THE UPPER "WANGANUI NATIVES.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 80, 30 June 1866, Page 3

THE UPPER "WANGANUI NATIVES.

[From the Wanganui Times, June 22.] In our last issue we intimated that during the preceding week we had continued to receive unpleasant intelligence from Pipiriki, but did not give it publicity. We arc now in possession of more recent intelligence which runs as follows : — On Saturday last a meeting took place at Runana, between a large body of Hau-haus and the loyal chiefs of Putiki. Mr. Buller and Mr. Booth slept the previous night in the Hau-hau camp. They had previously several private interviews with the leading rebels, but the result has not yet transpired, unless in so far as we can surmise from what took place at the meeting on Saturday. At that meeting, Topine, Te Mamaku, and Topia took the lead in the discussion. Old Pehi, as usual, was not present ; whilst an outlaw, he is evidently afraid to put in an appearance. Tahona is said to be laid up by serious illness. This meeting, which was brought about by the firmness of Hori Kingi, being held on Saturday, the day upon which Major M'Donnell and party were fired upon, between Waingongora and Patea, terminated without any satisfactory result. What effect the action taken by the Waingongora natives will have upon our Upper Wanganui natives remains to be seen. There is one thing certain, and that is, that they will not attempt to engage in open hostilities with the forces which they know could be easily brought against them. The loyal chiefs of Putiki have, at the present moment, some five hundred fighting men at various points of the river, who could be concentrated upon any particular point at a very short notice. The number of military settlers already at Patea will be strengthened by upwards of a hundred men just arrived, per Sturt, from the East Coast, and we have still a considerable number of loyal natives here who would be ready at a moment's notice to act as circumstances may require. The disaffected know that if the Imperial troops were withdrawn to-morrow, a conflict with our colonial forces would be far more disastrous to them than if military officers were present to keep their men in check. The questions still remain, What is the cause of dissatisfaction amongst the disaffected tribes, and what means Bhould be used to reduce them to submission ? We take the recent attack upon Major M'Donnell and the surveyers as a very explicit declaration of their views. We have repeatedly asserted, and every day's experience proves, that the natives do not and wUI not be made to understand our right to confiscate their land. When General Chute swept the country before him from Wanganui to Taranaki, the conquered territory might have been proclaimed ours by right of conquest, and as much of it subsequently restored as the Government might Bee fit. That mode of dealing with the lands the natives could understand, and in accordance with established Maori usage would submit to. Confiscation he does not understand ; and he will resist, to the utmost of his power, every attempt we make to survey or take possession of his lands that we cannot claim by either purchase or conquest. Doubtless, our readers have perused the very full and circumstantial account of the attack upon Major M'Donnell and his surveyors, published in our last issue. That party of six men mounted and within thirty or forty yards of an ambuscade of some Hauliaus, were fired into, and fired after, and yet none were hurt. Had one or more of that party been murdered, our troops would now be either prepared for or actually engaged in onco more sweeping the .•ountry before them. The Hau-haus knew that, md there is, therefore, at least some reason to suppose that the attack was merely meant as an unmistakable warning to surveyors to keep off Maori landß, whether confiscated or not. The shortest way, and decidedly the most merciful way to deal with those tribes, would be to send such a force amongst them as would once more drive them from their strongholds ; then divide a portion of the land between the forces, European and native ; settle them down upon it ; declare it ours by the right of conquest, and restore to the original occupants land enough for their own use, but alloted in such a manner as to separate the recusant occupants from each other as much as possible. Although those tribeß will not, as a body, commence hostilities, yet it is quite possible that a few discontented spirit! amongst them may draw down upon the whole thai ■•hastisement which will lead to the more speedj pacification and settlement of those districts.

The Monadnock.— The following is an extracl from a private letter : — " A great many vessels entei r.he harbour at Rio, not only merchantmen, but men-)f-war, and lately we have had the American Van.lerbilt, Tuscarora, and Monad nock. Tho latter is a monitor, or iron-clad, and as she is the most singulai vessel of the kind I have seen, I determined to gc and have a good look at her. I went on the 10th oi January, and on my arrival I was told they were under sailing orders, and no one could be admitted I, however, sent my card to the commanding officer md he was kind enough to allow me not only to gc on board, but called an officer to explain matters tc me. The hull of the vessel is only eighteen inchei out of the water. Just above the deck there are some bars and chains, to keep it a little private, foi were it not for them any one could walk off a com mon shore boat into her. When cleared for action the bars and chains, the white tops of the turrets the walk with the awning that exists between th< turrets, the masts, &c, the boats, and the two venti lators before the funnel, are all taken away, and th< three hatches are put down. The deck is coverec with three-inch iron plates over eight-inch of wood the sides are covered with five-inch iron plates ovei i hirty-six inch of wood. There are two guns in eacl turret, weighing 43,00i)1b5. each. A full charge o: • powder ia 601b5., the second charge 501b5., the thirc charge 351bs. The guns are four feet in diameter .ifteen inches bore, and twenty inches thick at thi breech. A boy goes in to clean them, but the day . went the boy happened to be out of the way, and si they told me a man went in, and I can only say tha inside the guns there looked quite room enough fo n man, and to spare. The turrets are ten and a-hal inches thick, and the total weight of turret two guns, and pilot-house, is 250 tons. Ti get air, they have four engines to pump ai [ into the vessel, and two to pump it out, am i under each of the officers' private cabins, a t well as in other places, there was a ventilator in th door similar to what you see in a stove, and certainl there appeared to be plenty of air when I was o board. The way light is admitted below is throug holes about as large as to admit a small canno \ ball ; but in action these have thick iron covers, an [ are screwed fast below, so they must then bur candles or lamps. The number of men is 160, an .' 15 officers. The cost of tho ship was 1,300,000 do! i lars, or in English money, at 4s. 4d. each, would b about £281,666. I forgot to mention the shot weig „ about 400 lbs., and when fired they can be see j clearly along their whole course, which is very steady I not fast. Supposing they were boarded, they hay j three ways of clearing the decks — first, by firing on of the guns without shot, for the force of the powde is so great that anything on deck would be blow r off by it, even if not directed towards the object second, hand grenades, and they have an instrumer j for pushing them through the holes I spoke of £ r those by which they obtain light, and they can plac these wherever they like; third, rifles, which < course, can be used from the inside of the turre c This vessel where it had been hit was indented muc 8 in the same way as a cricket-ball would indent * deal board, but although apparently so secure, 0 should not like either to pass any of my life o f board or even to go into action with her. A Charleston one went over a torpedo, and it wei f down in fifteen seconds, and all hands were lost bi two. A wave came against the iron door of tl hatchway and closed it, squeezing three men < .. death in falling. They lost another, I believe, froi ', a similar causa before Fort Monroe. After one i y them went down they sent down a diving-bell to gi a the bodies, &c, and they found the torpedo ha 1 burst just under the officers' cabin while they wei at supper, and I was told they must all have perishc "' instantaneously." — Mitchell's Steam EegUter*