TE AWAMUTU.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 719, 5 March 1866, Page 5

TE AWAMUTU.

[fI'.OJI OUR OW.\" COI'.KE.SPOJfDEN'r.] February 24. Everything has b.-on so extremely dull hero of lato that there has been absolutely nothing worthy of ■ record. Now, however, there aro hopes of a change, and a relief from the monotony and isolation wo hnvo endured for some month's past, f-'-r the 40th Regiment has received orders to prepare tor removal to Auckland, and embarkation for England, and it is generally eupposcd here that its stay here will not extend beyond tho ond of March. Jluring the foreno"n of Wednesday, thi.J garrison was thrown into a most unnaturalstateof excitement: zealous non commissioned officers were hastening liithor and thither, and lynx-eyed individuals were scrutinizing nooks and crannies, and peering into out-of-the-way drains, holes and ditches, which, in all. probability had net been examined during the twelvo months or rnore. r J ho Sphinx redoubt was closely block -ded by a strong posse of tho cam]) polios, in order to prevent ir.grc6B and egress, and a mysterious consultation was held befweun tho garrison sergeant and a distinguished officer holding a higli commission in her Majesty's service. All this portonded some e~tra-cr,-iiiidry event, and sure enough it shortly became known that dining the previous night some local Jack Shepherd had contrived to effect an unlawful entrance into tho ofllco of tho Paymaster 40t.h Regiment, and to surreptitiously extract therefrom all iron chebt containing something, the exact amount or value of which rumour could not tell j but it lias subsequently transpired that the aforesaid cheat contained a number oflilank cheques, somo of which have been found in tho Mang boo stream, about halfamiloto th« westwnrd of the camp, Tliid is ilbcirt the boldett little bit of burglary t has been perpetrated hero. Tho robhais "would appear to have succeeded in- effecting an entrance into the office by way of tho window, a pane of which they smashed in order to unfasten the latch I which secured it, and they must have carried out their predatory operations with great and methodical dispatch, as it sentry was posted within twenty or thirty yards of thorn, while a company of the 40th Beeiment occupy the barrack rooms st 11 closer. Two soldiers, whose fiiiines I withhold from obvious reason?, are in custody on suspicion. A pic-nic was pivon on Thursday, to a few specially invited families in tho jrarrison, by Messrs. Thorpo and Ross, Canteen proprietors. Pome of the ofliceis of the garrison were al.-o present, and the affair appears to have passed oft" in n highly successful manner, both on account of tlio liberal supply of refreshments, and the genuine enjoyment which characterised it. Tt is rumoured that the dctachmrnt Royal Artillery, at present stationed here, is to remove shortly, and that the Regiment, or a of it, is to come up by w.iy t-f iho Waikuto ilcuds to reliove the 40th.