ON THE WAIMATE PLAINS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIII, Issue 5920, 16 February 1880, Page 5

ON THE WAIMATE PLAINS.

fFROII OITB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.] The A.O. Camp, Kaipipi, Feb G. All quiet on the Kapuni. As I take up my pen to write these words, memory carries me back many years, when my newspaper correspondence was headed “ On the Potomac,” and for weeks and months the refrain was, “ All quiet on the Potomac.” True, we have here no great river rolling its yellow flood to the sea, only a little clear, bubbling stream rippling musically over the stones and winding out and in amongst the wealth of fern. We have no vast army, accompanied by the pomp and panoply of war on its most magnificent s.-ale, only a handful of brave resolute men, ready and willing to do whatever may be required of them. Wo have before us no visible enemy, with serried' ranks drawn up in menace or only an intangible foe which, after all, may exist only in the imagination] but against whose possibly insidious advances it is none the less necessary to keep constant watch and ward. Compared with previous experiences of your correspondent, this, ad!■ vanee on the Plains is a very mimic sort of warfare, but it is none the less complete In al| its details, and the question at issue is,nope the less real. Pooh-pooh it as one may,'there is no gainsaying the fact that around Colonel Koberts’ little army of determined and. re sol lute men there centres an interest df h'ationai importance, and one to which the futurp historian of New Zialand will gife’a place second to none that in the wonderful story'or the colonisation of “the Greater Bri'ain of the South” have preceded it.‘ The question as to whether thousands of aefes of the finest land in this island shall or.shall not .remain unproductive in the hands of the Natives; is, after all, subservient to the miibh greater One of the future relationship Of ‘ the two, ritcpf. Keen and intelligent * observers of the'Signs of the times are convinced that this is the real question at issue, and they lock -tb the Waimate Plains as the one spot'on which the decision will be arrived at, as to whether the solution shall, be a stbrmy or a peaceable! one _ one or theotherit must be, for the lithe has arr.vod whefl :p this',Maori skeleton- in; bur Nathnal closet' must be bahished once and, for ever. “To';’this' completion’' 1 havethe, long-suffering ''Settlers ; 1 on the “Borders of , Maoridom coin# dt last, Mine spirit is, fast permeating all parts oftHe islands, dud all classes arid chnditions bf mon.’ -No greater, blow could fall’"hp/ori the community: at’ 1 tl|o ; present time,' thih ahy‘hit6h ift : ‘ the,-policy, that so far promises w6il to lead to a definite, issue. ’ ’- ■ v lO ' 1 '- j , It may be that' in Bi.iiking’these.edmhiotits,! I am trenching somewhat oft editorial ground,, but it is difliehl't' tb live inrihe'atmosphefo that surrounds one here,'without imbibing more or less of thb Spirit of the place and'the peop'c, and reflecting it again in one’s writings. On this ground, alone, 1 ! think'l may bepa|rdoned for travelling'‘ Slightly I - L — and ! but; momentarily—outside the bfeaton track of t Ire special correspondent. That I have done to will, at all events, enable^the-reader at la distance to form some idea as to the medium through which one on the spot-is compelled to regard the circumstances ; immediately, surrounding him. ~1; : ; ’ ; 1 . . ; ; . Now, to fall back upon my more legitimate duty of recording facts!;'and. throwing upon them such light as may enable your readers, to see them as wo who ! are -'actually on- the Plains see them. And here -I anvat onpe brought face to face with a stern fact, which since the days of Morse must-have vexed the righteous souls of special i correspondents innumerable. Amongst the most prominent indications of the higli pressure at which jre live is the demand on the part 'of the- public for the fullest and latest news at -the earliest possible moment. The demand-creates the. supply, competition sets in, rand; the newspaper which cannot or will- not -satisfy tho almost insatiable craving in this respect!is nowhere in the race. Now, I take it this-is rather rough on your “ special.” ■ He i is. expected not only to be “ thereabouts,” hut really “there,” when anything of more than ordinary interest occurs ; not only to post to the nearest telegraph station and wire, a full and strongly outlined account, but also aftirwards by the slower, almost antiquated, but still necessary medium of the post-oiliee, to fill 111 those details necessary to the production of a complete picture. 1 daresay I am not the first of my profession who has, anathematised the telegraph and the post, or, has mournfully warbled — |--. How happy could I be with either, Were t’other dear charmer away. , Yet there certainly are these lighter touches in the ait of the literary limner, for the conveyance of which the wire is too matter of* j-

fact a medium, and which in the hurry of s n ling iff news hot-and-hot are net tho.ugbt (f. Fji-instant; ■, ha 1 I time—which owing to Iho fact that rineo commencing ibis letter I hav“ ccn sudt.'e ily called upon to make an iin-TU-dide j nirney into the bush, I have not - [ wontd iik •to paint in words wm thy .of the seer.e and tf the occ- sion, the crossing of the Waingongoro bridge by Colonel K iberts, and his men. I would like to describe the 1 •' activity, bustle, and excitement that “ prevailed in the prettily-situated camp at l VVuihi when the long-looked-for order to pro- ’ pare to mafeh upon the Mains wrs at last/'* beydt d all manner of d übt, issued— lha ’ orerfiliving hihnity of those win had g-t?* “ the route,” tho chagrin and disippahitir-eat 1 of those who hid to remain behind. Few ' slept upon that eventful ni-hi pr. c.-dini the'” day upon which was to bo initiated a 1 olhy of ' j activity following upon a long, weary period ' 3 of doubt, suspense, and of that hope deferred—which makelh the heart sick. Then, on the - followitig morning—the ever-mentor.b'e 26;h 3 of January, 1880—ere the cun had dawned'; upon those vast, fertile Plains, over which the ■ Crown was about to assert its supremacy, (C'ts were hurriedly struck, be gg-ige-wagons ?? were laden, officers and men as-cmbl -i in* hravy marching order, the column war f. i-mrd four deep, and, with the band - playing the" most cheering airs, the little' Vv.uhi 1 garrison went forth upon its mission—whether to bo a pt-ncefn! or a warlike one remains yet to bo seen. When* the band ceased playing the men struck uptinging, and so between ‘‘fits braz-n hast”-' and the loudly-shouted chorus, tho four miles- 3 of dusty road from Waihi to the Waingon-i goro bridge were quickly covered, A t this ■ point (the boundary of the disputed territory) j the scene was not only a picturesque one, but ■ ono whose interest will even increase bs the; Colony progresses towards the stage ut which it will take its 2>lace as one of tho Great - Powers of the world. The importance of theoccasion is not to be measured by tho handful? of armed men who were the immediate actors,- 1 nor by the knot of spectators who looked on.' It will have to be weighed by the light of ' future events yet to he traced by the his---torian, to the one firm, decisive step taken oh 3 that bright, peaceful summer morning. Ap»‘preaching the Waingongoro river, noisily! brawling in its narrow bod- betweenprecipitous banks, three horsemen rodeforward briskly to select a commanding: spot, from which to view the crossing of thebridge. This was found on a knoii on the 3 left-hand side of the road, and within fiftyyards of the bridge.- j; Soon tho mounted mens forming the advance -appeared on the brow? of the long hill descending to tho valley of the. Waingongoro, and the next minu* a Colonel' Roberts, evidently dated at being at. Inst, atsdi after weary waiting,-on the movo, galloped to? the bridge. The band,-however, soon tfc off 1 playing, for it was thought, and very wisilyjthat the less martial display the s waller tho chance of irritating the Natives. However; it was not possible wholly to curb the feelings: of the men, and when the leading file reached? the bridge an exciting race for the honout} of being first on the enemy’s ground took place, while one irrepressible spirit in the; ranks shouted cut “Hurrah for the war of 1880 !”. 1 tils breaches cf strict 1 discipline which the; Colonel very judi-i ciously winked at. Oace over the bridge 1 there remained a dusty march of between five and six miles to tho spot selected as the first encampment, and that unde? V-broiling sum But the men went along briskly and cheerily; and the morning was still young when Cap l tain Marshall, the senior captain commanding the column, gave the welcome order to “ halt.” With that facility for immediately adapting themselves to circumstances which 1 have observed to ho much more strongly developed in American, French, and Colonial soldiers than- in your regular Britisher, Colonel Roberts’ men were soon making th “inselves very comfortable. Oiear, . cool water was quickly fetched in abutidwrca-froßi the Kapuni stream, on the banks of which thb halt had been called, and little impromptu messes, formed in the shade of luxuriant ferU, or mammoth flax, or umbrageous tutu, made short work of the commissariat. A 1! seemed to be in the'highest spirits, and when the order was , given to clear the camping ground of the thick mid ergr owt It with which it was encumbered, brawny antis, wielding strong and sharp s word-1 ay ones s, went at it with a will, fairly mowing everything down Before them. In an incredibly short space of time what had been a sea of fern became a little open plain, baggage waggons were unladen, tents were pitched, and fires lighted for (ho preparation of .the well-earned meal. But the day’s work did not end here. The men from Wuilii had had a pretiy frying march of 10 miles, but their comrades from Opunafce, further to tho north, were covering ‘that day more than double that ground, and 'would certainly arrive at Kaipipi in that condition which ! ean only be adequately described as “baked?’ 'So having made themselves tolerably comfortable, the Waihi men bethought of the other detachment, and when (he Tatter arrived on the ground, under tho command of- the gallant ahd . popular Major Goring, and headed by the ■ baqd'whiph had gone out a few miles to inflet \ 'theta, they received a welcome as practicalfiis ‘ ’/it' was cordial. , ; I shall not attempt in this letter to give a description of life in-the camp at Koipipi, nor'of the hapital work being so cheerfully done on ; the roads. That must be left to a more convenient season. -- Of the various fluctuations, in “ the sittvition,” due almost entirely to the utter nnchrtainty'that prevails as to how the.Natiycs Will ultimately take it, I have kept you l stahtly and fully advised by telegram. Only .this morning tlje telegraph' operator at Nprrnanbywent into violent convulsions on presentation of a Press .message of some fifteen hundred words addressed to yon, and it tbok all tay powers of persuasion to convince Kim that tlie importance of the news demanded ffiat it'should be vtired. at. length. Kormanhy yS hot yet “educated up” to telegrams of a ;fewThousand words more or less. To retArn the position of'affairs, I think the Honorable jthe Defence Minister’s remark to me to the effect that as regards the Wuitajvte only a foql' would be certain of anything, is as wise as .it is epigram -natie. 'fin fact Mr Bryce, if he, cannot chum a reputation for epigram of the highest, order, litis a decided talent for conveying his views andfhis mstructions clearly and in the fewest words—a talent which he must' find peculiarly useful to him.'id''disposing of the vast amount’;’ of work' that falls .to I,is Ministerial lot. Perhaps it wo.uld-not be out of place hr me here to acknowledge the courtesy whir wnjch , I have invariably, bean received by Mr Bryce and by Colonel, Roberts when seeking information ■ from them in my official capacity, and.the facilities that have been placed at my disposal for properly discharging ray duties as your correspondent. These facilities 1 will more fully detail when describing camp life, and in : the meantime will only eay that the Lyttelton Timet tent is as well known in-the Kaipipi camp, as headquarters itself, v pr as that remarkably popular, and let mo ad;l wellconducted establishment, the canteen. . The-joumoy into the bush, alluded toin, an early part of this letter, which I am on the ; point of undertaking, is one which I believe will enable me to i*y before your readers much information of a very interesting kind. As you are already aware by telegram, I have - been favoured with the perusal of a narrative of his life amongst the Maoris, written bytiio notorious outlaw* Kimball Bent. It would -manifestly b« unfair, without the express permission Of the gentleman in whoso possession :tha M.Hvis,‘to make any use of it; but what I learned from tho extraordinary story of . Bent’s, alia* Smith’s semi-savage life, gave : me a strong desire to interview the man, not ■from mere curiosity, but -because [ gather from his writings that ho is a shr.--.vd*ob-soi-i er t and at-this orit'ed period of -our history as regards our future relations with the Native race, his opinions should, from hi» intimate acquaintance with (.hat race', be of great value. The journey, which must be dohe entirely on foot, will be an arduous 6nc, but the. - object is worth socking to attain ; ■and I hope—perhaps before this letter is ia type-—to be able to telegraph you-my success. It would be Unfair to Bent to say anything -as to his. whereabouts, but you may -feel assured that ! have not decided to go before knowing • exactly where I am going to,-and what my reception is likely to be.. .a