THE LATE VICTORY ON THE EAST COAST.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 650, 25 January 1869, Page 4

THE LATE VICTORY ON THE EAST COAST.

(From the Nelson Examiner, 9th Jan.)

The long-looked for intelligence of a great victory over the miscreant Te Kooti, has come at last. It is no halfsuccess on this occasion, but a complete and crushing victory over the murdering band which recently destroyed a peaceful settlement of our countrymen in Poverty Bay, and slaughtered its inhabitants. Ngatapa, the strongest place beyond all comparison ever besieged in New Zealand, has been carried by Colonel Whitmore, commanding 300 of the Armed Con stabulary and 360 friendly allies. The defeat of the enemy was most complete. One hundred and twenty dead bodies were found, and fourteen men were taken prisoners, besides a number of women and children. Oat of a supposed force of 200 which defended Ngatapa, only about sixty-six could have made their escape, and as the Ngatiporous and Arawas started in hot pursuit, it is probable the whole may be overtaken. It is the most satisfactory that this important victory has cost us only eleven killed and nine wounded.

The accounts given by Colonel Whitmore and the hon. J. C. Richmond of the capture of Te Kooti's pa (the Native Minister having, it would appear, accompanied die force), shew the difficulties that had to be encountered by the attacking body. It was such a place that neither Col. Gold nor General Pratt would have advanced against with a small army of British troops, while General Cameron declined to risk an attack on Wereroa ■ —a place deficient in the natural advantages possessed by Ngatapa, unless at the head of 10,000 troops. Yet into the middle of a hostile country, where they were constantly open to attack, Colonel Whitmore and his men advanced step by step through dense forests cut up by frightful ravines, to gain an almost inaccessible mountain 1,500 feet high, near the summit of which the enemy were entrenched. We question whether any force that has taken the field in New Zealand has had to undergo the same amount of privation and danger as the brave body of men we are now speaking of, and we congratulate them most heartily on the success which has crowned their courage and endurance. It is humiliating, however, to read the virulent attacks which have been made on Colonel Whitmore by newspaper writers and newspaper correspondents while he has been steadily engaged in following up Te Kooti to Jris mountain stronghold. Every kind of abuse that could be heaped upon the head of a soldier has been launched against him. According to these authorities, he was totally destitute of every qualification for command, was an officer under whom no man would gerve; and so obnoxious to the na tives that his presence in the field was sure to be followed by the total withdrawal' of our allies, The amount

of reliance to be placed on these statements can now be seen. Where such attacks have been made from false information apology is due to Colonel Whitmore, but where they are the fruit of malevolence or party rancour, a manly confession of error must not be expected. Colonel Whitmore has been assailed by another class of critics —by writers who, having no knowledge of New Zealand beyond its towns and their neighborhood, have no idea of the difficulties which impede travelling through a bush without roads; and who, because our forces have not advanced straight against the enemy and defeated him off hand, have come to the conclusion that there is no energy in the conduct of the war, and success therefore is not to be expected. Thus have we seen Colonel Whitmore condemned for stopping to cut a track for his men to advance, as if they could be taken in balloons over the tops of trees, and landed in the face of the enemy —commissariat stores, munitions of war, and all. Complaints of delay from such quarters arise from ignorance, and as no personal feeling is exhibited, we simply wish such writers would inform themselves better, and not be so ready to sit in judgment on what they do not understand. We presume the war in Poverty Bay to be now virtually at an end, and that Colonel Whitmore will return to Wanganui, leaving to Major Fraser or some other officer the task of stamping out any spark of disaffection that may hereafter exhibit itself. His next business will be to settle with Titokowaru ; and with the force which by this time will be ready to take the field, supported by as many of the Constabulary as can safely be spared from the East Coast, we feel confident no long time will elapse before Tito kowaru will share the fate of Te Kooti, and either lose his life or become a fugitive. All that was ever required to give us success against the nativrs was a small body of properly trained men, and a commander in whom they had confidence. These requirements we now possess, and there need be no fear of the issue.

(From the Tarauaki Herald, 16th Jan.) The news from the East Coast which arrived this week by the Storm Bird is of a more hopeful character than we have had for some time past, although when we come to read carefully the despatches of both Colonel \Vhitmore and the hon. J. C. Richmond, we cannot but think that some important particulars have yet to be told. Colonel Whitmore commences his despatch by announcing that the "Fortress'' of Ngatapa had fallen into their hands. What a pity it is he cannot call a spade a spade, but must go out of the way and call a Maori pa a fortress. What impression will that word leave on the minds of those in England, who have a vivid remembrance of the taking of the fortress of Magdala, by Sir Robert Napier ? Why they will picture to themselves high martello towers perforated with loop-holes, surrounded by several terraces of ramparts, and well protected an all sides by massive stone outworks; instead of this, we know it to be a Maori pa, defended merely by Te Kooti and his half-starved followers. At all events this pa has been taken by assault, and one hundred and twenty of the rebel native followers of Te Kooti killed. Te Kooti himself has escaped with an escort of about forty men, but our forces have managed to secure eighty prisoners, of whom fourteen were men, fifty women, and sixteen children. In the Colonel's despatch no mention is made of the killed and wounded, which we think a grave omission; for even, if as we suspect, the unfortunate sufferers in this assault are natives, still some record should have been made of the circumstance. We have no doubt that our men engaged in this affair have all fought well and done their best, but we cannot banish from our minds the impression that this victory has been accomplished by the natives, and, if so, we consider that more mention should have been made of their deeds of valor than is recorded in the Colonel's despatch. We know that natives fighting with our forces ha\e complained of this before, and Mete Kingi in the House of Representatives is reported to have said that the Europeans generally received

(praise for what the Maoris did; therefore Colonel Whitmore might have thought it worth his while to have mentioned in his despatch who were the first to scale the palisading and enter the pa, instead of leaving it so vague that many imagiue it was a victory gained by the Colonel through the assistance of Ropata, and not by Ropata assistedby the Colonel. However, it does not matter who gained the victory so long as we know that Te Kooti and the remnant of his followers have been driven from their strongholds, and it is to be hoped that we shall hear that none of the rebels are any longer in a position to disturb the peace of that once quiet, flourishing settlement of Poverty Bay. The next consideration, however, is what is to be done with the prisoners that have been taken ? If we thought they would be treated like British subjects who had committed similar deeds we should not say a word on the point, but we are puzzled, as no doubt the Ministry will be, to answer the question. If they are to be sent back again to the Chatham Islands, we trust this time they will be sufficiently guarded; and we also hope that the late episode on the East Coast will be a warning to all penny-wise and pouud-foolish Ministries like the Stafford Cabinet —for the future.