LATEST NATIVE NEWS.

Southland Times, Issue 1023, 18 September 1868, Page 2

LATEST NATIVE NEWS.

(From the ' Daily Times/ 12th September.) The * Wanganui Chronicle 1 gives the* following particulars concerning thd attack on the rebel position at Etiaruril, about a quarter of a mile in the rear of Te Ngutu o te Manu : — A force, consisting of about 200 Europeans and 100 of the Wanganui Natives, left Waihi at 1 a.m. on the morning of the 7th inst., in two divisionß.—No. 1, commanded by Major Von Tempsky and the following officers :— Sub-Inspectori Brown, Eoberts, and Gumming ; Captain Palmer, Lieutenants Hastings, Hunter, and Hertzel.— -No. 2, commanded by Major Hunter: Captain Buck, Captain* O'Halloran, Sub-Inspectors Newlafad arid iToung, and Lieutenant -Botvan. Dr Walker accompanied No. 1 Division, and Surgeon Best No 2. The force made a long detour to the right of Te Ngutu, o te Manu and at 2 p.m. found themselves in the rear of Euaruru. Here they came acroas an outlying picket, who were fired into by; the Wanganui natives. The force then advanced and took up a position in a small gully about; 200 yards distant from th 9 rebel position t under a very heavy fire from all sides. They remained here about ten minutes without any casualty, when trooper Hogan was hit in the thigh, and, soon after Lieutenant Eowah was dangerously wounded in the face. The men-then" began to fall rapidly. Major Von Tempsky was shot dead, then Captain Buck, Captain Palmer, and Lieutenant Hunter. Colonel M'Donnell then ordered the force to retire. The Wanganui Natives led the retreat, supported by about 70 Europeans ; then came the wounded, followed by the rear-guard under the command of Lieutenant Hastings and Ensign Hertzel. Lieutenant Hastings was killed during the retreat. Both men and officers behaved well, JJia_W^nean3iL_Niti=««i— especially — ««i— But for them our casualties must have been mnch heavier. I subjoin a list of the killed and wounded, which may not, however, be strictly correct. All the dead were left on the field, as well as the wounded who could not walk. The first men returned to Waihi about eight p.m. The rest returned in small parties until 10 a.m. next morning.., The position of the Natives who have hitherto remained neutral has, since this disaster, become, very unsatisfactory.. The Wanganui ' Times', says all the wounded were brought into the camp. Colonel M'Donnell's clothes were shot through in several places. - '■ ! ' / - L The killed, besides the officers already mentioned, are Corporal Burrell, Privates Hallen, Finnistry, Kilgrew, Davis, Tinan, Hughes, G-eorge, Lumsden, Grant, and Drake. Two — Darlington and Downsare reported missing. The wounded (many of whom must now be dead) are Lieutenant Epwan and Surgeon Best, Privates Houston, O'Brien, Hogan, Waldron, O'Connor, Burke, Sergeant Tovey, Privates Slanigan, Harris, Caldwell, M'Minnis, Waldron, Griffiths, Quincey, Melvin, Loder, J. Wills, J, Hambrin, Holloway, Hoyland, and Flynn. Frazer's company of Armed Constabulary has been sent for from the East Coast to Patea. . Mr M'Lean, and a deputation of setters interested in Hawke's Bayywaited on the Government, and protested against that measure. .. Colonel Whitmore has volunteered to go to Patea, and his offer has been 1 accepted. Col. Haultain proceeds thither also. Veet Alabmin'&. — We read in, the 1 New York Times ' :—" Apropos of the recent meteoric showers and the explosion of steam boilers in every part of the country, Professor Loomis suggests a very uncomfortable theory in regard to the safety of the earth itself. He thinks it not impossible that sufficient steam might be generated in the centre of the world to blow the whole globe to pieces. A volcanic erruption under the sea, or near it, like that of Vesuvius now in= progress, may at any moment convert the earth into a huge steam boiler, by letting the water in upon the central fires,- to be followed, for aught we know, by an explosion that shall rend it apart, and' send the fragments careering through space as small planets or meteors, each bearing off some distracted member or members of the human family, to make, perchance, new discoveries and new acquaintances in other parts of the planetary .system' now revolving with us. So that the final catastrophe may, after all, be only a boiler explosion on a, magnificent scale of grandeur and destruction." .;.".. r .. Fotjb at a Bibth.— On Tuesday, morning the wife of John. Guernsey, a hammerman in the smitheiy of Chatham . dockyard, . wrs safely delivered of four female children. ' 'They, with their mother, are in a favorable condition.