PORT NICHOTSON.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 240, 10 October 1846, Page 126

PO RT NICHOTSON.

; We received {;jby the Sfer bf-Chii^ythe* and a single number or the Independent. An article in the former paper of the 26th of September informs us that the Governor has given qrders for the construction of three military roads; namely,*.^ne lirom Wellington towards Taranaki, -by way of Porirua, another ..to thejjoasj by^ yrayoj Karori, and a third towards the East Coast by way* of the Hutt', and -that the first and 'last of these roads- have been The editor enters -into -a ■ calculation of tne time which these roads -will - occupy in making, and gives an opinion that they might be done by 1,000 men in twelve months. As the benefits' which the country will derive from them will be great, he urges the Governor to push them forward with all possible despatch. Meetings of the holders of land-orders have taken place, and a committee has been appointed to draw up a document, containing their grievances, to be furwarded to the Company. The disbanding of the militia is strongly condemned in the Spectator, particularly as they might have beea employed on the roads, if their services were not required at, present in the field. The revenue for the quarter ending September 30th, amounted to £2,408, the expenditure, without reckoning the naval and military, was £7,337. The following are extracts : — It appears that the trial of the' rebels captured at Wainui has been indefinitely postponed, and they have been sent on board the Calliope again. We fear this vacillation on the. part of the officer jn command will be productive of very 1 bad effects. With the nUives it is necessary that whatever is to, be done should be done quickly ; but so many delays have occurred that the effect of tt ( e example to -be .derived fram .their puni>hment is lost. — Spectator, Sept. 23. A party of the 65th Regiment, under ,Cup.tain. O'Connell, arid ja. part^>f jtji.e_sßUh Regiment, under. Lieutenant Pedder, returned to Wellington on Monday. We believe it is intended to withdraw a portion of the troops stationed at Porirua and the post at Pauatahanui, and the camp at Parramatta Point will be in tne charge chiefly of detachments of the 65th. — lb. H.M. steamer Driver, Commander C. O. Hayes, arrived on Thursday 1 from Auckland, which she left on the 16th instant. The Driver was off Cape Paliseron Sunday, but heavy weather coming on J she was driven off the coast. Lieutenant-Colonel M'Cleverty and his lady, and Mr. Thomas, half brother to his Excellency the Governor,- have arrived as passengers. — Ib., Sept. 26.' Sales of Live Stock. — The ewes which arrived per Coaxer were sold on Thursday, after having been a month in the colony, at 10s. and 10s. 6d. per head. The Horses which arrived per London were sold at from £13 to £20 per head. The wethers per Star of China, very strong and healthy, brought 15s. a head.— lb. ' The following is an extract from a com- j tnunication to the Spectator from Mr. Nixon, of Wanganui : — " Wanganui, September 23, 1846. *' A "number of the rebels' friends arrived last week in small detached parties, who almost immediately proceeded 'up , river, in three canoes, twenty in the first, sixteen in. the next, and five in the other. ■ Last Friday, the .25th, Te Karamu (or Mamuku, as he is called here) also arrived wijth some twenty-: five men, all well armed, his two wives, and a few other, men. His reception by Tahaua amh other natives at the 'pa Purua, nearly opposite my house*, was very warm, and seemed greatly f tQ please bis followers. ' He spoke to me, and' offered his hand, but seeing me hesitate, at once said, ' Have you. forgotten your former friend ?' 1 replied 'Noj but you have been fighting, the Pakehas since we parted last.' He said, ' But I never hurt yon, and never will. I left my anger at Heretaunga. Here the PaJseha is my friend, there he is my enemy' They then .proceeded to tangi, and i soon left them. , "Yesterday he came across to my. house for medicine (lotion for an inflamed^ eye), and after some conversation he agreed to- abandon his intention of building^'pa close to my farm. I represented to him tne absurdity of supposing that Mr. Bell, myself, or any other European would ever reside there if he f nd,his men were to be our ne'ghboursj We ha'd 1 a : long /torero about his late campaign. He said (but. this- 1 do not altogether believe) that he\,never should have supported Ranghiaiata had he b/sen able to escape in his canoes back to this river; and. that j Rauparaha also taunted him witbr cowardice, when he proposed to leave Heretauogs. < Having ones commenced, he could not ' retreat. ■ He admitted luting been -one of the party with Kaparttebatf, who attacked th« camp on the

i Hutt ; but strenuously denied, having ever suggested to his men/to murder the Gillespies and Rush. I'he former,. be sajd, was by Epau and Charley :JEpa^ was killed in a subsequent skirmish :^pfe latter ia row in the pa here, and impudently boasts or the deed, and shows his notched tomahawk. "Three men were at the murder of poor Rush : one of them, named Ewiti, is also here, and the, other two, named Te Pare and Te Ware, sfrq.witb Ranghiaia'ta, who has fixed His position 1 between Horawenua and Manawatu, on a small stream some Seven miles from tie latter place. There is a very strong old pa a little distance inland, and cultivations, &c. : we bivouacked on this identical stream -one nigjit, when 1 came up the coast last month. A cota.siderjible. extent of bush anjl swamp lay between the river's mouth and the Tararua mountains, which evidently will afford a secure place to retreat upon; He (Te Karamu) made no secret of Puaha's behaviour, and sketched on paper a ptan of the skirmish. at Horokiwi: be made Puaha's men on the left, the troops in the centre, and the Ngatiawas on the right, tiia men all say, either. Puaha himself (David Tor Rawidi they call him), or a Ngatitoa native near him, shot.Mr. Blackburn. Did Mr. Blackburn's wound correspond with their respective positions as thus laid down ? if so, their statement is probably correct. They also state that Puaha and his men thai very' night met the rebels on the left side of the hill, and gave them ammunition from their cartouch boxes; that they also told .Karamu to make his men fire lower, as their musketry would then be more destructive fo the troops; that Pudha's men often fired blank cartridge into the hill and up in the air, anywhere in fact so as never to injure the rebels; that he afterwards misled both the militia arid the Ngatiawas ; that' he was in communication with the rebels when they were encamped near Waikanae (vide my note dated there August 30th, also Major Last's despatches of the same date, but which do not quite coincide as' to the position of the rebels), and purposely misled Captain Stanley to Otaki. 41 These statements respecting the i' much maligned Puaha,* without placing implicit reliance on them, are certainly worthy of some consideration. Are there any facts to corroborate them? There are, most undoubtedly. Captain Stanley had no occasion to' proceed with Puaha to look for the rebels near. Otaki — when at that time they were encamped within a mile and a half of the open beach at'Waikanae — had he not too faithfully trusted the representations of the 'friendly chief Puaha.' ' Karamu also says that Wiremu Kingi/at Waikanae, is a faithless ally; arid that neither he or his men would attempt to capture lianghiaiata, though they would not scruple to attack him (Karamu) if they dare. Perhaps, ere this reaches Wellington, Major, Richmond may halve thought it necessary to disarm the Ngatitpas and Ngatiawas : if so, Puaha's behaviour may throw some light on the character I have here proved him to be. Does not the undisguised apathy shown by Wiremu Kingi, in the conference at Waikanae on Thursday, 27th ultimo, rather tend to confirm Te Kararau's assertion ? Karamu and his men go up the river to-morrow. ■ " I can have but one object in now writing these' remarks, viz., the welfare of my fellowsettlers. Ranghiaiata is still at liberty, and he still intercepts our communication with Wellington. Parties here have fat stock, which might be driven down the coast, but they have no inclination to be murdered by those vagabonds near Horowenua. Karamu will doubtless collect a large hody of men up the interior, But I Ido not pretend to divine his ultimate views : tie ensuing autumn will doubtless develope them. Personally, I. know nothing of Puaha, never even saw him; but I am not the only one here who is fully convinced of his treachery. If bis admirers are willing still to uphold his integrity, let them do so ; I sincerely trust that the honojur of British soldiers, and the lives of British s sttlers, may never again be committed to the care of 6ucha perfidious and contemptible wretch. He richly deserve a handsome reward for ] iis past exertions; if Karamu's statements are correct (and they are all substantiated by his men and woman) a halter would not! be uselesi ily applied." Disbanding the Militia. — The following order for disbanding the militia has been issued by the Superintendent :— " Wellington, 23d September, 1846. "The Superintendent is happy, from the altered and more pacific state of the country, to have it in his power to relieve the militia from duty, that thty may return to their usual occupations, from which they have unavoidably been detained so long: their attendance vail not be required after Saturday the 26th instant. " The high encomium lately passed on the corps by his Excellency the Governor, renders it unnecessary for the Superintendent to add mpre; but he cannot let this opportunity pass without recording his sense of the service wh eh it has rendered the colony during the late <] isturbancee, and expressing his thanks to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, for the cheerful manner, in which hardships and privations have been gone through — the zeal and willingness to perform any duty, however arduous, evinced by every rank, the orderly behaviour of the men, and their ready obedier ice to the of dera of the officers, all of which tend not only to prove the state of discipline the corps has arrived at, but cannot fail to give a feeling of security to the 'community, relying as tliey may on the willing and efficient aid of their fellow citizens who have been thus trained and already so distinguished.*'

iNOBPBNDENCK.-^WeiCQOIf flQt the l£ftl Value of independence until' we have lo&'th£,.rae*us'by which it ir supported. <>• ' -nf«» « .- ■"