WELLINGTON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 784, 18 June 1864, Page 5

WELLINGTON.

14th. June I can only send you a few noteo by to-day's The ne^3 from Wanganui is still of a favorable character. Confidence has been so far restored a3 to induce the settlers to return to their farms, and the districts in the opposite direction to those lately the subject of alarm, continue to feel perfectly at ease. Whether the friends of the fanatics -will take utu remains to be seen; those on the spot, and therefore probably best able to judge, think that they will not, yet there can be no certainty they they will not try it. In hospital, one of the loyal wounded was obliged to have his leg ampu- jj tated, and the interpreter tells me hist friends | were as uneasy a! possible, until they enjoyed the f satisfaction of knowing that a fanatic wounded | had to undergo the same operation. j No official account of the Superintendent's ! visit up the river has been published. I clip j from the " Independent" a short account which I believe to be reliable:— "The{Superintendent and Dr Fletcher, with Mr Booth a* interpreter, went up the river ■ shortly after the news of the fight reached Wanganui, with a view to strengthen the natives in their loyalty and attend to the wounded. .It is much to be r'gretted that no account ot this visit has been published, as we believe its details to be most interesting. The Superintendent required that all the prisoners on parole should be sent to

Wanganui. This the loyal natives' •■were I"'"''exceedingly loth to do; they represented that <" both amongst the killed fanatics and th«. prisoners were many of their nearest relatives, and that, the Queen should be satisfied with the de;td and iov the'r sakea let the living <:o, neverthele-s they woull act as Ihe.y the (juueiniteudent desired. The Superintendent chained that only the Governor had ye pow.'i- to <io so ; that so far as he (the Superintendent) was-con-cerned, he must require the prisoners robe taken and sent down in safe custody. Earnestly the natives pleaded, but the Superintendent, was inexorable ; and one fine morning between one or two hundred of them manned their canoes to vi»it the villages where the prisoners were. They were very downcast, and Mete Kingi, the Putiki chief, again pleaded for the abandonment of the prisoners, or at least that, as there were many of them relatives, they should not be sent to Wellington or Auckland. The • Superintendent prorai ed that the prisoners should not be removed from vvanganui, and advised them to write to the Governor setting forth what they had done and beggiug that the prisoners ruifiht be handed over to them. Mete Kingi's countenance brightened, the other canoea were hailed and alongside in an instant, and when the Superintendent*- promise and proposal were narrated, the paddles went to work vigorously to the tune of an improvised jubilant. There was much discut-siou \- Pehi's about the prisoners, Pehi was atil.

as doubtful as he has been for some time r-ast as to whether he should declare himself for Queer* or King, and refused to do either until the custody of the prisoners was left with him. There was only one of them actually in Uh pa, and he was pronounced too ill to D 6 moved, but the loyal natives said he was only shamming, as they had seen him in no wise behind the rest of them when a bullock was being eaten just previously. He was soon hunted v,> and uurched into the canoe. No sooner had the party pushed off than a volley was fired from a, height behind the pa. An ambush was the only thought, and the canoes were a Jain alongwda the bank instantly, and the natives in skirmishing order adveuoed from cover to. cover until thej had again entered tht villages and demasded to know the cause of the firing. Jt was afa se alarm, it was only a party of visitors to Pebi. At mother ft two hours were spent in talk with » view to ptnruw* s oki»f of note to come peaoeably and not by force. The loya! natives explained that if they laid their hands on him to take him to the canoe he would be degraded—wonld be on a level with a slave— ever afterwards. He was the relative of some of themselves, and they wished to avoid the indignity by getting him to come of his own accord, which he eventually did. In all. there were twenty-six prisoners sent down to Wanganui, of whom a few were women and children. The women and children were allowed to go at large, and the men were sent either to the hospital or barracks."

Mr Haralin, the Interpreter, has alao communicated to me the particulars of the visit to Waitotara, which shows how utterly false are tha representations that have made the authorities appear to truckle at an important crisis. Late in the evening, after the Superintendent's return from up the river, information was received by Mr White of a great meeting of Ngatarusnuis and fanatics, on the Waitotara Block. The Superintendent immediately determined to prevent it, if possible, and requested the Colonel commanding the troops to march out next morning to the designated pah. The Colonel was very willing to do so, provided he had proper authority j but as the Superintendent had no power to order the troops, be reluctantly declined. The Superintendent resolved to go himself and warn them off, since he could do nothing more, and applied to the Militia Msjor for a cavalry escort. Capt. Cameron's company of. thirty-six were ready at nine in the morning, and away they rode, accompanied by three or four settlers. When nearing the pah where the supposed rebels and fanatics had met, a halt was called, and the Superintendent and bis interpreter rode on, accompanied by the three or four settlers, only one of them haviag aD arm. How this plucky but hazardous visit might have terminated had a mass of infuriated fanatics been there it is not duobtful perhaps to suggest, but fortunately there were only a few there and the loyal natives who. had been in eotnmunicntion with Mr White. They were warned of the consequences of meeting as they had proposed, and so good su. efteefc had it that two days afterwards they sent in letters to say that they had abandon^ all intention of. meeting on the Qaeen's land and had withdraw^ themselves further north.

I had little opportunity of seeing Mr Fos;, hSi was only in town one clear afternoon, hut jfroai the few words he mentioned about his interview with Wi Tako at Waikauae, the allegiance of that chief is pregnant with much sood. The interview; commenced with a theological discussioa a* t.oi whether the Government would act in a Chri^. like spirit, whether it desired the repentance o'4 all the.Maories, and whether it wouldsrgivs all who repented ; to which Mr Pox replied that it offtrid forgiveness on certain conditions to all except murderers, that if the evil Maaries accepted the offer they would receive ibrciveness. :$ they rejected it the consequences would be (t^e. result of their own doings. The conditions vere, explained (as printed) and Wi Tako assented to, them, giving Mr Fox to understand that bj* doing so was like plaeine in his hand a key which gave him admission into, and powsa1 over the whole building of King-isEi in this portion of the province. Wi Tako explained his action hitherto. He joined Kingism in its infancy, he thought it would h'Te beea worked to the benefit of the Maori race. When he saw' to what object it was being directed, he urged all his influence to prevent its be .omine; what it ntt9 but itewai's counsel prevailed. Hs, knew th«t the end was death from the mon^nti the path of law and order was departed from* sM he had restrained to Mb utmost \n& otk&» people and successfully so. He was a ©aa of hia word. He had cast in hi& M with Kingism when it was not spokan against, and when it was intended t» be aiaeans of good,, he could not desert it in trouble. He had ex plained this two years ago to the Governor. Wi Hapi had visit«d Waikato, and told him thafe Waikato was rooted up, and that the fightiug1 now wa» not for the King but for the names of Thostpsoa and Riwai. As a branch of the tree he was withered, and renounced Kingiam. His name had been known all »ver the island as follower of the King; now he had proposed to the various tribes to bear his reasons for becomiug a Qu«en's man. He wished the latter to b« m widely known and as inflaantial as the former. Mr Pox need not fear his sincerity— as he had stood by a falling cause to ihe last, so would ho be true to the Queeu in future. He was reidy to make the submission required of him, but begged that bis people might be dealt gently with. Mr Fox replied that he should treat him as a chief, of whom he hid from Dr. Fea'herstoa and others a corroboration of hia having restrained the turbulent, and would not, therefore, degrade him by accepting hia gun or confiscating his lands; to which, Wi Tako replied with considerable feeling that the leniency of the Government would notb<s lost, that those who had much forgiven them were called npon to love most. Ho took the oath of allegiance, and then for the first time Mr Fox unbent, and shook him by the hand. That he is sincere and will be perfectly thorough, I do not doubt.

I bare not time to do more than to oall yonr attention to the Superintendent's ape«ch, and to the trial of Nicker.

We have to-day six steamers at anchor, fivo ii a constant occurrence, but I h»ve never kDnwa six before. The Wang«nui, from the South, arrived in the night, and the Wonga i« just coming in.