The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1864.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 136, 20 April 1864, Page 3

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1864.

BVKCTEMUII AGEXDO. Give «v«*r.r tnnu thine ear. but few tliy volrc: Take filch mwis rcnsuro. bnl reserve thy judgment. Ttii-i nbove nil.—T»> thitio uvcixsAt ho true: And it must follow. as On' uljsht Hit* diijr, Thou runs? not thru )>« Ihlsk to any num."

.At 1 he very moment when a self-complacent clique were deluding themselves into llio fond belief that their aim ami object—the ]«itup of another hollow truce —was verging towards fruition : —at the very time when "William Naylor was amusing Iris dupes, or deceiving himself, with magnificent expectations of a wholesale surrender and submission of Maori braves: —at that very moment we are awakened from our threefold stupor l>v the intimation that we have been presented with some twenty-nine cripples, or incapable?. fifty-nine worn out old women, and nine unserviceable Hint locks, in Maori acknowledgment of our prowess, and as a testimony of how much more agreeable is our Commissariat —with all its defects—than that from which our foes have so opportunely seceded. jt cannot but prove gratifying ,to the Aborigines Protection Society to learn that although .Sir George Grey mnv not have acted according to the tenor of tlieir amiable memorial, oik; of their own congenial stamp has endeavoured to do so ; that he has spent the precious hours in pompous palaver; that he has stayed the progress of '.British enterprise : that he has aiforded the rebel camp the opportunity of weeding ' itselt and providing for its .incumbrances at uk)' I'.rpriixr of shifting their quarters without molestation, and to combine their broken forces with fresh men who have yet to feel the weight of British power. Jfiewi, supposed to have been severely wounded, at Orakau. and to have been left behind perishing in the swamp, lias not only escaped unscathed, but is alive and lite-like, and impatient for m/m for his recent defeat. AVilliam Thompson, too. who wewere assured, was not onl v convinced of his folly, but eager to escape from the hopeless strife in which he had involved himself, is still at large ; still bids defiance to our laws, and threatens not to wait for our confronting him, but to assume the offensive himself, and with the least possible delav. These are choice nuts lor the peace-at-any-price" gentry fo crack, and considering who and what those gentry, within our own borders are. and the. •moral conflicts in which they are perpetually embroiling ns both at home and abroad, we think" wc shall be fully justified,— if their undermining practices be much longer pursued — in making patent t he relations in which certain of their numbers stand towards a colony thev let slip no opportunity to misrepresent and malign.

'I'ne rcbell 1011 has assumed a ikw phase: and its leaders have elected :i new field of action. Waikato. fed l>v tlie factious ol everv tribe, lias liceu overrun from l'uta-t<ikn. 011 its western sen-lionrd, to Miiuiiirnt'iiutnri, on the liorofiu. r l'liere. the victorious campaijni was supjx>sed to have closed: and there truce traffickers wei-e lain to t'ancv tliev could work their way. liut, whilst ire were dreaming of truce, the rebels profit<'d hv the breatliint; time allowed, fo cotisider how best they iniiiht carry f>u resislauce. The result has been that their pahs and redoubts on the "Waikato have been abandoned. The interior has been deserted for the eastern sea-board. Tlie broken bauds of Waikato are combining with the numerous bin unproved warriors of the Kast : and we are about to shift the scene of aetion elsewhere. Be it so. That which tva,s accomplished under such heart-breaking dillieultie* of laud transport on the AVaikato, can by no possibility' bono disheartening on a practicable seaboard, and we rejoice to learn that immediate and energetic measures are in preparation to meet the uncxpceted emergeney. As part of the well arranged plan of the campaign, the Thames country was first taken possession of and occupied. Subsequent Iv. the military line was pushed forward to Tauranua. Either the rebels had no expectation of such a measure, or else they were at the time, unable to resist it. Jll either case, Tauranga was entered upon and Te I'apa occupied by (500 men of the dvird and Obtli Kegts. and'W'aikato Militia, with a small contingent of Artillery and Engineers, under command of Colonel Oeorge Carey; and supported bv Jl. M. screw corvette " Miranda." 15 guns, commanded by Captain Robert: .ienkins. From the hour of the occupation until 1 lie date of last advices, tlie Tatiranga detachment, although continually threatened, has never been downrightly menaced until now. Thompson, however, a. fugitive from Kangiriri, and who cautiously avoided drawing conclusions either at Orakau or 31aung:itau:ari, has made his way to Tauranga, where, swelling his forces with those of the rebellious Eastern tribes, he threatens to give us battle, unless the same prudent iiil valour which carried him safely from the Waikato should aid him to escape from the ground he has now chosen. Let us hope that. Thompson will at last evince that he is a mail of as mighty heart, as he has long shown himself to be of mighty talk. It he again plays the fugitive, he ought, to become the scorn and contempt of every .Maori j brave.

We f*;i1111o( but rejoice th.it the rebels have elected their eastern sea-board as the field of their further eampnt^us; and wj rcjoice still

inoro to learn that the most earnest preparations are afoot to meet them on the field of their choice. The Government, it is said, are very desirous that a winter campaign should be carried on against them, and we sincerely hopo it will; for after all, and cspocialW oil the sea-board, where the transport of men, munitions!, and food is of ready accomplishment, without materiallj' reducing the strength of the forces engaged, a winter campaign in such a climate as Northern New Zealand can be no very overpowering affair to a iully victualled and well furnished army, whilst to a barbarous horde, speculating on summer weather, summer supplies, occasional ambuscades, nwi exciting butcheries, with sullicient breathing time, the resolute determination to heat: them from post to post, will have an instant and overpowering effect. OfTauranga, and the position the rebels have thought fit to occupy, we have a very clear idea ; and wo are glad thai the rebellious notion is just what it is". A\'e know the country'-, and we hope to know it better before long. We might write pithily on the subject; but would it at the moment, be prudent. \Ye doubt it, and therefore refrain from saying more until the measures now in contemplation shall have been further developed.

Tiik taking of the Porewa pah has been something similar to that at Merciucro. Piko I'iko. mid IMuiuigatnutari. a clear walk over the ground—only three old men, deaf, blind and crippled, being left behind by the rebels who had retreated upon Taupe. The country ! between Maiingatantari and Taupo is M ine of the most wretched in New Zealand : there is food neither for man nor least for a distance of thiity miles, the soil being incapable of producing any sort of herbage save a stunted moss. Throughout the latter engagements the war party of the Taupo natives have been actively employed in assisting the rebels at Bangiawhia. Oraknu.nnd elsewhere, but so great webelieve.hasbeenthe slaughterat Orar knuamong the small detachment of Taupo natives engaged there that the tribes have determined on openly declaring against us. and a junction between tLonselvts and Thompson's people has been effected. Jt is in this way that tribe after tribe becomes drawn into the war. At heart they are against us. 'J he morepiuduit ones endeavour to restrain the others, and to cause thun to be content with affording assistance covertly to 1 lie out my—-a jartv of the ardent war spirits take their departure for ti:e field —several oi these get kiilid. ami tiuntl.e war spirit of the tribe is no longer controllable, and they proclaim ih< msclvt-s open enemies. It is belter that thev should do so—we know then against whom wo have to contend, and no false delicacy lited prevent us taking elective measures to meet such rebellion. Something of the same kind is going on now at Hawke's Bay. The natives there J have ever been turbulenfly disposed, com- j mitting most wanton acts of aggression on the property of settlers before the present war. hut acting more cautiously since its commencement. "We see, however, that the Hawkcs' Bay chief, Paori Toki, with twenty armed followers have taken their departure | for the AVaikato, it was with some difficulty : lhat one hundred others were persuaded | from starting, and doubtless many natives from those districts have been for some time past fighting in the "W'aikato. The Taupo district is. however, like that of Bangiawhia. a most fertile and beautiful one, and the army once established there, the Province of Auckland may be said to have been conquered, forming, as Taupo does, the centre of the inland and southern stronghold of Maoridomjust as Bangiawhia did that of the AVaikato. The settlements along tin? coast mav easily be subdued, and there is little doubt but that by the end of next summer the Provinces of Auckland and Taranaki will be conquered and occupied by the pakeha. It is to be regretted that we cannot be in position to occupy such a district as that of Bangiawhia immediately, by establishing semi-military settlements a 1 once ; a large quant ilv of the land is already in cultivation, and such land lying waste deteriorates sadly. Already we learn that the appearance of the country around Te Awamutu is greatly changed. "Hundreds of acres which only a few weeks ago were covered with rich crops sire now destitute of every kind of vegetation. with the exception of small fern and docks, which latter, as inallnativecirltivations, generally obtain a strong hold of the best land. All the houses and buildings, with the exception of the church, have been pulled down and burnt for firewood. The churchyard contains the graves of a great number of the soldiers who were brought in dead or wounded from Orakau; Captain Bing lies there, and two neat headstones mark the graves of the gallant .Forest Bangeiswho fell in the same engagement. The Maungatautari district is also a fertile one, there is a quantity of excellent bush land about the settlements, part of which has been cleared and cultivated by the Natives. The llorotiu, unlike the "Waipa which is only a small river, is a very fine deej) stream navigable for many miles above the ledge of rocks which stopped the progress of the ' Avon' at Pukerimu. Though narrow it is of great depth, audits color is a magnificent green. It is skirted by high perpendicular banks eo\ ercd with small scrub and fern.

As wo mentioned before, the chief hospital is at Te Awamutu. Jn talking to a gentleman who had visited it, since the engagement iit Orakau, he described it to us as a tt;uly awful sight, occupied as it was with the mutilated forms of men who but a short time before had been in the full possession of health and vigour. Here were men with legs, there were men with arms cut off; some shot; through the body ; oue with a bullet wound through the eye, the bullet having in some mysterious manner come out by the mouth ; another with his lower jaw shot away, and numbers more with every variety of wound. The medical attendance paid to the patients is assidious, and every possible comfort and requirement provided tor them.