full of pahi, which will have to be taken ono by one, if the natives are to be reduced to submission. This is a war in which little credit is to be gained, for people at home undervalue the difficulties which are met with in combating the natives on their own ground, and m cover. Th» whole country is more or less covered with high fern and Tui shrub, rising from three and a half to six and s>even feet. The natives, from long piactice, and theii constant internal quarrels, are perfect in this species of fighting, and I do not hesitate to say that our men are no match for them in the fern. They crawl and creep where an European soldier could not go, and they seldom expose their bodies to fire. By these means, the superiority in accuracy and range of our rifles are in a great measure thrown away ; and if we had no field guns, we should not be able to stand before them. It is not unlikely that in the present state of affair:) in Europe, the Government will demur to sending the force required for the subjection and punishment of the natives. The importance of the affair is not to be underrated. In the event of a war with France, that nation, by furnishing our antagonists with great guns, and ammunition, would supply their sole want, and give them a great superiority over vi, unless we are strengthened by reinforcements. It would be difficult for the closest observer, or the most gifted with political forehght, to tell how the present complication m Europe will end. I trust that the result will be peace, for the consequences of a war, into which it is probable every European nation must be diawn, are fearful to reflect upon. I cannot think that Napoleon is m the least to be depended upon, and his conduct in the affair of Savoy and Nice will lose him many believers. I nqp, in an extract from the Parliamentary debates, that the disturbance in New Zealand has been denied by Mr. Fortescue. I suppose he was in possession of no certain information. I must close this letter, as the clergyman from Taranaki has arrived, and this will be the last certain opportunity I shall have of sending my letter. Give my dearest love to E. and S. and J., and to my dear father. I hope I shall see you all well again, and that moment I look forward to as the most pleabant in the future. Give my love to aunt S. and to Sir , and to all my friends, not omitting my uncle R. and my aunt M. T. I have presented none of my introductions up to this time, not having had the opportunity. I have much to »ay, but time will not permit. — Ever, my dear mother, your affectionate son. P.S. — If I have another opportunity, I shall continue where I left off.