OUR DEFENCES. To the Editor of the Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1928, 21 September 1863, Page 4

OUR DEFENCES. To the Editor of the Daily Southern Cross.

Sir, —l believe the conectness of Mr. Lanfear's statement with regard to the canoes. Spending, as ho does, the greatest pat b of his time in smling nbotit the gulf of the Thames, &c , on Missionary tours from place to place, I think he mpy l>e allowed to know a canoe when lie «ees one at midday, and ro elise at hand as to be able to count the men aboard. He doe 1* not pretend to «.iy what they were doing ; they might have been fishing ns their npologists ■would suggest, or they mi#ht not; and the piobability iB, being ird'r full sail, that they were just arriving from a d at-ince, i c. from the I'niko or the Thames. Pishing mime? are never even half full of men, and so it is likely that the two seen to paddle inshore to Ch&mbcrUin's Inland, contained a small contingent from the other side of the gulf. As to the ' Sand fly'r ' people not seeing any of these canoes, it ia hardly likely they would, at the places they visited, nor indeed at any place at all, unless they went ashore and searched for them amongst the toetoe and scrub, where it is the custom of the Maoris to hide them. Ah for the Lieutenant and his men, they would be all right enough, if they had full liberty, as would also some of our Government officers; but there are others of them too prejudiced or short sighted to conduct a thorough and houesfc inquiry -where Maori interests are concerned. Hoping agaiust hope they wiap themselves up ia a state of false security, and so our weak points, viz., the Wairoa, Howick, and the Tamaki are left almost defenceless. But no, neither the Ngatipaoas nor tho Thames tribes must be suspected of the least complicity with the rebels, though it is well known that tome of their best men have already been engaged with tho troops, and are still in tho field. The old chiefs, as their custom is, will appear neutral or friendly as long as it suits them, and then will burst out suddenly into acts of vengeance or a«groisiou to tho dismay of all, but to the surprise of none but the judicially blind. It cannot but have struck tho most inadvertent that nearly all our disasters h&ve occurred thiougb. our own carelessness or want of foresight and ) re >aration, or disbelief in the treacherous disposition of the enemy j and thus our men are being slain in detail. Wo read of stockades being only breast high and iucomnlete, and without a fence to proteot it, and the adjoining forest left standing as a per jh for the enemy to fire from. This principle of false security we find exemplified by men working awiy from their'arms, and those arms not protected ; and even sentries keeping guard with bayonets unfived, and paying for their negligence with the lots of taeir thumbs, {

* AtuTyet la tWmidsfc of ' all those losses and surprises, 'no one setms to'h*Ve'so'nse enough to provide watch dogs for the camp." Now it is the general opinion or the .public that 'dogs must be employed as an auxiliary to our forces whoa engaged in forest or bush warfare ;— not, by any means, as bloodhounds, bnt simply as pointers or «etbers,,to give warning of the danger, and to point out tho gumo. For wheu our Maori opponents betake themselves to trees, they can be oonßiilwred as nothing but game, aud fair game too. Hall this camion been adopted, Captain. Swift and his companions would still have beea. amongst us j and the Tuakau natives (for such thoy were— the treacherous Ngatipos) would have suffered instead. Let us rather take counsel from the activity of our enemy, and thus be ever on the Alert in expectation of u momentary surprise ; and above all things, at the present time, when attacks are being made elsewhere, let our northern oast b© properly guarded, and lest reliance placed on the peaceful intentions of the natives. Did uofc all the Waikato tribes spring from the Thames ? and can the parent tribe be thus supposed to forsake his offspring, or '° fl"*f 1 "* km "' *' le ' lonr °^ ne(J d? Wow is it that the mouths of the Wairoa and Tamaki are left wide open to invasion 1 This is a question demandingimmediate attention. — lam, sir, yours, &0., Observer,