Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12,1869.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1100, 12 November 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1869.

'. Fkom the latest advices from Taupo, we | learn that the colonial forces had returned • from another expedition into the bush, in 1 search of the remnant of the band that now ' hangs to Te Eooti. Although a large ex- . tent of forest had been traversed, no enemy . could be found, but traces here and there j -were crossed, showing that he is living a J wandering life in the boundless forest in ! which he is now hiding. His food is the i shoots of the cabbage tree, and to obtain 1 this he has constantly to shift his camp. ( When we say that the forest stretches from , the very centre of the island at Tongariro 1 to the West Coast, and is of an equal 1 length, and, further, that it is probably the [ roughest country in the whole of New > Zealand, we convey an accurate description • of Te Kooti's present retreat. The diffic ulty of hunting and finding an enemy in | such a country may be imagined, but cannot possibly be over-estimated. Different articles were found by our forces, left by the enemy in his retreat, among them a bag of bullets, showing the straits to which he is reduced. It is the opinion, we understand, of Colonel Macdonnell that Kooti has retired northwards, and is probably somewhere behind Tuhua, which is in the heart of the Upper Wanganui and Ngatimaniapoto country. If we were to accept as correct the information conveyed by our contemporary in a recent issue, that 500 Waikatos had marched to destroy Kooti, we should feel sure he would very soon be caught, as his present hiding-place must be known to the King party ; but we fear that the information thus conveyed is as inaccurate as many of the statements contained in the leading article of the Times of yesterday. For instance, the assertion that Te Heuheu was supplied last year with ammunition by Mr. M'Lean, and that this ammunition has been used by Te Kooti against us. We find on enquiry that this is simply an invention, without a shadow of foundation. Our contemporary's information respecting Te Kooti's forces is also drawn from an equally inaccurate source. It is true that, since the complete defeat of the enemy at Porere, Te Kooti has been gradually deserted by most of his former adherents ; but it is not true that his forces were composed of compulsory recruits, for among those who have left was a tribe who went to him from Mokau, north of New Plymouth, on the West Coast, and who must have travelled about 100* miles to join him. The force now with Te Kooti is probably not more than from 80 to 100 men, and, of these, 71 are Chatham Island prisoners, many of whom were supposed to have been killed at Ngatapa or elsewhere, but who are now ascertained to be alive at Taupo. It will be gathered from the account we have given of Te Kooti and his forces that the task of finding him is somewhat analagous to hunting for a needle in a bundle of hay, and no doubt its difficulty is fully felt by Colonel Macdonnell and the force under his command. As very erroneous ideas are afloat as to the size of that force, we may state that Colonel Macdonnell has with him about 400 men, of whom 100 are ; Constabulary and the remainder Wanga- , nuis and Arawas. Whether their com--1 bined efforts will result in the capture of Te Kooti and his band we cannot of course , say, but the Colony has to thank them for • continuing so perseveringly in a work of such unusual hardship. 1 Mr. M'Lean's conference with the Waikato tribes is, we learn, now taking place. The exact locality at which it is being held we have not ascertained, but believe it is not more than fifty miles from Tuhua, the reputed hiding-place of Te Kooti. Should Mr. M'Lean succeed in causing the King party to withdraw its countenance from Te 1 Kooti, the rest would be easy ; but at the present moment it is by no means certain 1 that this is the case, and any hasty step might cause failure in the negociations now being carried out with the King party.