CAPTAIN JACKSON'S EXPEDITION. FULL PARTICULARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 41, 31 December 1863, Page 3

CAPTAIN JACKSON'S EXPEDITION. FULL PARTICULARS.

1 [KP.OM A COTIRESPOX UKST.] j ! PapnkuvH, December loth. j ! Xkws here, then' is little or none save the, at present, ] i all exciting at!air of the Forest Rangers iu the j j Wuirc.fi district. Having had a long conversation | j with one of the. heroes of that expedition, an j old acquaintance, 1 am able to give von tho fullest | particulars of the affair, and your readers tnuy at the j [ same time 1 re-iy on their coireetncss. j On Friday lost, then, the 11th, Captain Jackson, ; with a subaltern, and "(> privates ami non-commis-I sionetd olliccrs, proceeded at a little niter noon in the | ilirecw'oii of liio Wairoa river. That evening, at about half-past, six the {.arty reached the llunua j river, where they cunipeel for the night, mid starting | again at halt-pa-t -1 the next morning reached t'uu ! Wairoa. river in something less than two hours, i Here, for the first time, they struck native tracks. ' and the excitcmt'nt of the chase began. The trucks t were evidently quite fresh, and the men pufhed on | smartly. After traversing pome miles of awkward ground, and never losing tho trail which they lmd once found, Jackson's party arrived about half-past 10 a.m. at a spot whicti had evidently been used as a camping ground, for one of the tires still contain ! ! live embers. Carefully examining the spot, the little band eame to the .:oncln.-ioH thai the Maoris who had rested there could not havo been loss iu number than from 30 to 40, and pushing vigorously on upon the trad in tho momentary expectation of coming up with the party, they came again that afternoon by about. 6 o'clock, upon, a second camping ground, evidently more lately used, for ail the tires, five in j number, were hot. | The men were tired after 12 hours' tramp, and the temptation for them to camp was great, but C'apt. Jackson and his men were determined not to lose Ihe I advantage of a forced march, and pushed on until • nearly sundown. Unfortunately, however, tho trail was lost at this s-tage, and a halt- was ordered at once, all feeling; continent that th'-y wouid, by trying back, lie enabled to strike it again in the. morning. Next morning as soon .-is the nie.i had swallowed a mouthful of fooil tb.e parly retraciSA their steps in the hope of finding the lost trail, and after some trouble it tviu discovered. Before starting, it, occurred 'o Captain Jackson that it wtnild be worth while to endeavour to look for smoke in the direction in which tho Maoris would bo as tit that hour ol' tho morning they would probably ho cooking. This plan was most successful, smoke was seen, and away they went, and in a short time, stealing quietly through tiie brush aud forest, came within fifteen yards of the whole party, and between them and their sentry. Ilore Jackson halting his men ns they came up; gave them time to breathe, and formed his plan—" Give them the carbines, my hoys, and then charge them tVilh the revolver." At the volley from the carbines four Maoris were dropped, and their comrades appeared staggered, gazing here and th'-re, not knowing from what side the danger entile, or what the number of their foes. When t-liey saw, however, the real strength of tho little part}*, t hey • turned upon them with their gnus nnd tomahawks,

but they soon went to tho right about, when tho, boys i lot fir at them with tho revolver. Many were s wounded lit the discharge, of the carbine;, nnd were t assisted away into the bush by tho ■women. . Al- I together tho action did not last more than four or c five minutes. .Seven at any rate were killed. Ic-ur of } whom fell into our hands (lend or dying. One of the i dying men said his tribe was Ngalipawa, but refused i to give his name. A dead man lying beside h.im was, t he siid, t chicf named Matariki." ] The ram ping ground nm well stocked with provi- i sions, liork and lorn root in abundance, and there 7 was also a large amount of plunder taken front the c houses of the settlers; amongst this were papers t belonging to Mr. Richardson, of Wairoa, clothes and l property of Messrs. Johnson and McDonald of the , same place. These very articles found were part of ( the property taken at. the very same time that the , murder of the poor children was committed at Howiek. Most probably these were the wretches ( wiio tomahawked them, and savagely butchered j .Jackson, and Fahey and his wile. There was a large j amount of plunder of till descriptions—seiirlet , window curtains, boxes, trinkets, &e.; two parcels of < hair, evidently a souvenir, which is in the possession ( now of one of .Taeksou's party. But little of this . plunder could be removed, only enough to prove ] the complicity of these natives with the Wuiroa marauders and murderers. s During the engagement, as the men were hit and knocked over, they were assisted away, it appears, by the wemen, and their guns and arms removed, and | probably planted ; a " tupcra" and a pistol were, | however, secured, and a quantity of their ammunition was thrown into the crock, the men bcii.g, as it- , was, overloaded. Whilst, the plunder was being socured, a daring rascal returned mid made a rush ; at a bundle, but a bullet from a. revolver made him , drop it like a hot potatoe. Unfortunately, the dishonest rascal got away, taking the ranger's bullet with him in his leg. this bundle turned out to be the Hugs, a description of which you have already received. After the Maoris were dropped with tho fire anus, the wounded ones, while lying on the ground, endeavoured to injure Jackson's men, one fellow \isihg a bowie knife and another a large carving knife, attempting to stab them in the legs. The revolvers, however, soon settled these wretches. Altogether, the natives are very hard to kill. One fellow took two revolver bullets and one carbine ball to settle him, and then it took another shot in the head before he gave in from tmv.isliing about him with the butt end of his gun. Tiie Maoris, when they belted, made off in an easterly direction on n broad trad:. It seems that Captain Jackson did not feel it advisable to follow further, as probably the Maoris would scatter in the bush and no good would result. Had the party been a larger one the men say that they could have taken the whole lot prisoners, for at the time they were surprised most of them were cleaning their pieces, and nearly all were unloaded, one man even having J the lock off his gun. Those that did fire bad not lime to load agnin, as Jackson and his men were in [ upon them at once. The engagement took place at 8 o'clock last Sunday ni'.irniiig, about a miles direct north of Paparatn, and, from all I can learn, there were at least 40 I natives present. One of tho wounded men is reported to have said that they were only 2S, and then ■ on being ask'-d egain, said 2S twice told, which would j in all probability bo nearer the mark. | Many act;; of personal daring were shown by Jackson's men during the fight; the conduct of Ensign | W.-qmp, and of a private named Smith, are both • j spoken of enthusiastically by their comrades. Smith j l»sd a loniM,- hand-lr.-lu.lld i:r.ti-r "villi a power- j , ful savajje, r.'.d was perhaps only .'aved by the j readiness of Ensign Wcstrnp's revolver. When ail , the. men acted so well, however, it were almost in- j vidious to point to individual acts of prowess. I was j told that one of the women was accidentally shot ill i the leg, and inucwl that it was wilii great difficulty i that the other women and children were saved in the | general struggle.—llkra.i.d, December lli. j