AUCKLAND

Otago Witness, Issue 621, 24 October 1863, Page 7

AUCKLAND

(FROM THE DAILT TIBfES CORRESPONDENT. 6th October. 1863. The^ "war news, since my last, isf r.ot of any very grealimporfauce, as it is almost entirely prospective rather than realised. The rapid improvement of the weather, which now plainly indicates the approach of summer, is one caus» of thi tiptoe expectation v.k ; eH is taking possession of all minds aa to movements en thr Wa'kato. There arr>, how. vor, other c :uses of not less importance. Of these, perhaps, the most reasonable are the rapid strengthening of the General s hands by tl>e arrival of the gunboat Waifcato, in th-j first place, which took place on Sunday last, sod also the of his forces by the futther reinforcement of 250 men of the 12lh, which earae !>y the Curaijoa. on Friday last. It is well known that the General has been Jong impatient of his present apparent inaction, although ir S effect will prob-iWy be of the very best kind on tho progress of the war. That he has not stormed Mere Mere, as many thought h« both ought to and wouitl have done, may certainly beatrn utrd tobisdeterwination not to allow, if he could avoid it, any opportunity to pass of inflicting a really crushing blow uiion the natives. It is w"e!l known that the grand diiiiculty und. r which we Inbor is the impvsibiiiiy, a* a niie, of catching any lar<*e frrt-e toge'hpr. This the great works at Mere Mere give some hope cf, and Central Cameron has waited a inout'), I l.aye reason to b, Ikve, principally because he would not by haste do away with hi« chance, which may never occur again. There is no such position of strength on the whole river as Mere- Mere ; and if the natives can't be caught there, there is little hope of catching the-i elsewhere in any satisfactory numbers together. While the natives wore in largi numbers in the forest lower down the river than the (ienerai's position, it wou'd nave been comparatively easy to have stormed MereMere, but the blow wonli! have beeu but light aiul the i^ar'-ful preparations ot a month of anxious thought and hard work, would have been in a great measure thrown away. Now the natives have learut their lesson as regards bush righting from our local foices, and having failed to move oas; man of tbe general's own force at the frout hive been ignominiou-ly woistedin every attack they have made, and finally have been fiiven entirely outof ihe bush by the flying column of Colonei Nixon, with the exception of about one hundred men who still c'ing to the neighborhood of Waiuku for the puipose of obtaining utu (payment) for the df ath of one of two men who were shot by the Waiuku settlers as they were making oIF fr in a settler's house with some of his goods on their backs. Th*> gentleman, it would ,-.ppt ar, wh «c manes will Inve to be propitiated by the slaughter (I am told) of ten white men, is a brother cf the famous Rewi, of Waikato, the great rival of William Thompson. His nnme was Hemi (James) it would nppear, and his countrymen are very indignant at his having been shot in such an undignified way, as that ia which he died— by a long shot from a laboring man's rifle, while he had not a gun, but a bag ot stolen property en his back. His gun by the way was in his hand, as it and his cartrHge-box fell into the hands of our people on the occasion. There is a large force at this moment out in search of them, and if they should catch them the ulu I fear will have to be increased indefinitely, a the force is getting some what tired of being troubled by a set of murderous wretches who lie in wait atroadsidesandso on, for stray passengers. They will, I fancy, get but little mercy when caught, although hitherto their efforts after murder have been imitlfs?. The Lord Ashly from Sydney, arrived on Thursday last, and brought back the native Minister (Mr Bel!) and 25 more men for the Waikato volunteers. She was followed on Friday night by the Ouragoa frizate carrying the pennant of Commodore Wiseman. The Curagca is a very flue frigate and is the largest yet on this station -, -he carries a complement ot 320 men besides officers. From Australia we learn that « 'olcnel Pitt has made up his nuni&er of men in Victoria, to about twelve hundred, and has now left oa his way here with the remaining 400 or so of his regiment ; they wi:l be a very fine body cf men, although all ths better or a good deal of drilling. There has been a goo"i deal of discussion in our Provincial Council about the propriety of th 3 Sup-.r-intf.n<!erjt's offer to pay L 15,000 for the passage money of the military settlers. The discussion was put an end to by the receipt of a letter from the colonial Executive, stating that upon farther consideration they had defprmmei upon not accepting the offer 88 they ha' n >w much widtr phuu, for which the money would be totally in-sufficient. What these plam are is not htated, but there can be little doubt that they refer to the introduction of settlors on a large scale from Europe, either England or Prussia. The whole scheme will of course ba laid before the Assembly when it meets and nicanwb.de we can no doubt manage pretty well with our 2000 regular volunteers for Waikato, until the troops from India arrive, or until 6(.me active steps can bs taken about the other scheme. The arrival of the Waikato gunboat in the Manakau on Sunday last in perfect safety has raised the public spirits to a high pitcb. I suppose another week ought to see her opposite Mers-Mere. b'ha will draw two feet three inches of water, which just now ought to take her up to Otawhao without grounding anywhere. A emaller and fetill shallower draught boat in ordered from "Sydney, to be brought in pi. ces and put together here. Shs is from the plan of Mr Stewart, the principal civil' engineer in this place, who has gone to superintend hor constructior'. She v.ill draw twelve inches water, and he guarantees her to be ready ia one month.