AUCKLAND.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 7, Issue 432, 28 October 1863, Page 2

AUCKLAND.

(From our own Correspondent.) October 22, 1863." ' The moment of the mail's departure is a very unfortunate one. We may be said to tremble on the verge of great events, both political- and martial, but they have not yet come. As I suppose, in spite of :the immense importance of political affairs in the Assembly at present,' your readers -are even more- deeply interested in the war news, I will just endeavour to give you as clear an idea of how things stand at this moment as possible. The General may even at this moment be moving on Meremere, although we do not know that he is so. This day (Thursday) was the one originally proposed for the assault, as I chance to know, and, so far as the military authorities could ensure it, all is ready. The ." Pioneer " gunboat (late Waikato), however, has met with an untoward accident, which has disabled her to a great extent for a few days, so that she has not got further than the inside of the Manakau Heads. As she was steaming round to enter the Waikato on Sunday last she burst one of the steam pipes of her eugine boiler, and had to bring up to get it repaired. This is now being done, but I cannot ascertain on which day it will be completed. What effect this unexpected accident may have I cannot of course say, as the General's plans included some material assistance from the "Pioneer," both as to artillery practice and as to towing other boats. I cannot suppose the General will delay any considerable time, even with this in view, unless the boat can speedily be got. ready. The measures taken on land are very simple and complete, however, and may be easily stated. The troops, with the exception of some of the 18th under Colonel Chapman, and a few of th£ same and the 70th, with Col. Nixon in the flying column, are all at the front; and the first (or Pitt's) regiment of Waikato Militia have taken their places in all the posts between Papakura and the Queen's Redoubt, Pokeno, which may now be identified with the "front," as the bridge across the broad and difficult waters of jftie Mauugatawhiri Creek is now fully completed, and passable for horse, foot, •««d-« artillery,- which -can now go to the Whangamarina Creek without any hindrance. At this moment, Pitt's headquarters are at Drury, but they will in a " day or two be moved to Pokeno, whence I suppose they will only move on to the land where the regiment is to settle so soon as that is decided upon. All the posts from Papakura to Otahuhu are held by the second regiment of Waikato Militia (Colonel Hamilton's), while about 400 men of the third regiment (to be Major j Lyon's) are at the Camp Otahuhu. Iv j addition to the force of about 2500 soldiers whom the General can move up the river any day now, there will be nearly 500 men of a naval brigade from the various men-of-war on the station, commanded in person by Sir William Wiseman, the j Commodore. The detachment from the Curaooa, above 200 strong, went up on Saturday last. Two days ago a daring act was performed by two meu of the volunteer corps — -Ensign Von Tempsky, of the Forest Rangers, and an officer of the Defence Force. These two went as scouts quite within the enemy's lines at Paparata, behind Meremere, and have brought, I am "told, much valuable information to the •General. They were very nearly discovered by some native dogs chasing pigs, -but, owing to their long experience in such plans, they had hidden even too well for ?dogs~to find them out, and got off after a four days' expedition beyond our lines and on hostile ground. They report large .numbers of natives at Meremere and Paparata, which is very gratifying, as the only fear here is that they may have decamped before we can get at them. . . Since -my- last letter there have occurred several more very, brutal murders of set- 1 tiers who. would persist mi going into the; -forest 'regardless of the well-ascertained fact. that >i£ was full of, danger from the. 'email parties of half a dozen natives or so. that were prowling about in search of plunder and, opportunities of murder.. These, deaths.have" in all amounted tOifbmv .__ two of the", victims old men, one old woman, '■ and one a mere child. In every case; great Elaine 'attaches to the unfortunatevictims, for vtheir carelessness and Hisregars^ the less is the spirit ,of. \fche ... settlers .becoming bitter , under the trials and a fearful retribution 'wili yet be eiacted' Tlie "flying, column .

has beeu enlarged to five, hundred men,in two parties, and I expect shortly to hear that all outlying bodies of natives have been driven in by them to their jh^dr quarters. 1 1 quite expect that we' shall soon have the third regiment of Waikato Militia fully enrolled, as, -when the 150 men expected from Tasmania in a few days arrive, we shall have nearly, if not quite, 600 men of the corps. The first and second regiments each contain 1100 men full, and are very fine looking bodies of men. * In political affairs we have not got beyond the region of expectation yet. The Assembly was opened with a speech which you will find of course in the papers, and a reply was moved last night by Mr. Graham, Superintendent of the Province. The debate upon it was adjourned, however, for a week on Dr. Featherston's mo.tionto allow of the arrival of expected members from the South by the Ashley. The Domett Ministry, it is all but certain, will not stand the shock of au attack, as they are divided among themselves and only want to be touched to fall to pieces. Stafford is generally looked upon as the coming man. Formal business is all that is likely to be done for some days in the Assembly, although of course anything may be unexpectedly made a bone of contention. The schemes of the Ministry are most extensive, including the introduction of 20,000 military settlers from Europe, and the seizing all the waste lands of the rebels, except what they actually need for use. Any other Ministry will be partly' composed out of the members of the existing one, and must so Var follow in. their steps as to adopt much of these schemes, which are generally felt to be needful. The Claud Hamilton arrived here last night at midnight from Sydney with nine army surgeons on board. They will be needed. The following is from another private source : — It is believed that the Government has a majority in the Lower House, but that there are some difficulties in carrying on the Government as it is at present constituted. The Southern Island members complain that their interests are overlooked, and ask for two Ministers, or the whole Government, to be moved to some spot in one of the Southern provinces. The adjournment, moved by Dr. Featherston and seconded by Mr. Fitzgerald, was acceded to by the Government, but had a division been called for it is more than probable it would have been lost, as members were extremely annoyed at the absence of so many. Mr. Cracroft Wilson's speech, animadverting on those members who were not in their places, was approved by almost everyone in the House. The Waitara question is by no means looked upon with satisfaction. Mr. Domett having unfortunately given way in the Proclamation, cannot now fchaugeihis line of defence. Still iv his own memoranda it is apparent that he was actuated by a desire to avoid a new war on the old grounds. War he knew was certain, and policy, not justice, was his true reason for eediug the Waitara. The Colonial Office letter stating that a new war must not be entered upon to acquire land from the natives, or on any laud question, had just arrived. Rewi was in full march. Tataraimaka was certain to be a cause of the war for which Waitara would be made the excuse. 200 acres of the 600 he had been obliged to give up already, and he therefore decided on allowing the rest to follow. Had he embodied this in the proclamation all parties agree that rthey' Would' Have supported him- ••■ '; The Upper House will come to-day to a dead lock. There is ho Miuister in the Council, and ti motion for adjournment will be passed from day to day until a Miuister is appointed. v . It is said that on Sunday or Monday.-! Meremere will be attacked. The steamer; broke down but isnow repaired. j