WAIROA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 12, Issue 970, 18 August 1868, Page 3

WAIROA.

FURTHER DETAILS FROM THE FEONT. (FEOM 'ova. OWH COHBESPONDENT.) T ;.';; '. . Clyde, August 13. ■Thu. last news I sent you was that the Hauhaus had escaped from the intercepting "forces 1 ;- had crossed the Hungaroain safety; <£hd:. that,., some four or five days after, Whitmore crossed the same river in pursuit. :>I have now to tell you of one of the saddest reverses that has befallen us. It appears that, encouraged by the freshness *of *be #ail, Colonel Whitmore lost sight of s €very other, consideration in the hope of getting- up with the. enemy. 11l supplied . with stores, absolutely ignorant of whither he >was going, undervaluing the skill and courage of the enemy, disdainful of the an&st ordinary precautions, he pushed recklesslyon. Fagged and half starved as the men were, they renewed their vigour upon aight of the camp fires in the Ruaki Turi. jflS&y, . consul jsation, it appears to have been ;«greed to /push on for another half day, .and, if , then 'failing to come up with the jenemy, to abandon further attempt. The ' 'following morning, the enemy was seen by the scouts some few miles ahead; and our people toiled along, marching in the bed of "thW^e^ in the direction of the Pa Puni. . Just before entering the gorge, a small stream f?orn the west, the Waipaoa, joins 4 ■ihV'Ruaki Turi, almost at right angles with stream. An island of boulders .^and shingle, coyerel with a dense manuka -; scrub, stands, as it were in front of the "-' creek's mouth ; on the north bank a high vfciUftTie Rakaiwhaia, rises suddenly from the river— a small flat lying at its foot. The southern face of the hill is covered with i^acrn^b, <and the track leads up a steep ridge .covered, with fern and flax. Again, on the \ south bank of the Waipaoa, is a manuka scrub-covered flat, backed up by the eternal ■ forest. ...For some reason best known to themselves the enemy turned aside from the direct, road leading to the Pa Puni, and entered into the gorge of the Waipaoa. A few of their number were seen by our : - forces scattered about the island, and a ~'?am'd advance was made to attack them. '^Atf pur people neared, they commenced . firing— hot with much vigour at first, but rapidly increasing in power as their force .collected. • Our men had to cross the river bed in the open, exposed to this treatment, aniiJ replying with what effect they could. , As bur party drew into the western bank, the enemy mounted the Eakaiwbaia .hjlj, outflanking and pouring a deadly ' ;i fire, inj» bur people. Capt. Carr fell; Mr. « ; J)avis.Ganning, two troopers named Patrick ; Condon and William Goates, and a friendly '•'••■ native /Rehirai were shot dead. Six others 'wounded ; amongst them Capt. Arthur Tuke, whb,was shot through the arm — the bullet .v-j glancing, off a rock and inflicting a painful bruised flesh wound not injuring the bone. „j-4n ? ^her bullet, passed through his clothes. -*J-.M n ?*P;^orkthis. Poor Canping handed his , ' carbine to Barney Reed, as he fell pierced ftv> by, two, bullets. Capfc. Carr's weapons and S- « a fH?sack v witb. his body, became the posses- : - l «on>pflthe enemy. Mr. Withers, of the con<fr t ßtabulary,^.bebaved with great gallantry, v ;V ; üßßsisjtjng in carrying off the wounded ; in"^:^ee^|lljbehaved well, and the pity is that aoslhfi^cbtiragei rshould : have been so thrown i.eneniy, suffered, some loss ; X T^OU?f accounts make up a tale of nine .■j}.£3j^ljs.fjiXL They retired into the bush,

but our party did not venture to recover the bodies of the slain; There was nothing for it now. btit to return to Wairoa with the wounded ; the first of the party reached Clyde this (Thursday) afternoon, Dr. Brown having charge, and striving to make every arrangement to secure the poor fellows' comfort. I subjoin a list of the castialties. By the way, who told you the story about the snow stopping the Ilauhaus ; . it is a mere tale of a " frog and a roasted apple." Once at Te Pa Puni, there is nothing to stop their going to Mangapowhatu. I have credible information these two years past that a good ! bush road has been cut by the Ureweras from Mangapowhatu ., to the Pa Puni, or rather to within a few miles of it. The entrance from this end is not easily to be found; but it exists sure enough. Kareopa tried hard to persuade them to erect a pa on Puketapu, the sister hill to Rakaiwhaia, where the action took place. Had our men been drawn into the Pa Puni, two-thirds of them would have lost the number of their mess. I think we have reason to thank Providence that the disaster, great as it is, is not infinitely greater. In viewing this and the preceding engagements, it must be borne in mind that any action falling short of the total destruction or recapture of the Haubaus, must be looked upon as a defeat ; and I maintain that no offensive operations should have been taken by us, that did not promise a fair prospect of such results. The two first skirmishes were in a measure unavoidable, but this last will bear no such palliation ; and lam greatly erring in my judgment of the view the public will take of this matter, if a strict enquiry be not insisted on, for the purpose of ascertaining the causes that led to, and the grounds upon which this sad and fatal expedition was undertaken. The enemy have lost, at a rough guess, some thirty men from first to last. What then ? they will be replaced by ten times the number : in every other respect they have been victors. I don't believe the story about the number of arms in tbeir possession, or about the ammunition ; if two kegs were all they got, they fired that away at Poverty Bay. " There's a hole in the ballad " somewhere. It is now beyond a doubt the intention of the enemy to make Mangapowhatu and Ruatahuna their muster places. I don't know how it is, but certain parties are lamentably deficient in geographical knowledge, and wont be taught either.