IMPORTANT FROM WANGANUI.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 224, 8 February 1865, Page 2

IMPORTANT FROM WANGANUI.

THE SEAT OF WAR. We make the following extracts from the Chronicle of the 25th inst.— Military Movements and Fighting.— General Cameron arrived with his staff at Camp Alexander about four o’clock in the afternoon of Sunday last. He was received with great enthusiasm, the men cheering lustily and throwing their caps in the air on his arrival. Foremost were the “ old diehards,” and their cheers were heartily reechoed from the warm hearts of the 18th Royal Irish, and the devoted loyal Queen’s Own. It was remarked that the General was as fresh and as young-looking as when he arrived four years ago. Yesterday morning at eight o’clock, 500 men of the 50th, and 300 of the 18th, moved out of the camp and proceeded towards the Waitotara. The intention was to go no further than the Waikato Lake, but in this warm weather the neighbourhood of this stagnant sheet of water was not considered a very healthy position, and they advanced to the neighbourhood of the Hukomaru pa, where they encamped- Two companies of the 18th Royal Irish were then sent out to reconnoitre. We have received no authentic account a> yet of what took place, but believe the Li-b-wing particulars to be substantially correct, i’lie reconnoitring party proceeded in skirmishing order as far as the pa, a distance of about half a mile from the camp, when a v..lley was poured in upon them from the huts there. They returned the fire, which was replied to not only by those in the huts which lay to the left of the advancing party, but also from high scrub 'which lay to their right.. This was about six o’clock in the evening. In the skirmish which ensued Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General Johnston fell, wounded in the abdomen by a bullet, which was afterwards extracted at his back. The wound is supposed to be mortal, and, at any rate, is extremely dangerous. Accounts vary as to the number wounded.. The first accounts gave four, and the last eleven, as i he number, the others, being private soldiers. Certain it is. that three dead bodies were brought into Camp Alexander, together with Lieut. Johnston, who was still alive. The reconnoitring party seems to have returned 10 the camp, the Maories following ; and it is said that a dropping fire was kept up in the camp until three o’clock this morning, when the troops fired a heavy, volley in the direction from whence the shots proceeded, which silenced them. It is not known that any Maories have been hit, as the soldiers never gut any opportunity of taking aim, and could only fire into the scrub without seeing the enemy. We mention this particularly, as there is a rumor in town this afternoon tliat seven Maori bodies have been found, winch we understand is not the case. Today Major Hassard took out 370 men of the 27th to Nukumuru, which makes about 1200 men at this advanced post. Four bullocks died yesterday from eating tutu.

Attack on the Waxtotara Road Party. —This morning an alarm was given in town that the road party at Kai Iwi had been attacked, and that some of the men were missing. Two sons of Mr Mailman, who has a store out there, rode into town this morning, at half-past five, both on one horse without a saddle, and dressed only in their nightshirts, with the intelligence; and a little later in the morning Mr Mona Rees arrived, and gave a more minute detail of the circumstances. It appears that there were about thirty of the road parly still 'theremen who had not finished their contracts.

and who were wailing tiii the advance of the troops might enable them to resume ■ work with safety, arid that their tents were pitched along the road on both sides for some distance, those outmost being near the Kai Iwi, and the others stretching in this direction as far as to this side of the Puke totara, and he was aroused this morning at dawn by shuts, which he found on rushing out proceeded from a number of natives who bad come along the road from the Waitntara, and as there had been no guard or look-out at any part of the encampment, had come upon it without the slightest warning. At first Mr Rees thought they were firing for amusement, but was quickly undeceived, for as soon as they saw' him and Mr Symonds, whose tent adjoined his, they fired upon them, Five bullets entered Mr Rees’ tent-while he was in getting his saddle, and as he carried the saddle out on his Lead to put it on his horse another bullet struck it. He immediately made off, and on getting to a rising ground could see about 250 natives who had now' possession of the tents, and were busy plundering. Most of them of course appeared to be round the store kept by Palgreen, and no doubt the liquor in it and Mr Mailman’s store quickly disappeared. Mr Symonds fired twice at them from the low ground in the gully, and one man was seen to fall, while it was believed a second was also shot. He and Messrs Mailman and Richardson then stationed themselves behind some slabs, and kept up a iire for a few minutes, but they soon found the position too hot for them and retreated. After a little time they mustered, and only twelve men assembled, many of course being hiding ; hut Mr Rees thinks that the tent on which the natives must first have come, and which contained seven men, must have been so surrounded that the men could not have escaped. Some of them immediately made for the camp, about three miles distant, and Mr Rees galloped into town. We have waited till now (1 p.m.) before publishing this Extra, until one of Mr White’s policemen, whom he sent out this morning, should return. He brings intelligence that not one of the road party had been wounded, and that there are no marks of any of the natives having been killed. Many of the tents are marked by numerous shots, and everything in them has been carried off. From the footsteps on the ground in their track back towards Waitotara, the native policeman judged there might have been 100 of the rebels, including women and children. He picked up and brought in with him a little child’s flannel shirt which had been dropped. Their object seems, to have been plunder ; and besides a considerable quantity of eatables and drink, they have secured a few breech-loaders and a keg or two of apt munition. There has been no attempt to follow them.

The Kai Iwi District. —The sudden attack on the road party yesterday seems to have awakened the authorities to a sense of ihe necessity of doing what should have been done earlier. It is the intention, we believe, to erect three redoubts fur the protection of the settlers along the Kai- Iwi. One is already in progress along the Kai Iwi Bluff; another is being put up near Mr. Peake’s, and a third at Dr. Mussen’s, and it is proposed to have mounted patrols from the Military Train Corps between these places, so as to establish a complete cordon that will effectually protect the country from inroads, and will also prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the Maori road between Kai Iwi and Kaiwhike, which has been of great advantage to the rebels, and has been much used by them during the last four years. Yesterday, 150 rank and file of the 57th Regiment, under Captain Stewart, went out" to construct, and we believe to occupy the last mentioned posts. Captain Woodall, with a company of the 57th, made a redoubt yesterday near Mr Peake’s, to which the road party will go at night. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. The following additional particulars appeared in an “ Extra” issued from the Chronicle office on Friday last:— The Skirmish of Tuesday. —We give the following additional particulars, corrected in some respects from the first account given. The pa stands at the corner of a bush, which stands to the rear and left of it. As the soldiers advanced from the camp, about 900 yards distant, they had the pa directly in their front, and saw before the huts an ordinary Maori fence or taiapa. About half past four a signal shot was fired from the bush on the left of the pa, as the soldiers (80 nten of the 18th) advanced to it. When the soldiers got up to the fence a volley was fired on them from the huts within, on which they threw off their knapsacks, scaled the fence and got in by an opening, charged the huts and fired on the Maories, of whom they killed seven. The Maories returned the fire, and if was here that Lieut. Johnston felh The firing continued, and in about an hour, a reinforcement was sent from the camp, con-

sisfing of a detachment of the 50th under Major Eock, who were sent for the purpose of surrounding the Maories, and took up a position under cover to the left. On this the men of 18th charged to the edge of the bush on the left, but, finding the ground thickly rifle-pitted, they did not succeed in forcing the position, and took cover in front of the rifle-pits among some long weeds, chiefly camomile, from which they kept tip a fire till half-past eleven, when the enemy’s fire ceased and they retired. Two men were killed, and two of the wounded have since died, ■viz., Lieut. Johnston, D.A.A.G., and a private. Other seven were wounded, most of the wounds being on the hand, owing to the position in which the men were lying. The Maori call through the night was “ Come on, come on, be brave, don’t leave me,” and a female voice was heard several times encouraging the men forward. This was heard when the Maories. were retiring under a severe fire from the soldiers. The cry was then, “ Gloria! gloria! oh! oh! hau ! hau!” It may be mentioned that several bullock-drivers got the wounded men’s guns and took part in the fight, as well as assisted in carrying the wounded to the rear. John Jones has been mentioned to us as particularly active in this way. KILLED AND WOUNDED. Killed. —50th Regiment. Private Robert Eedyard „ John Murphy „ Henry Paris „ Joseph Gold „ Smith Hargeaves „ John Kenny „ John Fisher „ 'William Erwin „ William Land „ William Vina „ George Poole 18th Regiment. Private James Brenny Wounded 50th Regiment. Ensign D. L. Grant, dangerously Lieut. W. H. Wilson, severely Private John Lyden, „ „ Robert Burnett „ „ William Croat „ „ Jas. Cunningham „ „ M. Burke „ „ James Bleasdale „ „ B. Handover „ • „ John Flynn „ , r Wm. Griffin „ „ H. Hargreaves „ „ George Box „ „ Williim Miles „ „ J. Christopher „ „ Thos. Dohell „ „ Phelim Brown „ „ Arthur Poor „ James Eearden „ „ John Barley „ 18th Regiment. Private Trevors, mortally „ Daniel Wadkius, severely „ Thomas Graham „ „ Thomas Lock „ „ Thomas High, slightly „ Patrick Whelan „ Another Skirmish. —Yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon, between two and three o’clock, the Maories made an attack on an outlying picket, at Nukumura. The picket retired by the orders of General Cameron, drawing the Maories after it. A number of the Military Train were sent round to the rear of the Maories to intercept their retreat ; and in the meanwhile the Maories made an outset on the Camp, when a hand to hand fight ensued, which resulted in the Maories being driven back after they had killed ten soldiers said to belong to the 50th Regt., and wounded about twenty; about half the soldiers killed had been cut down with the tomahawk. The detachment of the Military Train came on the retiring Maories, but as the ground was covered with toi-toi and fern, they could not do so much as they otherwise wou’d ; still they cut down some of the Maories, as the wounds on those picked up testify ; one of them had his horse shot under him. The fighting continued till dusk, when the soldiers returned to the camp, burning the fern as they came back. Twelve M aori bodes were brought in, one of which was found within two hundred yards of the General’s tent.

Ixqtjest at Kangitiki. —An inquest was held by Dr. Fletcher, Coroner for Rangitiki District, at the house of Mr James Bull, on Wednesday, the 24th January, on the body of a man named William Cowan, about 22 years of age, who was employed on the road between Rangitiki and Turakina. His death was occasioned by a slip of gravel, which fell upon him and crushed him. The jury returned a verdict of “ accidental death.”

Military Movements. —Th e Southern Cross, of the 24th, says : —We understand that despatches from General Cameron arrived by the s.s. Alexandra yesterday, ordering the immediate embarkation of the 18th Regiment for Wanganui. It would appear from this that active and immediate hostilities are contemplated.