WHO IS BOUSFIELD?

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1016, 23 January 1869, Page 3

WHO IS BOUSFIELD?

(From the "Wanganui Times," Jan. 12.) Once more we trace, in a letter which appears in tho Auckland Weekly News of Saturday last, a defence of Colonel Whitmore's " precautions," and " cautious movements," and a denunciation of the Wanganui press, which we at once recognise as from the pen of the doughty champion Bousfield. Before quoting from the "defence" we shall answer the question —Who is Bousfield? Last year, after Colonel Whitmore's defeat upon the East Coast he was assailed not only by the press and people generally, but also in the Legislative Assembly. Whilst being thus roughly handled there was one man, and only one man in the colony, who then, as now, wrote to the Auckland papers to defend him, and that man was Mr. 0. L. W. Bousfield. But —Who is Bousfield ? Well, Mr. Bousfield is, or rather was, a very respectable settler at Poverty Bay, a surveyor by profession, but not particularly engaged when he undertook Colonel Whitniore's defence, [ When the gallant colonel was appointed to the command upon the West Coast he wrote to Mr. Bousfield, thanking him for the manner in which he had defended his character in the public press, and offering him, as a reward for his valuable services, and for others of a like nature which might still be inquired of him, the appointment of SUBVETOB TO THE WEST Coast Field Force ! In that capacity Mr. Bousfield came to Wanganui in the early part of November last, when he favored us with a visit and offered his services as correspondent to this paper. Thus we became acquainted with the foregoing facts, but declined employing Mr. Bousfield as our special correspondent simply because of his having received a sinecure appointment for the purpose of devoting his .'leisure to write up his chief, an arrangement which we did not wish to see carried out in the columns of the Times. During the time that Mr. Bousfield remained in these districts he managed to get but one letter into our columns in defence of his pati*on, hut we have not failed to trace his productions in other papers, the last of which is that now under consideration, and from that we give the following extract to show how Mr. Bousfield j earns his pay as Subvetor to the East | Coast Field Fobce. Writing to our | Auckland contemporary Mr. Bousfield ! says : — " Having hut a small force with him, [ and wishing to avoid the inconvenience and harassing duties of convoys, Colonel Whitmore is taking bodily the whole of his provisions, making short marches, and at each position throwing up a slight earthwork as future shelter for any small parties moving up and clown the road. At Fort Arawa the dray road ceases, and packing is the order of the day. Any of your readers of an arithmetical turn of mind may amuse themselves by calculating the number of horses required to carry rations for 12 days at the rate of l^lb. biscuit a day, with tea, sugar, and coffee (the mutton carries itself) for a force of 380 men, further to be supplemented by 230 Ngatiporous and Turanganui Volunteers, and to bring up ammunition, oats, two cohorns with their shells and powder, entrenching tools, hospital tents, and all such paraphernalia. To get up these supplies for his men, Colonel Whitmore has been ablo to raise 25 horses, which have by this time dwindled down to 20 ! And yet in the face of such obstacles the force is now, with four days' rations on hand, within eight miles of Ngatapa. I need not remind your readers that the best General is not ho who is always ready for a dash, but he who carefully matures his plans, and, once convinced they are right, allows no circumstances to turn him from them ; brings up his men to the field of action in proper trim with proper supplies, and provides for all contingencies. So far, Colonel Whitmore has succeeded in doing this. lam induced to make the above remarks from having read inthe Hawke's Bay aud Wanganui papers several most scurrilous letters and articles touching the Colonel ; and what surprised me most was that, while the writers all agreed in vituperating his personal character as well as his professional acts, not one suggested any course which could be approved of by any one out of Bedlam." Well done Bousfield ! If Col. Whitmore had not prudently taken you with him when he left for the East Coast, the Auckland papers and the world at largo, might remain in profound ignorance of the fact that Col. Whitmore is always " ready for a dash" and able "to bring up his men to the field of action in proper trim, with proper supplies ; provides for all contingences" and is still " rapidly in pursuit." That communication is worth at least a month's pay as " surveyor to the field force," in which capacity, no doubt, our quondam acquaintance will return with his patron to Wanganui. Ono more extract and we are done :— Ngatapa, December 27. " From a high fern ridge on the left of the road Wo have caught a glimpse of Ngatapa — at least the staff and your correspondent haye — and the view confirms the opinion expressed upon the line of march. 'We are engaged in an Abyssinian campaign, on a small scale.' Reduce tho numbers engaged, the length of the journey, tho side of the ravines, and the elevation of the final goal and you have our field of action. It remains to be proved whether Ngatapa will fall into our hands as easily as Magdala dropped into Sir R. Napier's. From its appearance I should say the reverse. It looks from tho distance liko a sugarloaf, with three consecutive circles of entrenchments around tho top. To-morrow I shall bo nearer it, and better ablo to give a description, unless the enemy is in sufficient force to delay our progress. Hitherto wo have met with no obstacles which a fatigue party could not remove, aud this has been, and is likely to continue, a spade and pick campaign. This accounts for the apparently slow progress made." We trust our Auckland contemporaries wjll not fail to appreciate tho productions which thoy publish from the " occasional correspondent," and also the trouble we have takon to tell them who is Bousfield. As those communications are about the only quid, pro quo that the colony receives for the salary drawn by the " surveyor to the field force" it is only right that taxpayers should know something of how the monoy goes.

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