GUN BOATS FOR WAIKATO.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 139, 11 September 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

GUN BOATS FOR WAIKATO.

Tite Avon, which has been using her power- to' some purpose in this hot-bed of rebellion, will shortly receive the support of two or three additional boats which are being prepared for servicewith the utmost possible dispatch and in the most efficient manner. The vessels under rapid equipment are the quondam cargo boats Active and Caroline which have been purchased by the Commissariat to do duty as gunboats on the Waikato,for which service they are now in course of convert sion, and are likely to be augmented by a third—> the Lizzie —for the purchase of which the Commisariat is now treating. Ihese vessels are to be plated and covered in with bullet-proof iron ; their masts and sails ,aro to be dispensed with, their ballast removed, and they are to be propelled by sweeps. We are uncertain what armamenfthey are to be furnished with, but it will, no doubt, be adapted to'tshe occasion, as the calculation is that the boats shall! draw no more than three feet water.

The Active anti Caroline, are expected to beready in a few days, and will, we presume, bo despatched overland, to the Mangatawhiri without a moment’s delay. The cupbola boat from; Sydney will also bo speedily on her way ; so that if the Avon alone has been sufficient to worry the Waikato Braves, and ferret them from out their' rabbit warrens, they will have but litlte rest for the soles of their feet, and “ the eye of Waikato ” will be sadly obscured when they have to deal with five"floating “ambushes,” more potent tbaa pahs and rifle pits, and adapted to defy their tactics. From our correspondent’s letter, which appears this morning, it would seem that the Avon has made their position at Meremere rather hot. A movement, he says, is expected. It jmay be so; although we feel inclined to doubt that any action take place until our “mosquito fleet” are quite prepared to take their share in the operations.