TAURANGA.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IX, Issue 450, 28 January 1867, Page 3

TAURANGA.

(From the New Ssslaad Herald, 22nd January.) By the schooner Mavis, we have received the following important particulars from the Tauranga Argus extra i—* THREATENED OUTBREAK. rv_ a_i.. J iftiL L \jtx üßEfUruajj lAui tuavaui*, a rmuur vrtu spread over the town, that two men who are employed on Ms Hill’s farm, had been

captured by the Hau-haus. The farm is sivuSi'Ou iOUf of live miles from Te Papa on the Gate Pa road. It was said that after capturing them they had taken them some distance in the bush and haring shared them and cut of their hair they were determined to hold them prisoners. A messenger was at once despatched to

mo tnTui auu uo ou ms reiui'.i stated that they had only been warned to leare by some friendlies as the Hau-haus were prowling about. On Sunday, 13tb instant, two men who are. employed on Colonel farm, on the banks of the Wairoa,~were warned to come in. They were again ordered off on Monday, and cams into Te Papa. The same day all the friendly natives camo in from Otuuioita, together with a few Europeans who reside there. (The latter came in for arms and ammunition.) They left again the same afternoon. WAIKATOS ORDERED OUT. An order was issued at 7 p.m. on the 14th instant, that all the Ist Waikato Regiment on pay were to parade on the Militia Camp ground at 9 p.m., to march to Wi Mupu, where it was said the rebels had built a pa within a few miles of that place and were mustering in force. About 120 men and 7 officers, under the command of Colonel Harrington, left the parade groud about half-past ten, accompanied by Mr Skeet, Mr Graham, and a staff of assistants. IMPERIAL TROOPS ORDERED OUT. At 4 a.m (Tuesday, 15th, ) 350 men and 10 officers under the command of Colonel ■Li<.n:i]ton, of H.M. 12th Regiment, assembled Ou the Military Parade ground, and left for the same destination as the Ist Waikatos. Mr Clarke, Civil Commissioner (who only arrived the evening previous from a tedious journey to Rotoiti) accompanied the expedition. Colonel Haultain, Defence Minister, who is at present on a visit hero, also went out. GREAT EXCITEMENT IN TE PAPA. A rumor reached us about eleven o’clock to-day, that a son of Mr Johnson, who resides on the banks of the Wairoa, the road to Waiwhatawhata, the scene of the last expedition, had arrived in town and re ' ported that 50 armed Hau-haus were making for Judea, where resides Lieut. Turner, and family, Mr Faulkner, and family, and several other settlers whose names we have net been able to ascertain But we found on making enquiries that the report was without any solid foundation, Mr Johnson and his family having only been warned to leave.

2 p.m.—Mr Clarke has just arrived, and reports that the troops had found the house or pa, that has been spoken of as being occupied by the rebels, and had taken possession of it. In all probability the troops will be in t 1 'is afternoon. There was no rebels seen about.

We publish the following extracts from private letters to hand : —“ lam sorry to say that the first thing that presented themselves to my view was something very like an armed display. There were arms, belts, &c., all around. It is a pity that the people in Auckland should be misled by statements such as Sir George Grey’s, about the peace of this district. The fact is that all those who are living at any distance from camp are ordered in and, threatened if they do not comply. Last night, the 14th inst., the colonial troops marched out to the supposed rendezvous of the hostile Maoris. The 12th Regiment got rations at 12 o’clock last night, and marched this morning, 15th. At this writing a gentleman has come in to tell me that Mr Johnston’s eon rode into town to say that 50 hostile Maoris were coming by tho Wairoa. We cannot say, of course, bow things may turn out All we are certain of is that this district is in a disturbed state, which of course, retards settlement. I met Mr S. last night, mounted, going with a number of surveyors if I may say so, ‘ to the front.’ Coloael Haultain is here. There are plenty of troops, so there is no present danger.” A gentleman, lata resident of Auckland, writes to say, "Things here have been bad for some days past. The ‘ Te Kaumarua’ (Hau-hau»), have come and taken the rest of Mr Graham’s things from Oropi. Mr Beere’s thing, which were left behind, have been, I understand looted. Wilkinson’s survey party at Omanaua have had to come in. He has retired, I believe, to Mr Johnston’s place on tho Wairoa. It was stated here that a house for a runanja had been built two miles beyond Waimapu ford, on the Oropi Hoad, and that Hakaraia was coming there. In consequence of this information’ 120 militia, under Colonel Harrington, with 15 of the Volunteer Engineer Corps (surveyors and their assistants,) under Captain Skeet, marched from Te Papa last Monday night (I4th), and having to cross two fords (Hlrene and Waimapu), to avoid these, they went round by Te Eangi, and got on the ground at 5 a,m. on Tuesday, but found no natives. They returned the same day, having first burnt the whare. Col. Haultain accompanied the expedition. On the same cvcninc Mr I Pitt, on officer of the Ist Waikatos, who is on his land, with Mr Johnston and Mr Wilkinson, and the men working on CoL Harrington’s farm marched in, as the Kanbans were seen coming down the ranges two miles from Johnston’s bouse.” We have been informed from a private source that Arawas have offered to go out S e*- f}** TTjSTt.Viß'i'.i oanfuwA thons L — vo t ,v, “ l ' •'**'■****• As a proof of the excitement that seems to prevail we giro the following

i “The captain of the Mavis says that i just before he left on Saturday last, a re* port came in that the two soldiers who had deserted and were taken prisoners had been burnt bj the Hsu-haus. This was after the troops- went out the second time. The captain cannot vouch for the truth. It was given and stated as current rumor.'' THE ALARM AT TATOANGA, LAUGHABLE TERMINATION TO A CATASTROPHE. (From the New Zealand Herald, 23rd January.) When the news arrived in Auckland on Monday afternoon of a threatened raid , npon the settlements at Tauranga, ushered iu by the announcement that certain sett tiers and surveyors had been driven in , under peril of their lives, and that all this > had been aggravated by the perpetration l of certain cruelties on the persons of two 1 farm laborers who had fallen into the enemy’s hands, we certainly viewed it with* suspicion. There was contradiction ap-* - parent throughout the sensational items--5 of intelligence which went to make up the ’ panic. Doubtless there was marching and \ countermarching at Tauranga, excitement | and expectation, but it seemed to us that ! the grounds for all this excitement were J excedingly small, and very vague. We £ were at once inclined to believe that time I would prove that, like the late warning 1 off of the surveyors, this excitement was r the effect of a little Maori bounce acting ' on the fears of two or three nervous individuals who bad infected the whole community with similar feelings of alarm. We therefore placed the news we had re- * ceived, for what it was worth, before our 1 readers, leaving to time the solution of ’ the real state of affairs. It is with regret * that we feel obliged to give insertion to k but half authenticated reports of these kinds for nothing has more tended to in* f jure the province of Auckland than the 3 publication of rumors of war and outrage ‘ which in nearly every case during last two years have turned out to be canards or > little better, and nothing we believe is t more calculated to hinder the satisfactory settlement of Tauranga than the spread of such reports, which keep back the influx of capital into that settlement. 1 We were scarcely, however, prepared to ' receive yesterday so complete a denial of 1 one poition of the sensational news re--1 ceived from “ the seat of war ” as the following private letter placed in our bands " for publication. It is from one of the * ‘ prisoners iuthe hands of the Hau-haus,” * and whose hair and ears wore reported to 5 have been shaved off, nay, his body burnt—- * and is addressed to his employer in Auck--3 land on whose farm near Tauranga he 1 was working. The letter speaks for itself. 3 We have copied it from the original, merely suppressing the names of the 1 writer and the gentleman to whom it was e addressed. We trust that our fellow co- - lonists at Tauranga are by this time - laughing as hea'tily over the late threats ened attack, as our readers will also at the } idea of a man going into Tauranga to enquire if there was any truth in the report that hia own ears and hair had been i:cut off:

Tauranga, January 14,1867.

Dear Sir, —I hasten to let you know about a report that has been in Te Papa on Saturday, and I thought I would let you know that it is all false. They heard that the Maori had taken me away, and cut my ears off, and shared my head. I never heard anything about it till the sergeant major came out in the eveuing of Saturday, I went in on Sunday, to st,o if it was true, and 1 met Mr Clarke and Capt. Goldsmith, and they asked me if I had seen any Maoris here, and wben I told them “no” they all had a good laugh at it, and they told me to write and let you know, afore you might be frightened. Make your mind easy. Everything is all right. * • * * *