To his Excellency Governor Grey.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 207, 21 February 1846, Page 203

To his Excellency Governor Grey.

; Camp before the Ruapekapeka, ■ Kawiti's Pa, January 5, 1846. {Sir — In my letter dated the 28th ultimo, addressed to your Excellency, I had the honour of ' detailing the proceedings of the force under rn\' command up to that period, and I now proceed with the detail of what has taken place Bii. cc. Before daylight on the morning of the 29th, a i jarty of our native allies penetrated the wood im mediately in our front, in a most praiseworthy manner, and took possession of an open piece of ground on the opposite side, sending me immedu ite intelligence of what they had done. I directly moved forward with 200 men to th> "r support, and secured the position. The 30th and 31st were principally occupied in bringing up the guns and ammunition through the woods ; a work of great labour and tin!> s, as it required between fifty and sixty men to jeach gun to get them through, on account of th<p heavy trees it was necessary to cut down in racking the road, and the steepness of the hills th{;y had to pass over. Several rockets and shells have been thrown mi o the pa on the 31st, and each day since, with th'i utmost accuracy, doing great credit to the officers of her Majesty's navy who directed th< ?m, — namely, Lieutenant Egerton, North Star, in charge of the rockets, and Lieutenant Bland of the Racehorse, and Lieutenant Leeds of the H. E.I.C.S. Elphinstone, who directed the shells. On the morning of the Ist instant I pushed i ox ward a strong party into the only wood that no 'V divided us from the enemy, and taking up a position in the centre of it on an open piece of ground, about 400 yards from the pa, a strong etc ckade was immediately commenced for the pu rpose of covering a battery, and the work was su fficiently advanced before night to render any attempt of the er.emy to drive us away useless. Tb is work was carried on under cover of a very thi ck part of the wood, which completely concealed it from the enemy. On the afternoon of the following day the teni srny made a strong sally from the pa, with a vie w, it is supposed, of turning the flank of this advanced party of ours in the stockade, which w -ss not yet finished ; but they were most gallantly opposed by our native allies, under the direction of Chiefs Tomati Waka Nene, Noble or |Nopera, Mohi TWhai, and others, who inetajntly dashed out and attacked them, driving them back with some loss, supposed to amount to 'eight or ten killed, and between fifteen and twenty wounded : on our side five were wounded on, this occasion : and one of our most active chiefs, Reppa, was severely wounded the previous day in a skirmish with a small party of the enemy, who, it appeared, had come out of the pa for the purpose of picking off any stragglers from our camp, and who had succeeded in kiljing one of the Volunteer Pioneers, who had go^ie to an unnecessary distance for water, and was shot in the act of taking it. Up to this date no casualty, with the above exceptions, has talr ?n place in the European part of the force. | t may be proper for me to observe, that in the; action of the afternoon of the 2d, the Eurofyi.an troops acted only as a reserve, at the particular desire of the native chiefs, who were tfearlul that their own people might be mistaken for! the enemy, and fired upon. ; I have, &c,

(Signed) H. Despard, Acting Colonel on the Staff, commanding ; the troops in New Zealand.