THE WAR IN WAIKATO.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 136, 21 August 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE WAR IN WAIKATO.

[From the Canterbury Press']. The late victory has proved one thing we have tried so often to impress on the public of this colony, that the great fault of our dealing with the natives has been our want of confidence in ourselves. Mr. Cracroft Wilson did us the honor to say the other night that no good could come of invidious comparisons between battles in New Zealand and other parts of the world. We differ from the gallant civilian. The Maories believe that they are a braver people than the English : such a belief is half a victory. The tone of a great part of the Northern Island leads one to think that the popular belief is that the Maori is a terrible foe, and hence that vast numbers of troops are necessary to maintain the peace of the colony : such a sentiment is half a defeat. We have always protested against such a doctrine, and we hold General Cameron to be entitled to the eternal gratitude of this colony, because he is doing far more than winning a victory—he is restoring the prestige of our name and race.

On the slope of the hill stood the enemy in a strong position defended by rifle-pits. The 12th and 14th had to rush down a slope and up the hill on the other side. As they advanced the fire broke forth from 300 muskets of the enemy. The advance wavered, for a single moment—it was a moment—it was a moment in which the fortunes of war were in the balance. What if they had broke and fled ? What additional cost and slaughter would not have been entailed on the colony ? Conquest must come at last, but at what awful cost had a great reverse attended the first action ? General Cameron instantly .rushed to the front twenty yards in advance of the men, he waved his cap and called on them to charge, a call never

made to English soldiers in vain. They replied with a cheer, and precipitated themselves on the enemy, and the result ? The natives fled with terror. The troops actually engaged at this time appear to have been fewer in numbers than the enemy, and yet the result was a sharp, short, and decisive victory with a perfectly insignificant loss. We have had blockhouses {built, and saps dug, and batteries thrown up; but General Cameron’s plan is told in a word, “ You see, men, the only way to do with these fellows is to rush them at once” That speech will never be forgotten as long as New Zealand is a colony.