IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE FROM TARANAKI.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume XVI, Issue 1618, 2 February 1861, Page 2

IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE FROM TARANAKI.

By the Overland mail from Wanganui we have received the Taranaki Herald of the 20th ult., which contains the account of a brave and determined night attack on the No. 3 Redoubt at Kairau, by a body of 140 natives, but who were repulsed by the troops with the loss of 44 killed and 5 wounded, the loss on our side being 5 killed and 11 wounded. It is thought that the impression produced on the natives by this hand to hand fight will far exceed any. thing that could be produced at long bowls with artillery. The enemy are supposed to have abandoned their rifle-pits at Huirangi and taken up a position two or three miles further inland. The ship Star Queen arrived at New Plymouth on the 23rd ult., from Bombay via Auckland, with 314 rank and file of the 57th Regt., and the Castilian was to follow with the head-quarters. The natives were burning and destroying houses close in the rear of the town ’ Full particulars of the late engagement will be found in the following extracts. The election of members for the General Assembly to represent the divisions of the City of Auckland took place on the 11th January. For the City East, Mr. T. Russell; City West, Messrs. Firth and Williamson. For Parnell, Mr. Wood. For Newton, Mr. Graham.

(From the 7’aranaki Herald, January 26.) The heaviest blow of the war has been struck. During the week a storming party of 140 of the gallantest men that Ngatihaua, Ngatimaniapoto, Waikato, or Ngatiawa could produce, headed by Rewi, Epiha, Hapurona, and others,and supported by a reserved force of 300 more, a few hundred yards in their rear, has bad the courage to aftack a well entrenched redoubt full of 360 men of (be 40th regt. At the grey of dawn on Wednesday, the 23rd, it was discovered by the sentry that this party had crept into the ditch of No. 3 redoubt, and was preparing to assault. The fire of lhe reserve kept our men from the bank, and the happy expedient was adopted of throwing live shells among theheap oflivingbeingsin thetrench. Aftertheir I explosion and hardly after it, our gallant fellows rushed into the ditch upon their assailants, and after a deadly struggle of twenty minutes the enemy was routed, leaving 41 dead bodies and five wounded prisoners, four of whom have since died. In the meantime, immediately on bearing the noise Colonel Wyatt sent 250 men ' of the 65th and 12th from the garrison of the Kairau redoubt in all haste to the scene, who psssing part on one side and part on the other of the combatants, fell in with the reserve, whom they attacked with the bayonet, and drove them before them into the bush. Our gallant fellows lost 5 killed and 1 1 wounded, and of these 11 only a part, it is to be feared, will recover of their wounds. The moral effect of this affair will be im- f( mensely valuable. The extreme caution of the responsible commanders has led to the mistaken [ impression among the natives that our race, ; and especially our soldiers, are physically timid, i I hey could hardly deny our superiority in the : arts and mechanism of war.. Now they have felt the pluck and vigonrofthe hearts and arms of our soldiers ; and those-who havenot hitherto ; entangled themselves in this miserable struggle will not, with a few exceptions, be likely to drop in now. The gallant 40th have abundantly re- L trieved Puketakauere, and recovered iu the ' eyes of the Maori any prestige they may then L have lost. Colonels Wyatt and Leslie, the ■ officers and men of the 12th, 40th, and 65th, j by their wise, prompt, and bold conduct on j Wedne-day last, have laid a lasting debt on 1 New Zealand—they have changed -the face of the war. The timely arrival of the first instalment of ■ the 57th Regiment, and the intelligence brought I by the November mail of the departure of a battery of Aimstrong guns and 250 men, with rumours of further aid, are further grounds for ft thankfulness.

Wednesday, January 23.—The Tasmanian Maid from Waitara Hiis morning—no news. Shortly af4' her arrival a telegram was received from Waitaia that, during the morning, 35 natives had been killed and 4 taken prisoners. No further details.—The gunboat Caroline, D days out from Manukau to-day, brings news nf the arrival in Auckland of a detachment oftbe 57th Regiment from India, who were to leave for this port the day af er the Caroline left.—Some I'ou’oko natives came up to-day in a canoe. They atate that there are 800 Ngiit-ruanui, Taranaki, and Ngaruarus, (th' latter from Waitotara) at Waireka, and -alto 300 Waikatos, under Tapfliona. In the affair- yesterday, at Omnta. the rebe's gay they bail only one casualty, one man, Rihari, of Ka’otaru, wounded in tho hand; but our informant soys they were biding their loss,* and believed one or more were killed,—Another telegram received anmu icing that Lieut. Jackson, 40tb’ Regt.. was killed this morning.—Sergeant Bnrnettwas buried to-day in the Wesleyan cemetery with military honors, the band playing the funeral march, nnd the body followed by military nnd civilians. The deceased wflß greatly esteemed by every one, but his loss will be must felt at the military hospital.—The ship Star Queen from Bombay via Auckland anchored al 4 p-nj-with 314 tank aid file and 16 sergeants of tie 57tb egimeiit, und, r Major Butler, Capt. Brown, Lieuls. itaynton, Hasted, Thompson, Cox, and Waller, Ensigns Clarite, Murray, and Clayion, Asst.-Su-g' o ’ l Davis. The Caroline left for "Waitara soon after her

arrival for orders, which were brought up in the Tasmanian Maid nt dusk, and the troops were landed during the night. We are informed that the SMr was to be followed by the Castilian, with the headquarters of the regiment.; the remainder of the regiment with the women and children would speedily follow. Great anxiety for news-.from Waitara, and the beach was crowded when the boat landed from the steamer with several of the wounded. From various ■sources we have gleaned the following particulars, referring our readers to details in another column, of the repulse of the rebels at Huirangi r—Before daylight this morning about 140 natives contrived under cover of the darkness to creep into the ditch of No. 3 redoubt unobserved by the sentries, and had prepared to scale the embankment by scraping steps with tomahawks and their fingers. At the grey of the morning a sentry perceived one man—the last of the party —creeping to the brow of the ditch ; he fired on him, and was immediately shot dead himself. The garrison, consisting of the greater part of the 40th, under the command of Colonel Leslie, met the attack with great promptitude, and a scene .ensued which bafiles description. Our troops, as fast as they could load their rifles, fired down over the parapet, and the artillerymen, with great coolness, cut short the fuses of the shells, and lighting them, pitched them over- into the trench with frightful execution. Lieut. Jackson,4oth regt., while in the act of firing at a native over the parapet, with his revolver, was shot through the head, end fell mortally wounded. Some natives succeeded in getting so far up tlie parapet that they were bayoneted by the garrison. This sanguinary conflict was prolonged till daylight, when the support came up from Kairau, a party of the 65th attacking the rebels on their right flank, while the 12th attacked them on tbe left of the redoubt; here they met the rebel reserve, who rose out ot the fern like a flock of birds. These were charged by the 12th at the point of the bayonet, and those of the natives who could turned and fled, leaving many behind them. .It was all over before 6, a.m., and in the trench of the redoubt and around lay 4.9 bodies of rebels, 5 only of whom were alive. 41 were buried in a grave between No. 2 and 3 redoubts, others were buried by the friendly natives. Thirteen chief mea are stated to be amongst the slain, but many of the bodies were beyond identification. The wounded natives are all dangerously so. Our casualties are 5 killed and 11 wounded, viz.:— KILLED. Royal Engineers— Sapper George Chubb. 1 2th Regt.— Private Edward Archer. 40M Regt.— Lieutenant Jackson ; Private W. Gilbert, Private Edward Gorray.

WOUNDED. Royal Artillery— Daniel. Bushnell, slightly. 12/A Regt.— Captain T. E. Miller, slightly ; Private Patrick Cahill, severely, tomahawk; Private Edmund Power, slightly. 40M Regt— Private Henry Wakefield, severely; Private John Officer, dangerously ; Private John Mullins, slightly. 65M Regt.— Lance Corporal James Howard, dangerously ; Private Edward Smith, dangerously ; Private Joseph Robinson, dangerously; Private Samuel Hamilton, severely. House burning continued during the day, and included most of the buildings that yet remained in the Omata—the Rev. G. Bayley’s, Mrs. Passmore’s (the husband murdered in March), and Messrs. M’Kellar’s straw rick ; an attempt to burn the dwelling house was repulsed from the stockade. Shortly after '9 p.m. six shots were fired at the blockhouse on the hill top in the Carringlon-road by natives secreted in a gully. The troops returned the fire, and burnt a blue light, and the bugles sounded at every post. Men were seen in every direction hastening to their places, and women and children to the appointed buildings of refuge, but there was not that confusion observable on previous similar occasions. The ni.ht was bright moonlight, and the timely reinforcements of the 57th Regiment had undoubtedly much to do with this. The guards were everywhere strengthened, and bodies of troops and militia traversed the streets. Nothing further occurring, the reserves were dismissed towards midnight.