THE ESCAPED PRISONERS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 7, Issue 538, 18 October 1864, Page 4

THE ESCAPED PRISONERS.

DESCRIPTION OP THE PAH. ( From the New Zealand Herald, Oct. 8. ) We regret to have to announce that the news from the neighbourhood of the rehel pah at Omaha is of a very exciting and disastrous character, and again we urge upon Sir George Grey, before it be too late, to retrieve, as far as possible, his unhappy blunder in allowing these prisoners to escape into this hitherto peaceful district, by taking decisive measures before the disaffection spreads generally throughout the North. The pah is situated about four miles from the Omaha Bay, upon a lofty range, eleven hundred feet above the level of the sea, but not far from it is another range from which it might be shelled. To take it by storm -would be attended with a large sacrifice of life, the ascent is steep and rugged, and the pah itself is built with a double palisading and covers about half an acre of land. The uprights of the inner palisading are placed at intervals of three inches apart, and within them, round the whole pah, are lines of rifle pits— the outer palisading reaching only to within about fifteen inches from the ground. The men in the rifle pits oau fire through the inner

palisading and under the bottom of £he outer ones at an attacking party. The palisading is constructed with great strength and solidity. , We learn that since the taking up of this position by the Waikatos they have been joined by the Natives, both men and women, of several neighbouring settlements, and that their numbers have been thus very considerably increased. Of arms they have plenty, and it may be inferred that they do not want for ammunition, when they can afford to throw it away as they now do upon pigeon shooting. The flour they have, is used only by the chiefs, the main bulk living on tJte settlers' cattle which they are daily hillina, and from fish procured at the beach. The greatest alarm has been manifested by the settlers at the presence among them of this large and predatory force. The natives themselves do not disguise their intentions. They say openly that they will remain and gather strength, and that then by a preconcerted arrangement, risings will take place simultaneously in the North, in Waikato, and at Taranaki. What we have already stated we give as facts. We may now mention by the way that there was a rumour at Matakana, when the intelligence we now give was despatched from thence, that during the absence of her husband, a woman in a lonely farmstead was intimidated by a pistol held to her head while the house was ransacked. We give this one piece of intelligence, as we have received it, as rumour ; the rest may be implicitly relied on. The Waikatos, that is, the escaped prisoners, are represented to have behaved orderly and decently enough on their first arrival, but the allies who have joined them are the very reverse in character, and all may be said to be now bad alike. Several settlers had already sent their cattle away, and the greatest excitement prevailed. la there no way of bringing this terrible blunder to a close without the spilling of blood 1 Cannot the pah be invested aud the occupants be starved into a surrender, and all communication between them arid Northern natives cut off. Will Sir Geo. Grey do nothing to rectify the evil which his mistaken trust in Maori honour has brought about, or will he allow the whole North to drift into war, and quietly sit by till he hears that men and women and little children, of his own race, have been ruthlessly butchered or driven as fugitives from their homes ? The Southern Cross of the 13th, after commenting in unmeasured terms upon the conduct of the Governor in this matter, thus adds : — Since writing the above, we understand that steps have been taken to ensure the removal of the escaped rebels from the North ; and that upon their failure to respond to the overtures now being made to them, within a week from this time.decisive action will be taken which will at once, it is hoped, bring them to a proper sense of their position. It was quite clear that the case of the settlers in the North was one that could not be slighted, and we are glad to find that an attempt is .being made to meet it — by what agency will appear hereafter. The same journal has been told that a settler, possessing about 300 head of cattle in the vicinity of the rebel pa at Omaha, has sent up instructions to bring them to Auckland. He is not sufficiently patriotic to feed the defenders of Rangiriri, out of pure love of good fellowship.