IMPORTANT from EAST COAST.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 8, Issue 694, 24 October 1865, Page 3

IMPORTANT from EAST COAST.

c ......,___- — r _— _•: I Evacuation of Pukemaire, and Sttrl rertderoftlieEebels! j The Success, schooner. Captain Frost, was quite a picture as, ou Saturday morning, sho beat up the Bay. with Hau Hair [ colours flying from both masts. She had ' ou board as passengers Lieutenant Biggs, j S. Deighton, Esq., R.M., and Mr. Preece, Government interpreter j also three r wounded men— -Serjeant-MajorJSmyth and { Private Walsh, of the Military Settlers, and Sergeant Hodges, of the Hawke's P Bay Volunteers ; also Corporal Blakeuey , and 12 men as a guard over 19 prisoners — 18 Maoris and 1 negro. The news she brings is highly satisfactoiy. Although Pukemaire was not ', taken by assault, it wns subsequently evacuated ; and the rebels followed up with such rapidity lhat, after sustaining heavy loss, they wero glad to capitulate, giviug up their arms aud acknowledging the Queen's sovereignty. For full particulars wo refer pur readers to the subjoined narrative, for which we are chiefly indebted to private coininu ilications. ' The Success left Opotiki. on tho 11th instant, having ou board Captain Husscy aud 65 men of tho Taranaki Rangers, who were landed on or about the 12th, two or thire days after the destruction of Pukemaire. Unfortunately, therefore, they were too late to bo of service, nnd will probably bo sent back to Opotiki by first opportunity. Thero is no further news from that district, beyond that one of Fulloon's murderers had been apprehended.

—^*— ■ --■-■----■-_WPi_MtW_W_a_____Ml«________i We comm^n^|d^ iae^olibt of late occurrences at ithoi^Watapu. by refer ring to THE ADVANCB TO PIJ___MAIE_i. H.M.S. Brisk paving amyed. off Waiapu on Sunday, Ist instant, and Captain Westrupp, Lieutenant' Boss, and i 5 men of the Forest Rangers having been landed next (Monday) morning— -it was resolved by Major Fraser to take advantage of this reinforcement to make an immediate attack upon Pukemaire pa, or, at all events, to reconnoitre it in force with the intention of niaJcing a position tenable in anticipation of an attack at a future time. Accordingly, at .2 o'clock on the morning of Tuesday the 3rd, a force consisting of (as nearly as we can ascertain, for we have failed to get the slightest information at tbe Militia office,) 45 Forest Rangers, 25 Hawke's Bay Volunteers, and. 40 Military Settlers, under command of Major Fraser, together with a large party of natives, started for the scene of operations-— arriving at the church, wbich stands oh one end of a long spur-— Pukemaire | standing on the other — at 6 a.m. On the spur, between the church and the pa, were two lines of rifle pits, but these, fortunately, proved to be unoccupied. Provisions and ammunition were to follow, in charge of Lieutenant Gascoigne ; and we have only to add that the day was a wretched one for such an enterprise — the rain pouring in torrents and the weather inclement. THE PA. The pa is ropresented on all hands to have been a place of enormous strength — one which might have been defended successfully against any attacking force. The accompanying rough plan will probabiy give a better idea of it than we ceuld by mere description :-—