AUCKLAND

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 195, 7 October 1864, Page 1 (Supplement)

AUCKLAND

THE KAWAU FUGITIVES,

These interesting favorites of the powers that be are at present strongly entrenched on the Otamahua mountain. They have built a pah and strongly fortified it. They announce their intention of holding their position against all intrusion, whether on the part of the authorities or others. They are leading a jovial life, being plentifully supplied with creature comforts, and even luxuries most grateful to barbarian tastes. They have recently spent upwards of £IOO in provisions, the funds being found by the Northern chief Tawhiti. Other chiefs, among them Parate Mete and Romene, had furnished them with additional supplies. They have not committed any outrages upon the settlers in the neighborhood, hut the settlers feel exceedingly uncomfortable at the nroximity of so many doubtful neighbors. Some idea of the reinforcements they have received, both in arms and numbers, may he formed from the circumstance that, when they left the Kawau, they had only twentyfive stand of arms —perhaps Sir George Greywill state how they became possessed even of these—now, it is stated by themselves, that they have upwards of 250! This last statement we give upon the authority of a settler at present staying in Auckland, who was informed by one of the chiefs themselves. Assuming the information to be false, the only objects they could have in view in so misleading the settlers would be to overawe them if their armament should be really short; or to conceal their real strength should they be really in greater force. They also state that they have abundance of ammunition, in short,

that they do not want for anything. They are inspired with the memory of the person and the fate of Ruarangi. The accounts of their number vary. A contemporary, on the authority of two friendly chiefs just returned from the Pa, states it at 320; the settler, who is our informant, estimates it at 500. They have not made any hostile demonstration, but no man can for a moment doubt that such an attitude is, to say the least, threatening. It can hardly be credited, but we state it on the authority of the settlers who have been so informed by the rebels themselves, that the Governor has sent them 10 sacks of potatoes, sacks of biscuits, tea, sugar, and flour. It cannot be allowed that such a force should be permitted to gather strength, unit bursts in an overwhelming torrent on the peaceful North. The season is approaching when, at any moment, the slightest misadventure will kindle a blaze by which settler and Maori alike may be consumed. Will the Governor take no steps to extinguish this incipient revolt ? What tenderness is due to the Maoris that Englishmen and Englishwomen, and little children too, shall have no thought taken for their lives ? We regret that we differ from the “ Czar” of New Zealand in thinking that the life of a European is the most valuable of the two. The settlers themselves must prepare for the emergency,— must be prepared for sudden onslaught and the sudden flash of the glittering tomahawk. The first shot fired, and General Cameron himself, who is a gentleman and a Christian, will doubtless march his men to the rescue. He will not see his countrymen and countrywomen butchered unavenged, lest interference may exasperate natives not yet committed to the insurrection. But ere the rescue can arrive how much of mischief and misery may be inflicted it is hard to say, unless vigorous measures to insure the safety of the settlers are at once taken. —New Zealand Herald Oct. 4.

TAURANGA,

The 1 Surprise/ which arrived from Tauranga yesterday morning, brought up the rather startling intelligence that the Natives—who were lately supposed to have formally made their submission to the Governor and had ceded Pie, lands, arms, and King, into his hands, and who have for some time past been receiving large quantities of flour and potatoes from his Excellency’s agent at Tauranga —have ordered the surveyors to desist from their work under the threat of being fired upon, are engaged in building a war pah a little beyond our advanced post, and are only waiting the arrival of expected reinforcements from the East Coast to commence hostilities again.

The Defence Force which had been out scouring, came in on Monday evening, and reported seeing a large number of natives, and that a pah was being built just outside the Gate Pah. The natives at Wakatane say that as soon as they have got their crops in, they are going to Maketu to fight. Even if we had not —for the sake of mercy and generosity to a fallen and, as we then hoped, submissive foe, —rejoiced at the liberal terms accorded to the natives at the late conference at Tauranga, we should have rejoiced now, that we have thus given our very enemies an opportunity of proving that it is their determined inveterate hatred to law, order, justice, and civilization which renders them doggedly determined to carry on the war ake ! ake ! ake ! for ever and ever and ever ! and not justice and harshness of, as Sir George Grey puts it, a want of generous treatment on our part. No men could have received more generous treatment than the rebels of Tauranga. They ceded all their lands—we took but a fourth; they gave up their lives into our hands—we inflicted not the slightest punishment upon them; nay, we gave them flour and other provisions, and tons upon tons of potatoes for seed. But we did more—we withdrew the military, and we became involved in a probable war in the North, and a threatened campaign at Taranaki, at one and the same time ; and the return we receive for all this moderation and leniency is renewed rebellion and the threat of murder conveyed to the men employed in surveying the boundary of the very land supposed to be ceded. If Mr. Cardwell really wishes to know whether the General owes the prolonged resistance in the Waikato and the desperate defence of Orakau to any imagined want of generosity shown to the prisoners on the hulk, let him turn to the terms accorded to the Tauranga Natives and to their present course of action, and from these taka his answer. When will the Colony and its people be fairly and truly understood ? Ibid.

DETERIORATION OF RACERS. [From the London Review,^ Admiral Rous asserts that “ the destruction of horses is owing to early training ” It is a system based on commercial calculation—" wanted quick returns to pay an u»ly training-bill.” Weedy leggy animals are better able to run over a short course with light weights than strongly built ones, and therefore weedy leggy animals abound on the Turf, although they do nothing for the improvement of the breed- The strongly built horses, on the other band, produce our best hunters, cavalry, and carriage-horses, and this breed it is desirable to encourage greater stamina with activity, A national prize of <£5,000, for a three-mile race, to be run by four-year olds and upwards, would induce breeders and trainers to “ show more mercy to young horses.” The evidence as to the deterioration of horses is conflicting. Mr. Dickenson, a great breeder of horses, with forty years’ experience, declares that the present race of horses cannot be compared with those bred forty years’ since. On the other hand, Admiral Rous, General Peel, and Lord Palmerston deride the notion that our race-horses have deteriorated, even in regard to stoutness and soundness. The Admiral, a high authority on Turf matters, roundly declares that “ the deterioration of horses is a pure fiction. General Peel says that “ there never was a time when thoroughbred horses were more surely going back to that size and power which formerly distinguished them.” Lord Palmerston believes that “ the horses bred in this country are better as to size, substance, and endurance than they ever were. Any man going into a racing stable, and seeing their size their bone, and their substance, must ask himself what he could wish to have better in the shape of a four-legged animal.” Two stables are especially cited for horses capable of staying a distance and carrying heavy weights—Lord Glasgow’s and Baron Rothschild’s. General Peel told the House that he found in the Earl of Glasgow’s stables thirty-six horses in training, eighteen of which would have carried him—the General we should say, does not weigh less than fourteen or fifteen stone. His next visit was paid to the stables of Baron M. de Rothschild, who possesses as fine a stud as can be found anywhere. The results were equally satifactory, for the Baron’s horses must be up to sixteen stone. Admiral Rous declares that iu these two stables may be found twenty horses up to eighteen stone, whereas sixty years ago you could not have found five tho-rough-bred horses of this description in the United Kingdom. So great is the demand for horses combining strength with speed, that fine yearling colts, answering this description, fetch at auction from 450 to, 800 guineas. Racing men breed for speed to win the valuable one-mile sweep-stakes: they will breed for size and strength when there are longer races for older animals— Derbys and Doncasters for four, five, and six-year olds, carrying great weights and running over a three-mile course.

Admiral Rous asserts that the present breed of English race-horses possesses onefifth more speed and more strength than the original stock, and an average stature increased from 14 hands to 15|. These results have been achieved in the thirteen generations since the introduction into this country of the Arab entire horses, Harley Arabian and Byerley Turk, without a drop of mixed blood. In 1720 the “calibre of the English race-horse was probably on a par with the barbs which now adorn the Gibraltar meeting.” Now, the English racer will beat the best and purest native Arabian, and give him 5 stone; “ and a thoroughbred butchers hack will beat the flower of the desert any distance under 100 miles.” Another proof that the English breed is the best in the world is, that every year more persons come from the Continent and the colonies to buy English horses The practical remedy for the abuse of Queen s Plates would be to increase the scale of weights, to make the distance, in every case, three miles, and to inflict a scale of penalties in the nature of a handicap for horses winning Queen’s Plates in the same season, so as to prevent a Caller Ou, a Fisherman, and a Rataplan, from going through the country, sacking the Plates, and spoiling sport

Champion Belt.— The “ Wanganui Chronicle” says : —“ We believe this prize will come to Wanganui this year. It will be remembered that Mr. Humphries of Taranaki and Lieut. Owen made each a score of 40 at the General Government Prize Firing. Mr. Humphries then made a score of B—48 —4 outers and a miss out of his five shots. Lieut. Owen fired on Thursday, and had 1 centre, 3 outers and a miss, making 9 points, or one above his opponent. We do not know what the measurements were at Taranaki, so that we cannot give the exact result of the firing.