POVERTY BAY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 646, 11 January 1869, Page 2

POVERTY BAY.

FALL OF NGATAPA. TE KOOTI DEFEATED BY COL. WHITMORE. HAU-HAXJ LOSS : 120 KILLED; 140 PRISONERS. ESCAPE OF TE KOOTI. (The first part of the following appeared in an Extra issued ou Thursday.] The arrival of the Colonial Government p.s. 'Sturt'Capt. Fairchild,this day, at 12.30 p.m., has put us in possession of highly important news from Poverty Bay, which we hasten to place before the public : The report of the death of Captain Brown is confirmed.

It appears that the Hauhaus, being in a state of starvation, became desperate, and two previous attempts at escape having failed — made a third rush from their position at Ngatapa, which was completely surrounded by our men, and succeeded, with great loss, in forcing their way through into the dense bush by which the rebel stronghold is surrounded. This, however, was almost impenetrable, and they were followed and shot down, the women and children being taken prisoners. At the date of our last news, the lebel loss in killed had been 120, and the number of prisoners taken 100, the latter mostly women and children. Among them there is said to be Te Waru, the " second in command." Te Kooti, unfortunately, was among the few (supposed to be about 40) who had not yet been taken; but as the engagement was still going on, there is every reason to hope that he may yet be secured. Our own loss has beeu as follows: —EZilled : Captain Brown, 4 of No. 6 Division A.C. (Frazer's), and 6 friendly Maoris. Wounded, 18. H.M.'s steam ram * Blanche' and the s.s. 'Ahuriri' were at Poverty Bay when the 'Sturt' left. The former was shortly to leave for Napier. We have tried to obtain the names of those of our forces killed and wounded, but find that it is not known in Napier.

H.M's. steam ram Blanche, which arrived on Saturday, brought news confirmatory of the above, but stating the number of prisoners to be 140.

We have obtained the toll owing list of casualties on our side—Killed —Capt. Brown, No. 7 Company; Sergfc. Hetaraka. of the Arawas; Privates M'Ewen and Sawyer, No. 1; Private Clarendon, No. 3; 5 Ngatiporou. Wounded Sub-In-spector Caple, No. 7, in arm; and 9 others. These casualties all occurred in the trenches; before the charge in which the greater number of the Hauhaus were killed.

Te Kooti had not been captured when the Blanche left; but the forces were still in pursuit. The report of Te Waru's death is unfounded; he is not supposed to have been in the pa. A report having been circulated here to the effect that the Hauhau killed were chiefly women, and that the fighting men and chiefs had escaped, we can state that it is utterly false. Every principal chief except Kooti himself was killed, and the only women who lost their lives were about four killed in the pa by shell, and one shot while running away among the men.

By the arrival of the Phoebe yes terday we have the following Government telegram, as published in the Wellington papers :

Napier, Jan. 7, 1.26 p.m. The fortress of Ngatapa fell yesterday morning into our hands at 3 p.m. The troops and natives were over-night in full possession of the outer wall and works, which were taken by assault in the afternoon, and during the dark the advance was pushed on by rifle-pit and sap, so that when daylight came the storm could not have been resisted. Under these circumstances Te Kooti shot the most influential of his prisoners, and escaped down the cliff, which being very high and steep, and my force being insufficient to surround the hill, I have trusted to keep iht long side safe. The woman were first lowered, then followed

TeKooti himself, -wounded in the slfouldej] and still lame of his wound at BuakJ

Ture, apparently having been one of t\ last. This was effected from 1 to S a.m., dtu ing which time Major Frazer, who was thi nearest of the force fired heavily and witl some effect on the place from whence th sound came.

The last had barely escaped when on people entered, and however formidabli the work looked outside, it was stil stronger to look at from close by. The Ngatiporous and Arawa Diviaiot who have behaved splendidly throughout started at once in pursuit. Te Kooti's followers spread out into thi bush in small parties, and the pursuit wai carried out in the same way. Throughout the day, and till aftej dark these returned with prisoners and plunder. The last, had engaged the TJriwera Conj tingent, and killed Bangiaho, a chief o| note.

Previously to that Nikora had beei killed, and his wife brought in. In ail about 120 of the enemy have beei killed.

These numbers are accurate, the bodied having been exhumed from the enem/i ditches, found lying in or about the paj or stripped ofjtheir arms and loads by thosj who overtook and shot them. I thiuk ver| few women, and these only by accident) have been killed, and no children. Thj cohorns appear to have frightened the pari rison very much, and killed some. ThJ number inside must have exceeded ou| estimate, for the escort carrying Te Kootj must be some 40 men, and only 18 out oj the 30 Uriweras were killed.. lam dej spatching fresh parties in pursuit, and hops still to catch Te Kooti. Every man o

note in his band is killed except himself, and he cannot be far off. I blew down 5 largo portion of the walls, and fired : Royal salute last night in honor of the capture. G. S. Whitmobe. I

NGATAPA, THE LATE STRONGHOLD 01 TE KOOTI. The following interesting letter ap- ' pears in the columns of the Daily Southern Cross : We are indebted to an occasional correspondent, now with forces encamped before , Te Kooti's fortified pa, far the following descriptive particulars of the present posisitlon of affairs in that district : 11 Ngatapa, December 27. 1

From a high fern ridge on .the left of: the road we hare caught a glimpse of Ngatapa —at least the staff and your correspondent have—and the view confirms the opinion expressed upon the line of march, "We are engaged in an Abyssinian cam-:; paign on a small scale." "Reduce the numi bers engaged, the length of the journey, r. : size of the ravines, and the elevation of the" final goal, and you have our fiold of action! Tt remains to be proved whether Ngatapj will fall into our hands as easily as Mag--lala dropped into Sir R. Napiev's. From it* appp»ranee I should say the reverse; It looks from the distanee like a sugarloaf, with three conse*cutivo circles of entrenchments around the top. To morrow I shall be nearer it, and bettor able to give a de scription, unless the enemy is in sufficient force to delay our progress. Hitherto we have met with no obstacles whie'rt a fatigueparty could not remove, and this has been and is likely to continue, a spade and pick campaign. This accounts for the apparently slow progress made. What with bui'ding depots for stores, making roads, and getting up provisions to the Front, the force has been every day at work frcm daybreak till nearly dark. Not a moment has been lose ; the only cause of delay has been the paucity of transport, Heights before Ngatapa, Dec. 28.

Yesterday we arrived at; our present camp, \vhere in sight of the enemy within his works, we are doomed to inaction in consequence of the non arrival of the Ngatiporou. O, the delays and vexations attendant on employing native allies ? Coast or West Coast they are all alike; and many a commanding offiecr has seen his best plans thwarted by the non-fulfil-ment of their engagements. By themselves i or " detribalised" —that is, enlisted ando serving under European officers, as Gun) dry's Arawas —they can be relied on ; butj.| under their chiefs, the relative position oil the moon and a star, the- shape of thea clouds, the direction of the wind, a dreamp may up?et all arrangements. It is too bad|| to watch Te Kooti's men strengthen thehil j works, and to know that the whole of terday was most probably spent in listen-;; ing to long sermons from Mohi. Humors! also reach camp that great pressure is ex-i erted to keep them back, as the settlers! firmly believe that Te Kooti will giv&jfl us the slip, and double back upon§j us to attack Turanganui. The amount! of work now going on before our eye»|| proves this an absurdity. I can now endeavor to give you an idealf of To Kooti's stronghold. Our is in a saddle-back ridge, facing, at 1,900|| yards, the south-west slope of Ngatapa.if In front of us, rising from the midst of a! jumble of hills, there stands by itself ai bush covered, dome-shaped mass, crownedfi by a sugar-loaf peak springing abruptly! from the centre, the whole attaining a height of some 2,000 feet three distinct lines were round this cone—one at the base, another about half-way up, and the third a few yards below the summit. To the enemy's front and right the ground slopes away pretty gradually: on the left, and from all accounts in the rear the fall is precipitous. The space in front of the work has been cleared of all cover for some 400 yird» where the bush commences, As

extent of 100 or 150 yards divides the second line from the lower, and within this is built a largo whare. Several other whares by its side seem capable of holding a large number of men. The lower line appears to be merely a series of rifle-pits, flanked and terminating at the precipitous extremity on the left. The second consists of a ditch and parapet some ten or eleven feet high, riveted with ti tree stakes. The thi'd, as far as I can make out, is stockaded, and goes right round. I enclose you a sketch and plan, which you will perceive that we are before a very strong position. None of the officers here have seen so strong a pa. The bare idea of taking it by storm is utterly inadmissible.

Merely taking it, besides, would not answer the required end; for, as the column walked in on one side, the natives would bolt out on the other. Their escape must be prevented. We must exterminate this band of murderers, a failure must be rendered impossible. I have heard from good authority that information, as to the line of escape has been re ceived, and that it can be cut off. Both yesterday and to-day I had good opportunities of estimating the numbers in the pa ; onco when th y were trooping to the " Whare Karakul," once when leaving it. In common with the most experienced of the officers. I put down their strength as about 150, a small number ompared with our force, but they are behind imposing works, and to surround them properly every place of escape must be watched by a party strong enough to defeat any attempt at a bolt.

4.40 p.m.

No sign of Ngatiporou or Major Westrupp'a Turanganui Militia. lam glad to be able to state that Colonel Whitraoro has decided on approaching the place by the flying sap, and the day has been spent in teaching the men to make gabions and construct the sap. The force is to - move to-night, and occupy a small knoll near the pa, to the north-east of Ngatapa, marked with a cross in the plan. Our transport ends here, and our provisions and ammunition will be "humped" On to the trenches. May success attend the force.

December 29,

Orderlies came in at 10 p.m. last night to report Ngatiporou at Fort Roberts They have taken only four days to march 15 miles ! Kapata has been ill. as they allege. The march last night was accordingly put off. Of course there are grea* inconveniences attending each days delay. "The lunger you look at it the less jou liko it," is an old saying. The enemy is strengthening himself, and we can see him digging rifle-pits on our intended lines ol march. On the other hand, although with the force under him now Colonel Whirmore could sap up the position and take it, he could not spare any men to cut off the retreat; and the grand desideratum. the destruction of Te Kooti's band, would not be achieved. There is no doubt that the pa must be taken, or the colonial force may for ever hide their head.-' ; but its wre capture will not satisfy the country. We hope to see Ngatiporou hero in the course ot the day.