IMPORTANT NEWS FROM TARANAKI.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 23, 21 March 1860, Page 3

IMPORTANT NEWS FROM TARANAKI.

By the I.R.M. Company's steamer Airedale, which arrived yesterday afternoon, having left Taranaki on the night of Monday, the 19th instant, we have received intelligence that hostilities had commenced between the Europeans and natives at Taranaki. Through the kindness of Captain Johns, we are enabled to state that Governor Browne, having proceeded to the Waitara with troops, gave Wiremu Kingi a certain time in which to evacuate a native pah, which had been erected on the land the title to which has caused the present dispute ; the pah having been surrendered by Wiremu Kingi, orders were issued to Colonel Gold at once to destroy it ; the order was immediately executed ; and yet, so great was the Maori strength, that the following morning there appeared another pah, larger and stronger than the former one, with a double stockade around it, and with the space between the two lines of palisades filled with sand, to make it bomb-proof. This, it is supposed, took at least 3,000 men to accomplish. The Governor, it is believed, seeing this, immediately ordered the pa to be bombarded ; and after the cannonade had lasted some seven hours, a person volunteered to go out and see if the natives had deserted the pah : he went, and, going within rifle range, was shot down ; immediately two others went out to recover the body, one a soldier, the other a sailor ; these were also shot, one being instantly killed, the other seriously wounded. The three bodies were, however, recovered, that of the first killed being presumed to be that of a Mr. Watt. In the bombardment of the stockade, thrice were the colours of the Maories shot away, and thrice were they replaced ; and even the palisades, as they were shot away, were again replaced, and that in the face of a very heavy fire from the artillery. On Saturday, the 17th instant, the wind blew so very strongly, accompanied by such thick weather, that no communication was possible with the shore. On Sunday night, the signal from on shore was — " Keep near for powder ;" ." Keep near to tow boats to the river :" but the sea kept so very rough, and the weather was still so thick and bad, that the Airedale at last could not make out the signals. She then signalled that she must put to sea, and did so, and, on returning at five, p.m., on Monday, saw signalled — "Something important ; will communicate in the morning." The Airedale, however, was getting entirely out of coal, and so had to start for Nelson.

We are also informed that the artillery up the Waitara were short of ammunition, and that the Airedale was required to tow some boats laden with it to the entrance of the Waitara, but the weather would not admit of it.

There were about 1,000 women and children in the town, and it was the Governor's intention to send some of them on board the Airedale.

The Airedale had conveyed from Wellington to Taranaki 101 soldiers, with five officers. The Wellington militia had been called out.

There were at Taranaki, when the Airedale left, 500 soldiers, and 600 militiamen and volunteers. The Airedale is placed under Government orders.

Various large bodies of natives have been observed proceeding inland from Wanganui towards Taranaki.

Some provisions, under escort for the Wailara, had been taken by the natives. H.M.S.S. Niger had gone to Auckland for ammunition and supplies, and the coast was therefore entirely undefended. Great excitement seemed to pervade the minds of natives of other tribes, and it was generally supposed that they would be guided in their proceedings by whoever fired the first shot.

The following extracts are from the Taranaki Herald " [Abridged from the Taranaki Herald, March 10.]

(From'bur correspondent at Waitara).

In these warlike times a narrative of the military proceedings during the past week will doubtless prove interesting to your readers. At half-post three on Monday morning the troops destined to take possession of the land at Waitara purchased by the Government from Teira, silently assembled at the camp on the parade ground. Punctually at four the advance sounded, and the column marched off in slow time, and with the guns and baggage-train and rearguard could not have been less than half-a-mile in length. Sixteen mounted settlers escorted the baggage. The column reached the Waiwakaiho bridge at dawn, and throwing out skirmishers, who swept the country, occupied Tamati Teito's pah, commanding the line of march ; the column and convoy followed. On the advance again sounding, the column made a sweep inland, the skirmishers gallantly pushing on through fern breast high until they reached the Devon line, where a halt ensued near its junction with the Mamaku road, and the weary, hungry soldiers imagined breakfast time had arrived. After a diligent search, however, no water could be found, ana they determined cm proceeding to Hie ruKeSolie pali, where the force arrived at about two o'clock, to experience a like disappointment, as no good water could be found nearer than the river, a distance of a quarter of a mile, towards which the poor thirsty souls rushed with their canteens. The position was found to be an admirable one, capable of being defended against any native force, and commanding the principal portion of the potato crops at Waitara. In an incredibly short time the tents were pitched, the baggage train unloaded, a magazine formed, the trenches cleared of cover, cooking places made, so that in the course of the afternoon, from a waste covered with weeds, the pah assumed the appearance of a strong military position. A night attaok being expeoted, the troops remained under arms tUI broad daylight. On Tuesday, at ten, a.m., an escort of mounted volunteers, with their sergeant, left the town in charge of three carts, with provisions for the troops at Waitara, and met Wi Tana, who advised them to return and take the beach road, as William Kingi's natives had built a pah on thedireot road to the camp, and would not allow the carts to pass. It being too late to retrace then? steps without occasioning unnecessary alarm for their safety, the escort continued its route to near the junction of the upper and lower Waitara roads, until it was stopped by a Waitara native, named Hohaia, who ordered it to return, which was declined. The party were then permitted to pass on, and upon arriving at the camp the affair was reported to the Governor, who resolved upon giving the Natives twenty minutes' notice te cloav out, and if they re*

fused to vacate the pah, to fire upon them, and the following letter to that effect was Bent by Mr. Paris : — "To the Chief who Obstbucts the Queen's

"You have presumed to block up the Queen's road, to build on the Queen's land, and to Btop the free passage of persons going and coming. " This is levying war against the Queen. Destroy the places you have built ; ask my forgiveness and you shall receive it. If you refuse, the blood of your people be on your own head.

_ " I shall fire upon you in twenty minutes from this time, if you have not obeyed my order. (Signed) " T. Gobe Bbowne. ♦'Camp, Waitara, 6th March, 1860." In ten minutes the pa was abandoned, and of course was speedily destroyed.