TARANKI.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 38, 12 May 1869, Page 7

TARANKI.

[rnoji our own correspondent.] New Plymouth, April 19. You will have heard that the anticipated hostilities with the natives reported to be assembled at or near Mokau did not take place, and that; Colonel Whitmore, who had with great promptness collected his available force at Waitara, has left for the East Coast to cope once more with To Kooti. Before leaving Taranaki Colonel Whitraore made a reconnaisance of the Mokau coast in the steamer St. Ivilda, and seeing but few natives fired some shells over the land with the idea that the rebels, if there, might be drawn from their concealment, but no such result ensued, and the act itself has been rightly censured. Again, with the knowledge that he was about to remove tho colonial forces to the East Coast for an indefinite period, the Colonel sanctioned a secret expedition to the Ngatimaru country to capture the women and children of Tito Kowaru's camp, after having, it is understood, concurred in the prudential and courageous action of his Honour the Superintendent and the Civil Commissioner in withholding tho auxiliary force applied for by Colonel Whitmore, lest by entering this same country our critical relations with the natives might become compromised. The expedition, which was made up of natives and Europeans, proved abortive, the natives who formed tho ftdvanco reporting that tho objects of their search were not at Ngatimaru. But a still more rash expedition in the same direction, of which no secret was made, has been impending for some days, likewise, it is said, having the approval of Colonel Whitmore. A party of fifty natives, under tho leadership of Ihaia, of Waitara, a man of the most reckless nature, started some clays since for Ngatimaru in search of Tito and his followers, and was to bo supported by Major Brown and 150 men resting at Tikorangi. At ten last night intelligence from tho natives reached AVaitara that Tito's men, women, and children, occupied a place called Pukemahoo in such force that it was not deemed prudent by Ihaia to meddle with them with the numbers dotailed for the purpose. Tho news arriving as it did in tho dead of the night got greatly magnified, and the result was a panic amongst the few unprotected families in the Waitara township, the women and children being suddenly hurried from their beds and assembled in one house until daylight this morning. There was no need for all this, nor can the state of terror and utter helplessness of women and children aroused in the night-time, to be saved, as it is thought, from the tomahawk, be realizod except by those who have witnessed it. New Plymouth, May 2. Tho only item of native news— and very important it is to ourselves — is the final departure of Tito Kowaru from Ngatimnru. On the news first reaching of this rebel chief and his followers being at Ngatimaru, a party of friendly natives under the leadership of Ihaia, of Waitara, proceeded thither to reconnoitro and take advantage of any opportunity that might ofler against Tito, and the party was to bo supported, if necessary, by Major Brown and 150 men from Tikorangi. Luckily for the peace of the settlement and the safety of many outlying families the odds were too great even for Ihaia (with his habitual disregard of danger) to encounter, and the

end was accomplished through the instrumentality of friendly and neutral tribes without » blow. On their remonstrances, Tito (who had about 400 men, women, and children with him) at once retired from the interdicted land to a place at no great distance, and lias now finally left for the South, where, like his rival leader in arras Te Kooti, he may be heard of at any moment. Tho women and children have been since reported to be at a native settlement not far from Wairoa, in the Taranaki country, which, if true, confirms the report of Tito having left Ngatimaru. For this escape from an embroilment on which our militai'y authorities were counting, we aro indebted to friendly and neutral natives, the same who some months since induced Tamati Teito to retract his threats of personal violence to the Mataitawa settlers. Tamati was very troublesome during the rising of 1860, in the character of a prophet, which gave him an opportunity of promulgating of Itvte years some attractive and dangerous theories relating to the confiscated lands. He finally threatened tho lives of tho Mataitawa settlers at a meeting attended by his Honour the Superintendent and tho Civil Council, but yielded to the arguments and wishes of the friendly natives and personally assisted back to their homes on tho Mataitawa district, the families he had terrified by his conduct and threats. There is, it seems, an understanding amongst the natives, that Tito's evil shall bo confined to his own district, and th<>y may even wish him well out of it — without reflecting on their disposition towards ourselves — so long as he keeps to himself. At the bottom of all this lies the desire of the friendly and neutral natives to be at peace with us ; and considering the unreflecting and unjust cry against all natives at the present time, it is but just to our own natives, friendly and neutral, to adduce these two recent instance," in which by moral means only they have warded off danger from our scattered settlement. The Rev. Mr. Buller, the Chairman of tho Wesleyan Conference in New Zealand, in a funeral sermon recently preached in New Plymouth on the deaths of the Rev. Mr. Whitely and the other victims of the White Cliffs massacre, paid a just tribute to the friendly tribes by adducing numerous instances of their loyalty and devotion, and now by subscribing from their slender means, with tho English, to the fund for the erection of a monument to the memory of Mr. Whitely. Whilst on thia aubject you Trill read in the Taranaki Herald an excellent letter from Ngapuhi to Mrs. Whitely, wherein the writers, after denouncing the murders, point, in their own figurative mode of expression, to the necessity of exterminating the murderers. As the question of the co-operation of the powerful Ngapuhi tribe has been frequently discussed of late, with its pros and cons, it would be well for the Government to consider this letter and the offer of aid so spontaneously made. Mokau makes us no sign. The Bpies said to have been seen of late, proved to be vapours resting over tho land. We expected some news via Auckland today of Ngatimaniapoto, but none came.