WAIROA.

Otago Witness, Issue 752, 28 April 1866, Page 2

WAIROA.

The Hawhe's Bay Times of the 15th instant, in a supplement, publishes the following intelligence from the dis;urbed districts : — IMPORTANT PROM THE "SEAT OF

WAR."

A correspondent, under date Friday, 13"h April, has obligingly furnished us with the following important information. We have no reason to doubt its truth : —

There are some very strange reports and rumors just now, and they may in this case be relied upon. The public say that there are a large body of Uriweras cuttimr a bush track from Rua Tahuna to theWairoa side of the Lake (Waikare Moana)They muster, with Kereopa, Patara, and tli eir people, s iveral hundred, strong (say 700), and thtir intention is to make a descent upon Wairoa. The se-json is fast slipping away, and unless immediate steps are taken to stop these murderous disturbers ofthe peace, the war, instead of being at an end, will be enly just commencing. The time is passing away when an expedition will be possible. Kereopa and Patara have escaped from Colonel Lvon at Opotiki, and have made Manga Piwhatutheir head-quarters. " There are at least," says a private person, to my knowledge, twenty hapus (tribes)." The country is a most difficult one to cross. Manga Piwhatu is only thirty miles from here as the crow flies, but the actual distance to be travelled is sixty, and that over almost inaccessible hills, covered with scrub ; ia addition to all this, there are several river* to cross. The road lies between the forks of Te Puni and Ko Mana rivers ; and the head quarters of the enemy lay about N.N.W. from here. It will take at least four days to arrive at Manga Piwhatu.