LATEST FROM AUCKLAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 152, 11 December 1863, Page 3

LATEST FROM AUCKLAND.

We extract the following from the Cross of the 4th inst. : The General has made an advance of a few miles up the river as far as Paetae. There are obstacles in the tvay of the progress of the steamers—one of a somewhat dangerous character—consisting of immense trees ; the remnant of a sunken forest. To obtain sufficient depth to proceed, some of these trees will have to be blown up, in order to make the river navigable. The Avon is at present unserviceable, some part of her machinery having been broken. The Pioneer is being considerably lightened. Smoke from native villages up the Waikato has been seen, indicating that all the rebels have not fled. Up at the front there is an impression on the minds of many the

Bishop amongst the number—that there will be no more fighting in the Waikato. For some time no smoke has been seen in the neighborhood of Paparata, showing that the natives have probably disappeared from that place, Waiuku, Dec. 2.—We are down from the Waikato Heads to-day. H.M.S. Eclipse is there at anchor, with Mr, Heaphy on board, awaiting the arrival of the Pioneer gunboat. There has been about two miles of the coast, including the Maori pa and Mr. Maunsell s place, suiveyed, and a new dockyard laid out at Maraitai. The natives seemed well disposed, and offered no objection to the survey being proceeded with. The native chiefs (William Thompson) father died last week, while Thompson was in town, and it seemed to cause the usual feelings of grief which such an event does amongst the Maories. [From the Daily Southern Cross, December 8.3

Since the date of our last monthly summary (November 30), events of considerable importance have transpired. The victory at Eangiriri has been followed up by a farther advance into the enemy’s country, our last letter being from the head-quarters of the army, tea miles nearer Ngaruawahia than Rangiriri. The advance, which was attended with some difficulty owing to the impassible swamp, was made by fand and water without interruption. Signal fires ■wore lighted in the ranges by the eTieray, as the troops advanced, which shows they watch our movements closely. General Cameron only waited for river transport to allow him to advance farther, and the 1 Pioneer ’ beiim the only available boat made it a hazardous undertaking with the falling river. The Avon is disabled, from an accident to her machinery. It is to be regretted that there are no small boats, in charge of colonial servants, which could be employed as ordinary transports and despatch boats. Those being built at Sydney, and which ought to have been here now, must be retained solely for that service, the larger boats doing their present work. On the Thames, we have obtained a solid footing. "We have three redoubts between Pokorokoro, at the head of the gulf, and Paparata. This opens up the chain of communication between the Thames and Waikato rivers, ond extends our frontier lines very considerably. A Government township is being surveyed at the Waikato Heads, and we only wait the arrival of large bodies of military settlers to open an immense tract of country to immediate and beneficial occupation.

.Theie have been strange rumors in town regarding certain overtures of peace by Thompson and other ringleaders in the Maori King mvoement. These rumors, however, turn out to be unfounded. In our parliamentary report elsewhere we publish a translation of Thompson’s letters to Wi te Wheoro and the prisoners now in Auckland. A careful perusal of these letters will prove that the wily old rebel only wants time, and that he is very far from submission. His friend Te Wheoro urges the natives to submit, and lay down their arras, in a letter to Pene Pukowhau, and Thompson replies in an evasive way. He protests they have no arms nor ammunition, and says the arms were all lost in the lake when they swam for their lives at Ean&iriri; that if he had been disposed to bear arms he would have remained with the armed men at Paetai: and declares that he cannot bear arms whilst the chiefs of Waikato, who are prisoners, are making proposals of peace. Thompson goes further than this, however, and, owing to the inordinate vanity of the race, the true intent of the writer becomes apparent, “Friend, it is your side only which is still in arms; that is to say, the steamer, which is at work in the Waikato, making pas as it goes on. When they finish one, they cornea little further and make another. Now, then, let the steamer stay away, do not let it come hither. That is all.”

Of course it is, and it means anything but submission. It is the same language Thompson held to the Governor, before the war commenced ; it was the same language repeated to the Bishop of New Zealand when he humbled the Europeans before the savage council at Peria. It does not mean submission ; and if it means anything it is this, that the writer and his friends will do their best to stop our progress to Ngaruawahia, whence the letters were written. This is the view of the letter taken by the Governor who intimates that “ the General must uninterrupted go to Ngaruawahia,” and the Queen’s flag be hoisted there before he would talk with them. Thompson’s letter to the captives is a commentary on that of Te Wheoro. The natives make doleful lament that the General has not given them breathing time since their defeat; that he advances

and they retire and no doubt with intense longings after the flesh-pots of Auckland, they assure their captive friends that they ate well cared for—personal restraint being their only suffering; whilst the uncaged eagles of Waikato suffer greatly. Possibl” this conviction, that as prisoners of war they will be better off than the King’s free men, will induce numbers to lay down their arms* and submit; but there is nothing in this correspondence to warrant a suggestion that the natives acknowledge themselves subdued. If we retire from the line of the Waikato, withdraw the steamer, and release the prisoners, they will tell us what they mean to do. We ha\e yet to beat the Maories, and if we mistake not they will show a great deal of fight.