HOW OUR DEFEAT AT RUARURU WAS CAUSED.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3512, 17 October 1868, Page 3

HOW OUR DEFEAT AT RUARURU WAS CAUSED.

Now that the results of the late We«fc Coa»t c*mpaign, and their sorrowful reflections, are but too well known, a few words upon some questions which have beeu touched upon in the Dews papers relative to the late struggle may not be out of place. These are, the traiuing and discipline of the European portion of the colonial forces lately employed against the rebels ; the rebels themselves, and the principles that actuated tho*e particular tribes to "resist Colonel McDonuell so successfully. In the first place, it may be admitted that Colonel McDonnell's tiuropean levies, from time to time, were what is termed '• raw levies,'' and have been from time to tiujo " coming and going." The first question that may be asked is, Were those men drilled and trained to th* use of arm* ? Ho doubt but a mau joining Colonel iVicDouuell's Constabulary Force, wtitn he got an Eufield or a Terry's breech-loader in his hands, wou d say, " Ail n^hfc, f understand all aliout it. I was drilled in the Koyal Victoria Kifles, the Sydney Volunteers, or the Ballarac Mouuted Constabulary:" He will pretend to know all about the front and back ciglit3, the elevations, the diitmoes, on the sliding b*r, the line ot fire, the line of sight, the trajectory from 100 to 1,000 yards, and those other minute matters a knowledge of which makes the rifle a sure and deadly weapon but one that in untutored hands is merely a vehicle to waste powder and ball. People will then ask, were such men passed into the ranks without a trial of their professed proficiency? It is natural to suppose they were, under hurried circumstances. Men of this stamp go into action they come in sight of the enemy, who is armed with double and single-barrelled fowling-pieces, with the foresight only as a guide to hit the object aimed at. The men, untrained to the use^ of the rifle, blaze away at the enemy, and out of a dozen shots it's a chance if one hits a darkukin ! In the mean time the enemy is firing away ; his weapon has no distancegauge or back-sight ; he loses no time in covering his object, and dovrn come the untrained troops in threes and four out of the several groups they have formed, as has been proved in the late disasters. It has been clearly shown from the several descriptions of the fights at Ngntu-o-te-Manu and Kuaruru, that Colonel McDonnell's European levies were continally in groups, into which the deadly volleys from the enemy were poured. This, of itself, shows the want of training and discipline. The world knows that the front or foresight of the rifles, now in use by the army, if turned the smallest, jot to the right or left in action, is only waste of ammunition, so far as the object aimed at is concerned . The reasons are obvious. The men are not trained by lessons to the particular parts and uses of such parts of their weapons, by which, if learned, they could not miss their object. Somehow or other the Maoris appear to know this, particularly those on the West Coast, who have heretofore, viz., in October and November, 1866, fled before the reguUr troops, who, ia the presence of Sir Grey, burned every tenantless village they came on from Keteonetea, on the South, t<»Puogeruhu on the North, since rebuilt by the canibal hordes of Tit <kowaru. There are several instiuctive lessons which, in actual war time, might be dispensed with, but one half-hour every day for a few days at •'aiming drill," previous to attacking the enemy, would do immense service to men not regularly trained to the nfle. This half-hour'B aiming drill, so far as relates to making a good marksman of a young hand, is worth all the other lessons put together. Let the matter be lo>ked at in an ther way. Let Titokowaru's savages be equipped with the like arms and ammunition lately used against them, and, instead of hufcing what they aim at, they will surely hit the ground ten or twenty paces in front, and to the right or left of the object ; while the Kurope&n local troopw, armed with the Maoris double-barrelled rifles, will be picking them down like blackberries. T» all reasonable minda the argument will find five admission. A raw recruit in the Regulars won't be sent into action until he is drilled and instructed, by an officer appointed for the purpose, to the use of the rifle; and some of our late local forces were worse than recruits, in *" much as they became disorganised, which wa9 in a manner worae than knorauce of their weapons of defence; and their first professions of a knowledge of such weapons must have been taken a: gospel. To obey orders given by a superior is indispensably necessary, in particular when in adiou. If a commanding officer hays, " Sergeant Jones, take six men, and hold that gap on the right until I order you to retire," the order is obeyed, and Sergeant Jones will not retire, though each of his men be sh»t down, until he is ordered to do so. Now it is a que^ion, would such au order, or a dozen ot similar orders, from Colonel McDonnell be obeyed at Kuaruru, where everything got into a disorganised Bt»te after the first volley from the enemy? Another thing a repulse must follow an attacking force approaching a pa, when they get into knots of eights and tens. Eveiy man should be three or four paces from his comrade, unless there is a rush at an entrance, or a storming party at » favourable point. It it much feared that among local troops there exists «h"t is termed a smattering of indifference to orders issued by "old chums" when superiors *"uch indifference is evinced by an. an affected nonchalance, while the superior thinks it h>«rd to get into a *' shindy" with him who disobeys, thereby feeding the seed of insubordination, instead of nipping it in the bud. This indifference cannot easily be extinguished from the breasts of men whole maxim is, " Here to-day, and away to-morrow «"