OUR SPECIAL AT THE FRONT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3882, 4 November 1881, Page 2

OUR SPECIAL AT THE FRONT.

LATEST FROM PARIHAKA.

TE WHITI'S LAST SPEECH.

Pungarehu, November 3. — Mr. Bryce, Colonel Roberts, and escort returned to the camp at noon to-day, having reconnoitred the position of Parihaka. When they were ascending the hill before entering the village, they overtook a woman in a state of nature, who cried out, " Welcome my Heaven born warriors." All the natives were seen to go into their whares when the Mounted Rifles reached within sight of the settlement. It was evident by their manner they believed the Cavalry had come to arrest them.

Te Whiti, the Prophet, addressed the natives, telling them to sit down quietly, and no harm would come to them. He was not afraid of the Government or the Pakeha. Mr, Bryce, who was the representative of the Government, was, in fact, the agent of Satan. His power would soon come to an end. The Maoris waited in their whares until the Constabulary had reconnoitred the position.

I am informed that Parihaka is easy of access for a large number of men by a road which has not been generally used. M r. Bryce did not seek an interview with Te Whiti, although the company went partly into the settlement. The Mounted Rifles have earned the distinction of being the first body of armed men to enter Parihaka in defiance of the natives.

As I am writing, a detachment of the A.C. Force have been ordered off to Okato to stop all traffic on the road, as notified in the Herald. Tke orders, I understand, are very stringent, and it is rumoured that even representatives of the Press will not be allowed to enter Parihaka when the Constabulary march up to enforce the terms of the preclamation.

The men have been warned to be in readiness with their swags, accoutrements, ice, to march to Parihaka at a moment's notice, and it is expected they will be there for several days at least.

Mr. Bryce and Colonel Roberts have been consulting together all the afternoon, making final arrangements for the march, which is expected to take place early on Saturday.

About 400 of the picked men of the A.C. Force have, I hear, been armed with revolvers, and will head the troops on the way to Parihaka.

The men are doing target practice to-day, and I am glad to be able to state that the Mounted Rifles are showing up very well at the target.

The Press is well represented here, as many as seven or eight specials having taken up their quarters at Grimley's boarding-house. The single line here is quite inadequate for press messages, and arrangements have been made to telegraph from Okato.

There are very few natives at the fences today, all I have seen being three or four boys. They do not evince the same determined attitude that I noticed several days ago. No one can forecast with certainty the result of the march upon Parihaka, and this very uncertainty makes the situation all the more embarassibg. Mr. Rolleston and Mr. Bryce have gone to Cape Egmont, escorted by a detachment of the Mounted Rifles.

Thursday, November 3, 6 p.m.— l have been informed on reliable authority that it is the intention of the Government to put the representatives of the Press under arrest if they attempt to go up to Parihaka on Friday or Saturday. Why such an order should be issued I am at a loss to understand. I seriously entertained the idea of going up to Parihaka this afternoon, and remaining the guest of Te Whiti until Saturday, ia order to witness the proceedings that will take place there, but after considering the matter I deemed it advisable to remain in camp, and witness the destruction of the fences by the Constabulary, as I believe that will be the most imposing ceremony of all. I do not believe Te Whiti will resist. On the contrary, he will surrender himself up. But lam fully persuaded that the fences will not be destroyed without opposition by the natives.

Messrs. J. Elliot and R. Kelly visited Parihaka to-day and saw Te Whiti, who received them very cordially, and invited them to stay all night. He stated that Mr. Bryce and his men came up this morning to take him prisoner, but the Atua (God) interposed and would not allow them to arrest him. They could not go nearer than a hundred yards of where he was. This statement is implicitly believed by the natives. Te Whiti was also searching up some references in the scriptures and endeavoured to explain that the prophecies therein contained referred to him. His visitors did not quite understand his meaning; bat his people appeared perfectly assured that what he said waa true. They believe Te Whiti implicitly ; the most ridiculous and absurd statements he may chose to make are all taken to be as "sacred and true as proofs of Holy Writ."

I notice that there is an enterprising photographer in camp taking views of the redoubt and its surroundings.

I may mention that I mean to attempt to go to Parihaka on Saturday, as I have not been officially warned that I am not to do so. Nothing short of actual arrest will prevent me, so if there is a hiatus in my telegrams you can feel assured that I am in custody in the guard-room.

The result of the ptst-mortem examination of the late President Garfield has been published. The coroner's jury denounced the treatment of the late President by the surgeons, which they pronounced an unmitigated outrage.

The telegraphists at the Pungarehu and Opunake telegraph stations are being over worked just now, and we are surprised that Dr. Lemon has not made provision for the present emergency. Our special reporter put a telegram in to the Pungarehu office yesterday, at 11.13 a.m., expecting, no doubt, that it would be in time for last evening's paper, but it was not taken off at the New Plymouth office until 12.23 this morning, reaching us at the early hour of about one o'clock. A telegram from the United Press Association special, at Opunake, was put in at 9.50 yesterday morning, and was taken off at the New Plymouth office at 9.5 last evening. As the telegram put in at Pungarehu was only the twenty-third message received that day, we presume the line must have been blocked with Government messages ; but that could not have been the case at Opunake, and as ours was •ily the seventy-second message, they must have been very long ones to occupy the telegraphists twelve hours transmitting them.