MATATA.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1072, 6 August 1869, Page 3

MATATA.

(Prom the correspondent of the "Southern Cross.") July 29. The St. Kilda has just come in, and by her I am able at last to give you some news. It has been with the greatest difficulty I have been enabled to procure any, as there seems to be great reticence on the part of officials, possibly because they, like their masters in Wellington, don't know what is about to be done. Anyhow there are great changes in command and in posts. Colonel Harrington is now at the head, and the idea of a camp at Taupo is abandoned. The field force is broken up into detachments. One division goes to Waikato ; 50 men are located at Whakatane, 50 more at Matata ; and Nos. 1 and 6 divisions are to march to Tauranga an Jbe there quartered. All the men and stores are expected to be here by the 2nd August. Thus ends the first attempt to penetrate into the enemy's country, an attempt which has cost an infinity of money —now uselessly expended. I rode to Fort Galatea the other day. Twenty miles from Matata, on the banks of the Rangitaike, is built Fort Alfred. Up to this all transport is carried on by boats, the roads being simply execrable, and this formed the most exposed part of the line, as no escorts could be provided along the banks. On the way I passed the remains of the Te Teko pa, captured by the Arawa in 1865, arid Kokohinau, the neatest and cleanest Maori village I had seen. The people here appear well off; their cattle are fat, numbers of geese swim about on the stream, and dozens of peacocks walk sedately all over the kainga. At Fort Alfred, the plain is left, and the horseman enters by a gap into the hummocky pumice country, separating Te Teko form the Kaingaroa plateau. Seven miles of tolerable country, and I arrived at Fort Clarke, situated on the top of a hill, the only water available for the'use of the garrison being a spring in the bush at the. foot of the opposite rise. This is the only bit of forest on the line, and the timber for the bridges had to be cut and squared in it, and dragged on by bullocks. Then came 21 miles of dreary, miserable country, without a bit of feed on it, and but little water ; where there were creeks, there was no wood, and much difficulty and delay occurred in the making of the road, as men had to be camped a long distance from their work. And of this a good bit has been done. On the road I counted 30 cuttings andsidlings, some of them well executed and of extent, but in the majority the engineer has allowed the turns to be too sharp for bullock drays. Ift was not, however, in the cuttings, but on the flats that the drays were wont to stick. The soft rotten pumice offers no resistance to hoofs or wheels, and both sink down deep. About three miles from Fort Galatea you emerge off the hummocks on the Tauaroa plain. To the left flows the Rangitaiki, a plain of apparently good grass separating it from the lofty hills forming the Urewera boundaiy. On the right low undulating hills remind the traveller of the " rollingprairie," and in front, at a higher level, lies the Kaingaroa plateau. If the country towards Taupo resembles that about Fort Alfred, and I am informed that it does, except that on it there is less vegetation and more pumice-stone, I am astonished at the reports formerly circulated as to its capacities for sheep runs. To judge from the sheep and horses at Fort Alfred it is no wonder that the runholders could not find their sheep. I believe that they got gradually thinner till there was nothing left of them to be seen — in fact, they evaporated. The Volunteer Cavalry at Fort Alfred was a sight : wretched half-starved beasts roamed about, only occasionally mustering energy enough to pull up a bit of coarse rubbish lining the plain or to munch a bit of pumice-stone. Ten pounds of oate was the allowance it seems, and one day's ration had usually to last for seven. Of course tjbis was nobody's fault — meanwhile the horses starved. . Fort Galatea has been made a pretty redoubt. Its garrison, the advanced post, having had no road-making, have been employed in making it a proper place, in ; building huts and keeping it clean. Just at the foot of the cliff on which it is built — evidently the old bank of the river — lies a lagoon, culminating with the Rangitaiki. Parallel with the river, and at about three miles on the other side stretches a chain of hills, extending from the Teko flat right up country, and forming the natural bulwarks of the Ureweras. Piercing these, you can perceive two openings, one at Horomonga [the way the wounded came back from Ruatahuna] ; the other at Tauaroa, where Te Kooti had such a narrow escape from Mair's party. By the latter it was that Whitmore marched in and marched out again. Facing the redoubt towards the highest peak of the range, is a block of hills famed in Maori tradition as the haunt of moas in past times. On the very summit exists a lake, supposed to be the abode of a "taniwha," which after heavy weather throws off its superfluous water in a fine cascade. In the bank by the fort Dr. Brown found a moa bone, and excavations were made to search for the remainderbut in vain. The whole plain is evidently the bed of an ancient inland- sea, winch eventually burst out through a narrow gorge some four miles above Fort Alfred. The rounded appearance of the base of the mountains on the eastward, and the different distinct terraces to the west, leave no room to doubt the existence in ages past of a huge volume of water. At Fort Galatea I heard a good deal which enlightened me as to past events, especially as regards the Opepe surprise and the disaffection among the men. It seems that Colonel St. John went to Opepe to ascertain its capabilities as the site of a permanent camp. If you look at the map, you will see it is on Lieut. George's run, and miles away from any known enemy ; the only foes which could be supposed about being messengers from one side to the other. By a mere accident Te Kooti made his march at the same time, cut a fresh track for himself, forded the Rangitaiki far above the regular crossings, and, marching right across the plain, came suddenly upon Smith's party. The colonel, with the adjutant and one orderly, had gone on, not . being satisfied with Opepe ; and Captain Mporsora and Clarke had accompanied him on leave. One of the very first natives who came up was well known to the Opo--1 tiki men, having worked for Mr. Smith ; they represented themselves as Lieute- ! nant St. George's men, and then the • massacre took place. Smith could have got off at once to Galatea once he was

in the bush, but he had tried to follow the Colonel, in order to warn him. It was jusfc after this that the divisions refused to do fatigues. They stated, and justly, that they had not enough to eat, were badly clothed, got no pay, and had do means of procuring comforts. How could men be expected, in a bitter cold country like the Kaingavoas, to work hard all day at roadmaking and pass the night in rotten tents with only one blanket, the ration being lib. of biscuit, lib. of meat with oone, l-6oz. of tea, and sugar in proportion — no potatoes, no vegetables, no spirits ? Their demands, were conceded,- and since then they have worked well. All the time of their disaffection guards and duties were strictly carried on, and the utmost respect paid to their officers. Colonels Harrington and St. John rode up country this afternoon ; orders are left to carry on the work of loading the St. Kilda, with the stores for Tauranga, as fast as possible. She will be back to-morrow and take away to Auckland No. 4 Division for Waikato. The divisions are to be drilled and disciplined, and not before they want both. But how could it be otherwise? Svyorn in, halfclothed and often half-armed, the recruit was at once jammed into the field. Taking separately a man and a rifle, it seemed as if the idea of the authorities was that the junction of the two must produce a soldier. The only wonder is that they have dbne as well as they Have; , Officers and men &i?e looking forward with pleasure to the first rest they will have had for over a year, and are only too willing to leave, now that they have a chance, .