POVERTY BAY NOTES.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1014, 16 January 1869, Page 3

POVERTY BAY NOTES.

[Tho following notes, from a semi-official source, havp been kindly placed at our disposal. Wo print them with pleasure, not that ive agree with tho writer in his inferences, but that tho aspect of affairs may Do regarded from all points of view.— Ed.] The Ngatiporo are very well pleased with the treatment they have received, and declare themselves willing to respond at any time to the call of the Government, if required. They havo looted largely ; and, indeed, if they had not stopped to rifle the swags of the slain and the women, nothing could have saved Te Kooti. He broke out only a very short time before our troops entered, and where he gained the forest there is no track, and the supplejacks are very thick — so that, to make the nearest path, he must havo been much delayed. Only some fifty or sixty stand of arms have been taken, but in most cases the fugitives fired on their pursuers, and then dispersed in the bush, throwing their guns away. When caught and killed, these were seldom found. Indeed, their loads were so valuable, that the friendlies j preferred carrying the loot to looking for the guns. To .Kooti's immediate followers I only have breech-loaders, and of these there can hardly be very many, and six have been recaptured. Shearing is recommencing at Poverty Bay, and confidence will soon be restored. The local natives are struck off pay, and all the militia except a guard on the store are released from duty. A portion of the constabulary remains till the Ngatiporo have returned to their homes, when it will be withdrawn. The Ngatiporo settlement will soon after be formed at Patutahi, and will constitute an element of strength, to the district. It is not improbable that the Napier Defence Force may bo also located in the Bay; and the runs, now that the Government becomes the landlord, will obtain better terms and tenure. In fact, the unfortunate Turanga, after all it has gone through, seems now to have a brighter prospect for its future. Mr. Richmond deserves great credit for the courage with which he has faced the difficult problem of the East Coast difficulty, and the skill with which he is working out its solution. On board the Sturt are two ladies of distinction, Madame Kooti and Nikora's sister. It appears that the prisoners under the charge of Ropata, whom lie is about to take to Waiapu, havo shown a verygreat disposition to seize every opportunity to escape. A very vigilant watch is kept on the men, and if they make the least attempt they are very unlikely to get very far. Most of the women are so miserably thin, and have undergone such privations, that they resign themselves very contentedly to captivity. But these two ladies having been, better caved for, are very much disappointed at not receiving greater consideration, and have twice been found " making tracks." Ropata, therefore, asked Colonel Whitmoro to take charge of them, and they are now on board the Sfcurt, awaiting the decision of the Government. In all there cannot have been less than 150 of Kooti's followers killed, wbile 30 men and 250 "women and children are prisoners in the hands of tlie Ngatiporo, who undertake the charge without the cost of a guard to the Government. If Te Kooti has escaped, his followers must be reduced to a score or so of men, and among. these not one man of rank is included. Whether lie will have courage to present himself wounded aud a fugitive among tho Uriweras is very doubtful. That tribe refused him assistance in men several times ; but one section at last sent him 30 recruits under Rangialio, a chief of consequence. Not five of these recruits will return to tell the tribe the horrors of the siege, and to narrate the incidents of the pursuit in which their chief was slain. It seems, therefore, very improbable that Kooti will be able to collect any considerable force again to carry out the atrocities which his correspondence shows lie meant to have perpetrated. Mr. Richmond, whose great talents as an artist are well known, has made many interesting sketches of Ngatepa, which will doubtless soon be copied by photograph, and render Kooti's Gibraltar familiar to everybody. Mr. Bousfield, staff surveyor, has also made many sketches and plans of the place, and lias made a military survey of the whole country between Turanganui and Ngatepa, which was very little known before.