CAPTURE OF NUKUMARU P

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 656, 15 February 1869, Page 2

CAPTURE OF NUKUMARU P

(Wellington Independent, Feb. 6.) Through the information contained la our present issue relative to our succesral at the Front might have been more gratiiH ing than it is, it is very satisfactory ;'.s know that the enemy has been frighterii I or driven from a very strong position wii out the loss of a single man on our sic It would doubtless have been more gra! fying to have captured Titokowaru as wt j§ as his pa, but that this was not done w owing to no want of ability on the parti Colonel Whit more, or of pluck and brave; on the part of those serving under hii "The men of both divisions have behavt splendidly from the commencement of tl ?eige," says the Wanganui Herald, at the truth of the remark is confirmed! 0 lonel Whitmore. The Chronicle snj " so far as we can judge, Colonel Wlii more's plans were laid out with skill, ai in ordinary warfare might have been vet successful, but the Maoris are evident! not to be fought on any recognised print pie of military tactics. They must t -V taken with a dash—a sudden rush—cauj! by ambuscades —harassed incessant!;taken piecemeal; and for warfare of t!i kind our Armed Constabulary aro nt "-,( fi:ted." And why not, pray? Are the not much better fitted for such warfr I than regular troops? What possib bearing can such remarks have on &J§ «iege of Nukumaru, or on its abandonee: by the rebels when they found it was ge: ling too hot to hold them ? The victor; though a bloodless, is a most importat one, and we can sympathise in the hurra: of our forces, though they may not "tHI out of the wood." The very hurraffl would be an earnest of future successes™ there was not danger lluohgh the exfl brance of their spirits of falling intotffl ambuscade. Let any one read the descrip™ tion of the pa at Nukumaru, in cur presetH issue which Titokowaru had been tfffl months in fortifying, and then say thatiffl capture, without the loss of a single hfeiOT: a matter of no moment. Would oursuwT cesses have been greater had we had tliffln assistance of "the troops from Australians or even of those still nearer at hand ? *■'] no blame can be properly attached to t nel *BFj tho miserable talk about "the capture_<fltj an empty pa," or "the enemy abandoning] one position to occupy a stronger" can trap very well dispensed with. d

AUCKLAND. fFEOai OIXB OWJf COEEESPONDENX.] Feb. 4, 1869. OUR Provincial Council is still in session. Plenty of committees are ap pointed, questions asked, and resolutions passed. Very little else to show a 3 the result of their labors. The estimates have furnished subjects for a hundred fights. The Executive ha-ve generally a majority, but not always. The last move was a message from the Superintendent asking the Council to provide by Bill for the salaries of the Executive, and gujwesting the sums of £SOO each for the Provincial Secretary and Provincial Solicitor, and .£2OO each for two other non-official members of the Executive. The Council for once acted spiritedly, and passed two resolutions : Ist—declining to provide bv Bill for the Executive ; and 2nd —declining to vote anything for nonofficial Executive councillors. Foiled bo the Government attempted to force through a thin house the votes for Secretary and Solicitor, and the opposition fiast vainly tried to postpone the votes, and then, as the last resource, got the house counted out, just as the chaliman was going to say, "the ayes have it," which would have secured the vote. It was sharp practice, and no mistake. A year flo-o, Mr Creighton proposed and carried a vote that reduced the Secretary's salary to the rate of £2OO a year, which was less than had been voted for some of the clerks ; now, the same Mr Creighton seeks for a vote of £SOO a year for the same office, himself being the occupant of it. This is coming it strong ! Last year I deemed £3OO little enough for the office, and this year the same sum ought to suffice; in fact, I think that sum quite as much as the Province can afford. But human nature is to be considered : Mr B. J. Creighton, as editor of the Daily Southern Cros«, and an active man in the opposition, felt, thought, spoke, wrote, and voted very different from what Mr Creighton does now as Provincial Secretary. One member, Mr Bucklancl, warned the Council that the Government would probably find their financial position as difficult twelve months hence as it was twelve months since. "With that opinion I agree that such is probable. Even now, many necessaries, such as small subsidies for ferries in country districts, &c, have been stopped on account of the scarcity of funds in the Provincial chest.

Mr John Mim.ro has been elected to the General Assembly for Marsden, vice Hull. Boih are avowed opponents of the existing Provincial Institutions. Two more elections are on the tapis, vice O'Neill (Northern Pi-'ision) and Graham (Newton). Probably two new men may be chosen. A walk over is expected in Newton by Mr Heniy Ellis, but for the Northern Division there are two candidates already in the field, and quite likely a third may yet come forward.

One thing has lately struck me as rather peculiar—all solicitors in practice being as a rule debarred from sitting on the bench, not only here, but throughout the Australian Colonies; yet lately an exception has been made in the case of one law practitioner, who has pat and adjudicated in the Police Couit twice at least, although personally open to engagement as a solicitor, &c. How is this 1 Is he the Only fit man among our legal practitioners to fill both positions satisfactorily 1 Or is it a case of partiality and favoritism? Feb. 5.

I had forgotten to mention that a Common Schools Bill is before the Council, Its object is to provide a secular education for our youth. It was discussed last. night and went nearly through committee —the only objectors being two Roman Catholics; other members belonging to the same church supported the Bill. It will doubtless pass; I have not read the Bill, but was present in the gallery during part of the discussion. Some astonishing revelations about our (supposed) educational establishments were alluded to by some of the speakers, referring to evidence taken by a select committee of which they were members, whose report is not yet public.

Two cases were lately before the Chief Justice in which the Provincial Government were concerned, and in both cases Go\ ernment lost the day. It is said that both will be again tried. First, the great Busby land case ; second, the licensing question, to settle whether the Provincial Government are legally entitled to levy a charge for business licenses on all persons engaged in business in Shortland, that place being a proclaimed town, and its occupants having to pay heavy rents to the Maori owners. Tin? question will probably turn on —ls the said ground really part of the gold-field, under the control of the Government ? My opinion is a decided negative; but it may yet be proved that it is both part of the gold-field, subject to Government, and also private (Maori) property, which no man may use or occupy without the consent and license of the owners, which consent will not be given for nothing. Already a deal of land that was unquestionably part of the gold-field has been surveyed and cut up into small lots by Mf Mackay's orders, and the occupants compelled to pay rent to the Maoris or remove—in my opinion a clear breach of the agreement between the Government and the occupant, whose miner's right entitles him to reside on the ground ; and a further wrongto the public, in that the ground being already leased by Jie Maoris to the Government —the fees for miners' rights being the rent agreed on and paid—a second rent is thus paid for part of the same ground. It appears the agreement is so interpreted that the Maori first lets the land in block at specified rent, and afterwards has the right to re-let any portions of it ho thinks fit ! lam not alluding to pieces reserved — several of which have been sold or let at high prices—buO to the land actually opened to mining purposes.