THE WAR IN AUCKLAND.

Colonist, Volume VI, Issue 623, 13 October 1863, Page 5

THE WAR IN AUCKLAND.

The attack, on 7th September, on the party of 40 " friendly natives " while conveying stores, under Mr. Armytage and two other Europeans, from the store ship at the mouth of the Waikato river to the Bluff, is believed to have been successful through treachery on the part of the "friendly" natives. None of the natives was either killed or wounded, in fact they all decamped, leaving the whites to their fate. All the three Europeans were barbarously murdered; one, a blacksmith, having his hands chopped off as he clung to a canoe on the river, and being killed by re- j peated blows of a tomahawk as he floated helplessly down the stream. Mr. Armitage, it is said, asked to be killed after he had received two bad wounds, a request which was at once complied with. Our readers are aware that Captain Swift of the 65th, with a force of 50 men, was dispatched to give an account of the natives who were guilty of this attack. He met the Maoris, and assailed them, driving.them off, although much superior in numbers, and inflicting a loss of 30 men. It cost Captain Swift's life, and the lives of two privates; and Lieut. Butler and another private were severely wounded. The former is now convalescent. The conduct of Sergt. M'Kenna, on whom the command of the party devolved after Lieut. Butler was wounded, is reported as having been most soldierlike and judicious. Several engagements of this kind have occurred during the month, bodies of natives prowling about in considerable force shooting the cattle of the settlers and damaging settlers' homesteads. The soldiers are doing good service in saving the cattle and meeting with an occasional smart brush. Only a small percentage of cattle is believed to have fallen to the natives. An attack was made by the natives in considerable numbers on a small body of volunteers who garrisoned the stockade of Pukehoke. Theyjwere taken unawares one morning while preparing breakfast. But they resisted the attack for seve- • ral hours and the firing brought detachments to their assistance. Three soldiers were killed and seven wounded, not dangerously. The natives left nine of their dead behind them, but carried off all their wounded. At Onehunga a number of native canoes have been blown to pieces by fixing a tin case of gunpowder beneath the keel of each, the powder being ignited by fuze. They were blown literally to atoms. This was an experiment which was entirely successful, and will seal the fate of all canoes the gunboats may find on the banks of the Waikato and elsewhere.