REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2225, 15 December 1875, Page 3

REMINISCENCES OF THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

COLONEL WiIITUOBB ASSUMES COMMAND— battle of moioboa—death of majob HDNIEB. PABT.XXIIL ;

On the 23rd it was finally deoidcd to abandon Waibi, and the contingent Tolun-. tecred to carry Lieut; Bowau and three others on stretchers, as they were too dangerously wounded to be carried m carts to Patea. ; They were only sixty in number, yet they carried these four men a distance of 20 miles, cheerfully, and Waibi was: abandoned after an occupation of three years, and although our transport corps was limited, most of the stores were safely transported to Patea and Manawapou, there being a redoubt at this latter place, but soon after abandoned as being of little stragetical importance. The Native Contingent were now disarmed, and sent baok to Wanganui, and Titokowaru and his men arrived at Hukatere, a native village inland of Patea, where, he was joined by a large portion of tho Papnkohi tribe, although their chiefs Wharo Matangi, remained to all appearanoe neutral, not from any lovo he bore the pakeha, but as a matter of polioy. is it was:iiow evident that Titokawaru would have to be arrested on his march towards Wanganui, the Government authorised the raising of .400 Kupapas (Maori Volunteers), which was soon accomplished,. and concentrated at the ! Wereroa; at the same time .Titokawaru's hands were further strengthened by the remainder of the Papakohi tribe, under, their old chief Ngawaka Taurua joining, him, and who made a feint" attack at a long range on the Kakaramea Eedoubt, but sufficient in the. then critical state of affairs, to cause the abandonment of the same, and withdrawal of the garrison to Patea. .Everything now appeared to look gloomy. A settler named McCullock, who went out to look at his sheep, never returned; and months;, after his bonnet was discovered in a water-hole at. Kakaramea, from which the camp had been drinking in happy Ignorance for some time. The report was that.he had been taken prisoner, and that the Maoris used him as. a slave to carry .potatoes, until they finally shot him; But the probabilities are against this, aa the Haubaiis were always too eager in killing their prisoners, it this critical moment in the affairs of New Zealand, Colonel McDonnell, worried in' mind at' the failure and loss of life at To Ngutu, and dissatisfaction of the; .Government, resigned the command of the colonial forces, and Colonel Whitmore was appointed in his place.: This change was not at first,regarded favourably by the force, as Colonel Whitmore's manners were not' Conciliatory;- but he gradually won the esteem of his men and officers by his talents, energy * and perfect willingness to fight on the smallest occasion that offered; He had not McDonnell's knowledge of native .character, but he, was a good soldier. Titokowaru, in - the meantime, was not :idle. : Too wise :to attack our strong posts, he sent out marauding, parties, : who burnt, all the, houses in the district, and waylaid and. shot Corporal Collins, of the Patea 'Cavalry, who'was carrying dispatches between Patea and the Wairoa. Colonel Whitmore's first act (5h faking command was to order the 400 Kupapas camped at the Wcreroa to march to Patea, and-to disband the Militia raised for three months' service, declarin;sj that for tho future ho would only use th'S Constabulary, aiid the TCupapas, and oil the' Ist November he ordered Captain Gudgeon, with Kepa and 200 Kupapas, to find out the whoreabottts of the enemy, who had;not - been .seen - for some days, and at daylight on the 2nd- they entered! the village ! of New\Taranaki,| and found that a large body of men ; had : been there ai few: days .' previously.' .Theythen' marched for Putahi; and found the.samii

trapes (but later), making it certain : that Titoko'waru had left! Moturoa, if pa situated a short distance faom the Wereroa, and only fifteen miles from Wangariui. This intelligence was immediately forwarded to Colonel W hitmore, but not

•before he,had received a letter from.the Wereroa,. informing him that' the enemy had been x there, and .'carried off the Ngarauru tribe from' the village of Perekama, This* looked • serious, 'and: orders were issued for all available men ; to march'at J once for the Wairoa' Ee-*

doubt, and by daylight the next morning the Kupapas and Constabulary arrived. ■Colonel Whitmore did not consider himself strong enough to attaok Titokowaru in a position of his ! own choosing, as he had not more than 100 pakehas available, and the Kupapas, numerically strong, could' not be counted as more than 200 fighting men, many being' useless, as must always bo the case with' levies en masse. But- on the' 6th, Major Boßerts arrived with 100 menof'No. 6' •Division, just raised /at the Thames ahd Aueklandj many of whom had seen service during the war. As they apprbached' to 'within a mile of the Wairoa, they. Teceived a volley from the'enemy, ata long distance; and tlie Kupapas turned out and,skirmished with them to within 300' of Moturoa, and ; one. of the Hauhaus'was killed after a large expenditure ofammunition, : Having . received this/.reinforcement, the,-Colonel, with characteristic energy, determined to attack; Moturoa at daybreak;on the following morning, and ordered tho'.detachments of Bos*. 1,2, and 3 Divisions of the A,0., Patea liifles, and Patea. Cavalry, with the Kupapas, to start at midnight, and No., 6 Division, who had; marched from the Eai.lvi.that day, were to follow in support at grey dawn. About 6 a.m. the .whole of the force were assembled at the entrance to the bush, about .400 yards from'the pa, and the Colonel here made his dispositions, and ordered ; Kepa and his men, supported by twenty-five nienof 'No.M .Division, to advance through the bush to the right rear of the pa, one hour being allowed the chief for that purpose. About seventy men followed him) and the.

remainder would hare done so had not .Colonol Whitmore, in his; ignorance of Maori customs, .stopped a young.chief, who was. following, and desired" him. to . hold a. position to the right to prevent I 'any flanking movement on the: part of the enemy. ;This irritated the Eupapas, who said, if we do not all go into the fight none, of us will ; consequently 300 men remained .outside - the bush.' Had they : gone iu, the pa, strong as it was, might have been sarrounded' and starved out. Meanwhile Kepa's party had reached the edge of the clearing, on the extreme right, of the pa from whioh eould plainly be seen a long-line of palisading at the upper end'of a large clearing, the whole front of the pa being destitute of cover, but on the' right the stumps r of- r newly-burnt clcaring gave excellent coyer, ana saved many lives amongst the Kupapas; for neyly twenty minutes the natives and NoM Division, hidden, in the" scrub, watched the i pa, only.; forty yards '. distant; every thing; was quiet-too quiet in fact, for they overdid it, By one man beginning to * Tlie copyright of tlieso letters reseryed.

i out firewood witli anaxo ia rear of tlio • pa; at the first sound a grin? smilo broke out, on tho Kupapas' faces, and ono. old: . warrior said, "fro thoy think us fools Pv;;' Now I know; they oxpeot us"—when 1 suddenly the face of affairs changod | a , gun ,;was: fired Ifro^ .* mbre'rapidly, as \ the' storming * party? led v by Major Hunter, charged up the oloariog, slraight [fpr! the pa j .when witbia fifteen yardsthe; wholo ■ faceof. the pali. sading. literally blazed. It was ;a wet," misty morning, and the flashes of. tho ; guns could be plainly seen. At least 200 Hauhaus had opened fire on tho attaoking party; Kepa ordered his men!' to charge, 1 and led them round the -rear of the pa, but only to find that the main body of the Hauhaus had taken'iip a flanking posi-' ' tion during, tho night, m the right rear of . the fortifications, rendering/ impossible ' operations on that side. Meanwhile :* Major Hunter and his men had got almost up.to the palisades, and finding them too strong to be taken ,by assault, took cover, and continued.to : hold thoir ground, although half the stormers wero killed or wounded,- Major . Hunter himself mortally. For at least half-an-hour our men held this perilous position, so close to the palisades, and so oncum*, 1 bored with the killed and woundod, that it was not thought probable, they could carry them off. At this oritical moment, Colonel Wlutmoro brought up No. 6 Company of the Armed .Constabulary, in skirmishing order, and this probably saved No. 3. , Company, from extermi* nation; , Major Hunter' and all: tho ■■■•• wounded were immediately brought off, but four or five dead men lying olose to the palisades were left,'.it'being certain . • deiith to attempt, to reach them. Tho fight was now-left to .Nos. 2 and 6 the Kupapas, who held their ground nearly half-an-hour longer,'to givo time '"',! for the wounded to be brought off; then., ! the whole retired the Kupapas by a short cut through the bush, but Major ~ Roberta by the cart track, followed cloeoly ' ' by tho Hauhaus, and as Major Roberts' men converged to where the track .entered the scrub, they suffered very heavy. losses. "The Hauhaus; thinking to repeat the dose, as at To .Ngutu, charged out on ,them, but a volley .from No. ,6 Division .tumbled over half of 'them, and the remainder judiciously retreated. ' One , fanatic, quite naked, actually, charged into the. ranks, and, succeeded in toma«, hawking one of the men beforo he' was ~ .■ shot down. The behaviour of tho force 'on this occasion was certainly beyond all praise. No man retired without orders, \ and then slowly, and in perfect order; there was no '.hurry, and 'but for the killed and wounded being constantly , carried to the rear, a looker-on would

have thought it to bavfr been a field-day, with blank amtaunitiou. Jlio cjonstßiit fire, of 400' men ' was-, very"'Vse7are on the force,and. oiir. loss was pro* porbionately'.heavy,endowingslowly to the/edge Jof the bush, the rear guard received orders to .double, so as. to

get out of the range of the bush before it was lined by the enemy j this was dono a volley fired by 'the enemy at 500 yards' distance, killed 1 ono of our men and wounded . The retreat.was nevertheless continued on to the Wairoa, . across the fern flat, still followed by the Hauhaus ata'Bafe distance. The pa at Moturoa was supposed at first sight to,. be a simple, palisading, erected across the upper end of the clearing, intended more as a blind than;a real defence, but it : was discovered to be a-native pa, orec* V ted: in the best style of Maori fortification, defended .by a; stroDg palisading,' with rifle pits in the rear, a high of fern and earth in' rear of; all, enabled the second line of defenders to fire over the top of the pallisades. The pa was large enough to hold 500 men easily, and' built in such a way that even' - had the pallisade.and the parapet -been, •. ~ted,'it could not been taken,'as'the ' wliole of the inside was filled .with,oase- . : .mated rifle pifs, loopholed, to tconimarid V • every inoli of the.' encient, Kin V which.! ■' hundreds of inen might have been con. ' cealed andinot one of, them seen, and our.,' lossjin consequence must have been much i ~! greater had the outworks been carried. ;4s jit was, they 'were very heavy, not " more.than two hundred of our mea woro under fire, yet we again liad2l killedi and 20 wounded, making 41 casualties, or one. fifth; of'the whole force engaged as at To ; Ngutu, 'viz.!— , i' Killed. Wounded. ■ No. 1 Dirison .• ■ . 0 -2 - -i N0,2 Division .-.i. 2.' ■ No, 1 3 Division ••• ... J 3 : No. ... • 4 8 .PateaJßiflea • •■ 2 0: PateaCavalry • . 1 0 . V Ktipu Kupapas • ■ 3- • 5'.: ; $ •21 20 ~j T.W.Gf,. * . : sir (Tolecontinued),