TAURANGA.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 665, 29 April 1865, Page 4

TAURANGA.

The mWQJgeJjee from Twiraaga^received TOrtwdtt?by the ' Sir John ßurgoyne, is of. a alarming character. Maketa and rirfSotii tted^edTl).? . as*?ng Thompson at their head, are poated" near ihelaiierplaoe. Ifc appears that the direct attack is threatened against the Arawas, who have drawn the anger of the rebels upon them by the assistance which they rendered na some time einoo. The Arawae are strjoaaded'on an island in th« centre of the Hl|brualake, whither they had betaken theniselves as the strongest post of defence they oould occupy, but it ia feared that unless we can raise the siege tfce3e brave fellows who have staked all and bled in our cause, will be left to periab. miserably ; a monument of Bhame and disgrace to the honor of the British nation. Colonel Greer, we learn, was unable to send any men to tho scantily garrisoned Fort at Maketu lost he should leave himself with too few to hold the Redoubt at Te Papa. We learn with regret from a reliable source that the whole of the natives about Tauranga, with the. exception of the Arawas, are Pai Marires, though when they visit the settlements most of them deny it. But in all their villages, tho pole, around which the fanatics perform their filthy and obscene rites, is set up, and at night they may be heard, by those venturing near, going through their abominable songs and recitations. The Thames natives, as will be seen by the letter of a correspondent from Coromandel, are ripe for mischief. One of the prophets is going from village to village with the head of a soldier, which he e3chibit8 r and by which no doubt he pretends to work miracles, and deludes men whose minds are only too willing to be deluded into anything that promises to give them back the barbarism of the past age, to the recollection of which they fondly cling. Altogether the news from the* outlying district is growing more and more threatening. In .the North we learn of the preachings and spread of the Pai Marire-doctrine, and the consequences of its intrdduetion in that quarter may be most serious. Of course, had the Colonial Government interfered to prevent its introduction there — had they used the most ordinary precautions, or had they wished even to keep this district free from the taint of this new superstition and its attendant evils, they might have done so. They have not done so, nor have they attempted to do so. — New Zealand Herald, April 18. -„