LATEST NATIVE NEWS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 117, 28 September 1868, Page 3

LATEST NATIVE NEWS.

—^ PATEA DISTRICT. By the Wellington, which arrived from Wellington yesterday morning, we haveWangauui papers to Sept. 24 : — The Times of that date has a long leading article under the hea'line; " Disastrous news from the Front, in which it is stated, on the authority of its Waihi correspondent that the Government have for some time determined to abandon all the settle™ in the Patea district north of the Tangaroe river to their fate, and to concentrate their force at Patea. The editor prqceed3 to show that the Defence Minister went to Patea determined to withdraw the outposts, to leave the settlers' property in thehands of the enemy, and to have Patea and one other post occupied by the local forces. The writer continues : — " We now follow Colonel Haultainto Patea. When he arrived here did he not at once recommend that Col. M'Donnell should at once draw in all the outposts to Patea ? Did not Colonel M'Donnell refuse to do so, and at once decide upon an attack upon Titokowaru, and order Fraser and his men to instantly march on Waihi as the basis of operations ? Did not Colonel Haultain hold a private consultation with the Tuaroa, and request him to go to the cannibal Titokowaru, and beg of him not to cross the Tangahoe river ? When M'Donnell driven to desperation, moved off from Waihi with the few men he bad to attack Titokowaru at Taiporehenui, did he not find the place deserted, and was it not the general belief that the enemy had been warned of his approach ? The correspondent on whose letter the Times comments says : — Before this reaches you, Waihi, Turuturumokai, Middlemiss redoubt, and all the country beyond the Tangahoe river will be in the hands of t!»e enemy. The whole of the Wanganui Natives start for home to-morrow, and declare they will never fight again for the Government. Reduced us our force now is, it is impossible for us to hold Manavapou aud Patea. The sooner the settlers at Patea decamp, burn down their houses, and seek shelter in Wanganui or elsewhere the better. I have just been informed by a very intelligent Native, that Titokowaru'a next move is to occupy Wharem>itanwi's village at a place called Taranaki (?), but don't be deceived by the name. It is a strong poat between the Patea and Whenuakara rivers, thus placing Patea between two fires. On the north of Patea he will have all the country north of Manawapou that we have now abandoned ; and on the south the whole tract of country lying between the Patea and Wbeuakura rivers, fhus surrounding Patea on north and south, and compelling the Waitotara Natives in the vicinity of the Whenuakura river either to join them or leave the diitrict. That is the reason that I say that the Patea township lias been so surrounded, or will be in a few days, that the lives and properties of the inhabitants can only be protected by a strong force, liable at any moment to be attacked from north and south. The following is from the Chronicle of the 24th in3t:— An attack was made upon the rebels in their new entrenehrnent, near I'urutnruraokai, on Sunday lust. They, however, made no fight, but retreated into the bush, where they find themselves more at home. No attempt, so far as we have learned, was made to follow them, and there were no casualties. The p.B. bturt has taken up two Armstrong guns to Patea, where they are not likely to be of much use. According to the information wp have received (but Colonel Huultain prudently keeps his own counsel, and there is not much known), there is no intention of evacuating any of the posts along the coast, as was currently reported, with the exception of Waihi, which there does not seem much object in holding, as it id within a mile and a half of Turoturomokiii, to which place all the material will be conveyed. We daily expect to hear of some engagemeat of importance, but let us not precipitate matters. The following items are from the Evening Herald:-^ LieiU.-Oolonel M'Donnell proceeded yesterday morning to attack Titokowaru in the position he had fortified near Turotumokai. The enemy evacuated their entrenched position at the approach of our force, and retreated into the bush. Every available dray is said to have been sent from Patea to Waihifor the purpose of removing Btores, &c. The latter place is to be given up, and the only posts to be retained are Patea and Manajppou. have just been informed by a settler in Itangitikei — a gentleman upon whose statement we can depend — that a man weut to his house a lew days ago, looking for employment, and it eventually turned out, according to his own statement, that he was one of eleven men who had taken part in the late disastrous affair at the front, and who had not rejoined their comrades at Waihi—deserters, in fact, whom the public have numbered with tbe dead, and whose fate has been mourned accordingly.