WAIROA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1020, 6 February 1869, Page 2

WAIROA.

Lbeom oxte own cobbbspondbnt,] Clyde, Jan. 29, 1869. Some account of our district may not be unacceptable to your readers, as for some time past its very existence has almost passed out of recognition in your columns. Ever since the Turanga campaign approached its termination, we have been more or less excited from time to time by rumours of refugees making their way to our neighbourhood, and more or less alarmed by the sullen aspect of the Uriweras of the Lake, whom we knew to be concentrated in considerable force at a settlement called Tikitiki, on the Waikarimoana, and who, although professedly neutral, were known to have complicity with Te Waru and Te Kooti. Ever since Te Waru was reported missing from Turanga these feelings have augmented, as the settlers generally felt that nothing would be more likely, from the wily nature of that chief, than that he might succeed in inducing the Uriweras to make a diversion in Te Kooti's interests, by making a raid upon our settlement. To all intents and purposes this district has been abandoned, so far as its pastoral occupants are concerned — no settler caring to venture to reoccupy his homestead when at any moment the fruit of his labours might be swept away. Those few who have returned to their legitimate pursuits, have confined themselves to the performance alone ,' of those things which were absolutely npcessary. A painful conviction of the utter insecurity of their position, has thrown the small remnant of our population into a state approaching apathetic indifference. It is bad enough to be killed, but far worse to be ruined and snubbed and bullied into the bargain ; and that is pretty much the treatment which the pastoral and agricultural portions of the population of the whole North Island have been subjected to. During the past fortnight, reports continued to pour into town that armed Hauhau9 were seen, now here, now there, in parties numbering from three to twelve ; and gradually, from the apparently authentic and credible nature of these rumours, public feeling became so excited that it was necessary to put their truth or falsity to the test of actual vision. Our recently appointed commanding officer, whose amiable and gentlemanly bearing had already made him popular with the settlers, took the opportunity of the usual inspection parade of Militia and Volunteers and the regular colonial forces, on Saturday last, to address a few words on the subject to the men, setting forth the difficult position in which the Government were placed, and the fear of incurring expense unnecessarily, and ending by asking for volunteers to enable him to take a small force inland and make a reconnaisance of the positions alleged to be occupied by the enemy. Almost every man on parade expressed a perfect readiness to go, and Captain Spiller thereupon requested all who could procure horses on so short a notice to parade in front of Mr. Taylor's hotel, at eight o'clock on the following morning (Sunday), and further ordered Messrs. Worgan and Preece to procure a few mounted volunteers from the natives, if they could be found willing to go without promise of pay. On Monday morning, twenty-seven armed and mounted men fell in, the majority of them being members of the Wairoa Volunteer Rifles, under Lieut. Finlayson ; a great many others were prevented from going through being unable either to catch their own horses or procure others. Capt. Spiller, accompanied by Messrs. Worgan and Preece, then moved off with this force to Turiroa, where we were joined by fifteen mounted natives, who reported that forty more had started on foot by the Waiau valley, and would meet us further up the river. The march then commenced, and after twenty miles' heavy drag over the ranges, reached Felix Goulet's station, on the Waiau, whom we found engaged in shearing, and who reported that, although fires were continually seen in the ranges, none ot the enemy had actually appeared near his homestead. Felix killed some wethers, and exerted himself to furnish every accommodation to the force that lay in his power. The natives on foot not ha- , ving arrived, we camped at this place for the night, and at daylight moved off to join the natives at the foot of Tukurangi. Finding them still some distance off, we moved on, passed over the top of Manga Mauku, passing the old rifle pits of the last war, and found the settlement had been very recently deserted. The huts, many of them new, were all in excellent condition, and the immense quantity of potatoes showed that no few persons must have been engaged in their cultivation. Fruit was there in abundance, and a splendid crop of rye grass offered sufficient proof of the capability of the soil. In short, the whole settlement is one of the prettiest imaginable. We camped here some time, until the footmen began to make their appearance, when we pushed on. Within a mile we came upon another settlement, Te Iringa-o-Hiro—just abandoned also ; some horses, however, were left, which we captured. Farther on again, we suddenly came upon a large encampment, the fires yet burning, huts and breakwinds recently erected. Searching around some of our party descried ten or twelve natives making away at full speed across the gullies, where horses could not follow. We gave chase along the track, hoping to cut them off, but without again getting sight of them. We then descended the hill into the Waihi valley, and visited the settlement at Whekenui — also, by some mysterious warning, suddenly tenantless. Plere we found potato crops in any quantity, and a pretty village in good order — potatoes for planting, just cut through with the knife, and yet moist — fires burning — dogs barking in the bush. We did not waste time here, but pushed on for Te Kiwi, the alleged dwelling-place of the greater number of the Waiau Hauhaus. Ou reaching the entrance to the bush leading to the settlement, we found the summit of the hill rifle-pitted, and the pits filled with freshly-cut fern ; men's tracks also in every direction. It was six in the evening, and a heavy rain falling. This, with the ominous look of the bush, and the smallness of the foree — thirty in all, determined the officers to return to the Waihi valley, until our supports came up. We camped out, therefore, on the side of a fern hill until daylight, when we went over to Whekenui to cook breakfast and await the arrival of Hapimana's people. On their coming up, we left our horses and advanced on foot up

the hill towards the settlement, the Europeans and natives marching by twos in single file. On again reaching the hill top, we found our horse tracks of the night previous completely effaced for several hundred yards below the rifle-pits by numbers of fresh footmarks. The men were ordered to push on, and we rushed through the clearing and up to the settlement to find that the enemy had again cleared out before us, apparently at an early hour in the morning. Having sent a messenger forward with a letter, we determined to camp and await an answer. The plantations here far surpassed in quantity all that we had hitherto met, and would naturally lead to the query as to the purpose for which such stores of food were grown. It is scarcely too much to say that it forms only another item to the indictment which charges Te Waru with a long contemplated and carefully-cherished design. We found here a letter from an ex-prisoner, requesting certain natives by name to supply provisions to a party of refugees going to the Lake, and I contend there lacks nothing to the chain of evidence which proves the entire complicity of all these people with the movements of Te Kooti. After making careful inspection of the locality, and taking into consideration the comparative smallness of the foree — the majority of the natives returning from Te Kiwi to. /Tukurangi, it "was decided that we 1 should not venture nearer to the Lake, to which' the expedition hadjappro^h^^thin^^ tween four atfd; five : tpiles. CWe ;^eter*. ! mined, therefore,' to give the native wjfma|i^ a chance of turning up, by waiting all nigh^ at the settlement, and as she did not pu^ in an appearance, we started on the following (Wednesday) morning at 5 a.m.,, and, going down by the Waiau valley, reached Clyde by 3 p.m. same day. I have not time to enter upon the discussion, at present, of many questions which this expedition has opened up. I will, therefore, content myself with saying that for all practical purposes a more valuable scouting expedition was never undertaken at less cost to the colony. Every man took his own " tucker," and I am sure that the commanding officer will admit that not even disciplined troops could have undertaken a difficult and dangerous march into an enemy's country with more cheerfulness and with more implicit obedience to orders, than did this rough clump of border riders, whom I am proud to say numbered amongst their ranks some of the most respectable settlers in the district. In results, we established beyond cavil that the enemy existed in verity in considerable strength, that he possessed large supplies of food, and that the country he occupied was not the wilderness foes to the district are apt to represent it. Both time and space forbid my continuing or offering further commentary on the subject. There is a moral to the story, which I may improve upon another occasion.