WAIROA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1046, 7 May 1869, Page 2

WAIROA.

The "St. Kilda" and "Lyttelton" arrived yesterday from Wairoa. ■ We have the following from a correspondent : —

Clyde, May 6.

The mail service appears to have become extinct under the influence of the Te Kooti fever, and there has been no chance of sending you any information.

The St. Kilda arrived yesterday from Waiapu and Whare Kaihiki, bringing 110 natives, whom Mr. Edward Hamlin's very great personal influence has brought to the assistance of the Government. Major Ropata accompanied them, but without his own immediate followers, the East Coast natives being generally unwilling to run the risk of exposing their homes to the fate which befel Mohaka.

The Lyttelton has been some days in the river, carrying stores to Hikowai.

The European force, some 200 in number, marched out of Clyde on Sunday by Te Kapu, supposed to be en route for Lake Waikaremoana. It is supposed that the intention is to build a depot at the foot of Tukurangi hill, some 15 miles inland, and to carry the stores, ammunition, &c., from Hikowai thither in canoes. Some hitch had arisen with the natives engaged for this service, they not caring to incur the risk of transport without escort. How the necessity of such protection escaped the attention of the authorities it is impossible to form a guess. Fancy carrying ammunition and stores up an open river, with the posts 15 miles apart, after the experience of the Poverty Bay campaign !

The commanding officer is shorthanded, and the militia and volunteers were ordered for Wednesday last to hold themselves in readiness for active service at a moment's notice. The arrival of Ropata's contingent will, it is hoped, relieve the commanding officer from the unpleasant task of ordering these men away from their families, who would, in the event of their removal, be left to the protection of a garrison wholly insufficient for the duty.

Native scouts have pushed as far as Putere and Nga Putahi, from Mohaka, but without making any useful discovery. Beyond finding traces of a force having diverged from the Putere and followed the line of road to Turiroa, nothing is known of the movements of the enemy.

The party who destroyed the settlers' houses at Turiroa on the 27th ult. probably did not number more than twenty men. They carried away all the loot they could manage and crossed the Tutaekuri valley, and made for Tukurangi hill by the shortest route. They might readily have been followed, and would in all likelihood have been cut off by prompt action. Their fires were visible between 12 and i in the morning to every one in the township, yet no move was made until Wednesday night at 9 o'clock, when 70 men were marched out in consequence of a report that Te Kooti was pitching tents in Mr. Thorpe's paddock. The men returned from their fruitless errand on Thursday morning.

Colonel Herrick arrived in the Ahuriri on Thursday, as you know. He is an, officer with whom nearly every one will work pleasantly. Capt. Bower, from Tauranga, is also here, and our old friend Capt. Withers remains to give his services. The commanding officer has no lack of assistance in the military line. It is reported here , that Mr. Richmond goes to Napier and[ Auckland or Wellington, to procure boats or punts to work on the Waikare Lake. It is a puzzle to find out the truth about anything. It is clear that the Government, if doing nothing else, is spending lots of money, and trying to accomplish something, even if it doesn't know the way to go about it. The season is, one would think, too far advanced for the style of campaign proposed and commenced upon, and the result is by no means clear. There is no doubt that the thing is good in principle, but, with the perversity that has characterised the conduct of the Government, it is mainly too late. It should .have been attended to 9 months ago. It is perfectly optional with the enemy to fight or not, as he thinks fit ; and to suppose that he will again allow himself to be shut up, as he was at Ngatapa, exhibits an amount of credulity unprecedented even in New Zealand history.

By one of the late arrivals a letter was brought from a gentleman accompanying Colonel Whitmore's force in the Whaiti valley, dated the 15th April, which stated Te Kooti's force to be close at hand at that date. Look at the map and remember that Mohaka was attacked on the 10th, and then judge of the accuracy of the information possessed by the Government. There is on all sides a want of confidence felt in their proceedings. The friendly natives generally are sulky and mistrustful, and the European population so disheartened and so imbued with similar mistrust and apprehension, that the whole picture is anything but pleasant to look upon.

The p.s. Lyttelton got out of the river this morning with the Hon. J. 0. Richmond, Capt. Towgood, and others.

The St. Kilda having landed the Ngatiporou, steamed away about an hour and a half later.