CAMP TE RORE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 80, 15 February 1864, Page 4

CAMP TE RORE.

[FBOH otjb OWN CORRESPONDENT.J February 11. There still appears no prospect of a move before the arrival of supplies, which I suppose depend upon the arrival of the new steamer, the ' Koheroa.' As the ' Koheroa ' is reportfd to have reached Whatawhatn •with the floating train, we may very soon expect to be at liberty to move onco more. The poor little ' Avon,' it is said, has terminated lier useful career, her mortal remains toiog irrecoverably appropriated by the sticky deity that presides over the bottom of the Waikato." Whether her engines will be fished up is problematical. The story about the attack on bis Excellency Sir George Grey's baggage proves tho truth that in some cases a pood false report is of more valuo to a newspaper correspondent than a true tale ; for the incorrectness of the ncw3 in this instance gives me an opportunity of alluding to it once more. It appears that the men driving the horses with the Governor's baggage becoming frightened at being left without an escort, his Excellency and the escort having ridden on. turned round and returned to Whatawhata, which place they reached without injury to themselves or to their charge. The Defence Corps has been Bent back to "Whata. •whata on account of the difficulty of finding rations for their horses tip here. As far as our own peculiar requirements are concerned, there is no lack of beef and bread as yet, although there are some rumours of tea and coffee running short. That " supply " side of warfare quite takes away the' romance of it, and really the best man to manage an army in these tines is the one who can best manage a grocer's store. Romantic young warriors who never cat any thing, and always manage to perform such incredible acta on an empty stomach, don't succeed now-n-davs: and Bly well-fed old gentlemen, with pons behind their ears and spectacle on noses, sit on high stools and regulate the progress of England's chivalry by ledger and cash-book much better. So many men to feed requires so much at such a price; deduct so much for last battle; draw a line in red ink, and there's the whole of the brilliant plan of a campaign. There is a brisk fire kept up at intervals with the Maoris at Paterangi, but there appears no intention of making a direct attack on the place yet at all events. There were no mon wounded yesterday that I heard of. A shell wns dropt the night before amongst a party of Maoris sitting round a lire outside the pan, and had the effect of frightening all that were not hurt into the pah much quicker than they had emerged from it; but several lost the number of their billet, rs the soldiers say, and had to be earned in by their comrades. Some \Vest Coast natives camo into the camp today, being on their way to Pikopiko. What their motive is in going I cannot say, but thoy go with the General's permission. . Every day some fresh tract of magnificent Land, or some beautiful little nook with qualities before unknown is discovered in hunting about. Yesterday the Rangers perhaps may have come across an old cultivation; to-dav, it may be, a slope of hill side, extending for some miles," which, instead of being only hill-clay as expected, growing stunted fern, is composed of rich volcanic soil, with fern stalks twenty feet high, and as thick as a walking stick, studded with all kinds of fruit trees, thrown there by accident, or the remains of old cultivations, all growing with the wildest luxuriance, mingled with shrubs indicating by their presence and their size the wonderful fertility of the soil. "What pickings there will be when this country is all thrown open. It will be almost as good as having permission to pick fifty or tixty acres out of Gloucestershire or Devonshire, with the climate of the south of trance. What a Sybarite's life a man might lead who had ten thousand acres of such land as an estate, and an independant income of a few hundreds to spend on it and adorn it with all the beauties, of civilisation. There ■would bo fat meadows knet—Jep in pasture for silkvskinnod short-horns. There would be rolling downs of short sweet grass for full firm mutton. Here what acius of fruit trees and flower gardens, producing all «f beauty and luxury that nature has to give to art. What a climate for thoroughbred horses, and what miles of country to ride them over. What a life of pastoral riches, revelling in cream and flowers, and new mown hay, rejoicing in the joy of fat stock of all kinds. Assembling round one genus of animals, and making it one's ambition to surpass all others. There ! see up there! what a site for a house, with gables facing views on cach side ; the lawns rolling down to the river, faced with -the deep solemn yews or the giant Spanish chcsnut, the little lodge lifting ita red roof amongst the green leaves down away in the distance. "Why should we not look forward to the sweet village beauties, and the stately cultivated loveliness of the homes of wealth in Old' England, as much or more favoured than the other little island that has done so much and smiles so beautifully on the other side of the world ?