SACRILEGE BY THE HAUHAUS. IMPORTANT NEWS FROM PETANE. THREATENED ATTACK UPON NAPIER.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2870, 6 October 1866, Page 5

SACRILEGE BY THE HAUHAUS. IMPORTANT NEWS FROM PETANE. THREATENED ATTACK UPON NAPIER.

Odst as we (Hawke's Bay Times) were going to preai this morning, the following important communication was placed in our hands, which we now proceed to lay before our readers :—: — Petane, September 23. The Titiokura natives, having marched down here, with the intention of taking Napier, are making the Po Pa their quarters for the present. After killing nearly all the pigs and fowls in the neighbourhood, breaking fences and such like actions, they crowned all by chopping down the churob to-day. A great deal of the timber has been sold to the Europeans. Pigs are selling at 4d. each and upwards. Horses may be obtained from £1 10s. to £5. What motive they could have in demolishing thn church I cannot say, except they wish to raise the wind. They cut the studs on one side, and then pulled it bodily over. I think it in quite time that these natives were made to move from here, as it is apparently their headquarten. These Hauhaua left Titiokura with the intention of taking Napier, having been told by a European that there were only fifteen soldiers left in the place, and it would be quite easy to take the barracks and all the ammunition. They should certainly be taken prisoners, as it would be easy to prove that the natives left their stronghold with the above intention. The Hawke's Bay Herald, writing on the same Bubject, sayi : — Pitanb. — The Titiokura natives, who have been located at Petane for some time, and who profess to have come upoa Mr. McLeans invitation, are reported to have pulled down the church in that locality, and to hare made free with pigs, horses, and other articles, the property of the resident natives. We have heard that they are sadly in want of supplies, and possibly this may partly explain their conduct. At all events, we don't; think that Napier is in any danger, even though only garrisoned by a sergeant's guard, and that the "sensation heading" of our contemporary was scarcely called for under the circumstances. In this, as in many other instances, however, we should be nothing the worse of having Mr. McLean back again.