WAR ON THE EAST COAST.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 11, 18 March 1867, Page 63

WAR ON THE EAST COAST.

TAURANGA. A PRISONER BY THE HATJ-HAUS. SOLDIER DROWNED. SKIRMISH BETWEEN THE ARAWAS AND THE HAU-HAUS. ONE HAU-HAU KILLED, AND ONE ARAWA WOUNDED. Resuming our account of the progress of the war at Tauranga, we take the following extracts from, the N.Z. Herald: “In our last issue we omitted to state that after the troops proceeded from Par’s pa, the expedition was given over to the guidance of-Mr Beers, Government Surveyor- After two or three orders which were countermanded, the Arawas were left under the "direction of Colonel Haultain, who advanced them towards and past the village of jMeanee; here, of course, the Native Contingent got separated from the Militia, and hence, we regret to say, a very serious and deplorable misuader* standing seems to have arisen between the respectiTO commanders* Much has

be^n, saipl, about ;,tke. ! ,interpretation -. to be' put jupon in J fchh ' of ' wbicbbatfa tendency on the'ihiiids <if bo tK officers- ahdmen= of .the Regiment, and to render the difficulty, a little, less-,susceptible of .clear-. ing,up, a, letter purposing; to be ' frdm the hand of the l)lefenc ! e‘Minister,"aha 1 \vhd ! ifc ■was 1 reported? had ample explanation of.-.his..statements; iu .the Tau-: rangi Argus has not hitherto been fulfilled, ,On the'second-, dayr..after the engagement nt Akeake!'a . 7 body of'the* I 'lst W.R., consisting of'No ; s.iy 2 and 3 divisions; Mr' Beeve •acting! as guide, proceeded tbOmAnaw’ai: Redoubt,;.■rvhere. it was . understood , they were.toitake * over, charge.,of the native pa of Hahakaharoa.' ' Being directly iu! the "line‘. of march!' between Akeake and the Tatter place; it was expected that a eoverercontest 1 wpuld.haveresulted, .and' as.: the-position is one •of almost .impregnable security, much loss was. anticipated j but on ‘our approach, oiir foe (the hau-hau) ■was not visible, but our trusty friends the Arawas very hoartily regaling themselves. On:; the 9th (Saturday), the .Volunteers or t No.4 Division was ‘ordered on the ■ march to,, the. om anawa, together, with the Engineer corps, all operations were totally futile in' consequence of the enormous torrents of rain falling during the succeeding three days, in fact the discomfort of the camp, the- utter dejectedness of the place, rendered the service one of downright misery : but from our gallant commander down, the best was made of a bad job.: Many old:Crimean campaigners told us that, nothing could have surpassed it even before Sebastopol.. . On Monday, headquarters was joined ; by- the ‘ remaining forces from Akeake, | made -up of . the Opotiki soldiers, under < the command of Major St, John, Captains Bower and Walker, Lieutenants Ross, G. C. Pitt," and others. If the Omanawa de- - tafchnients suffered’ during the preceding wet weather, ohr brethren left behind at ‘ Akeake must have been •in a perilous state indeed ; but w T e hope there will be ah. end of all tilings of like, nature, and that .Thursday’s exploits may be the means of subjugating an enemy, than one . who; by constant harrassing of the troops, have ’ succeeded in obtaining the credit of being metal worthy.of U 3. From the front we learn that the troops were to make ah attack at an early hour on Friday' morning, and strongly supported by all Sour available force.' Troops marching froih Tovey’s farm, where they have been stationed for the last two days, for Iharanga and the adjoining villages. It has also been rumoured that in the event of; surprise and success, the Ist class Militia, together with the .Yolunteers, will return in the course of a short time to Te Papa, and be disembodied, The service these men have been engaged in lias been one of immense hardship, and we shall be' glad to welcome them once more to Te Papa, , ,

Mr, Jordan and a detachment proceeded at a late hour on Thursday night to ; construct a ford across the Creek above the Farm for the troops en route for Iharanga. • •• . :

•We are glad to bo able to inform our renders a Ust of the names of the Engineer corps forming a division of the Expeditionary force, and to assure them that no portion of the Military effective strength has worked more cheerfully and done their duty better than they, jit may be satisfactory to soine of, our distant readers to know what good! service their friends and relatives are effecting in W thankless warfare, and with ; much" pleasure; db -we append their. namesCaptainSkefct,. Lieut. Gundry, Privates Denham, Beere* IJ. Graham, R. 0.. Jordan, T.-Jordanj S. feandes, Jackson, Ri Campion, Hißowe, Mitchell, Tregear, Woolley' ■ (wounded), Brady, O’Donough, and Rtishbrook.

, A PEISONXE BY THE. .HAn-HATTS. •The, Hauhaus: captured one of the .survey party at Pangaroa on the night of the 10th January. After taking' his horse there was a long < korero - held amongst them as to what they should do to him, when through; the influence of a , few. of them came to the conclusion,.to detain him a. prisoner. Providence alonerknows his fate at the present moment; heinay be-still alive, but we have; grave-doubts of that being the case. We have destroyed everything that we could possililyfind belonging to tnem,-and ‘in retaliation James Corlett may before this become a Victim to their fiendish appetites, as there lias, been no:hing heard of him since.

-SOXDEEB DROWNED,. On Monday evening, .between"the hours of five and sis o’clock, a private belonging to the 12thL- Regiment lost his" life' by drowning whilst bathing. -The: body was not fouiid until ‘ it was recovered at the Mount some Maoris, and brought into Te Paparthe: same evening. On Thursday aii , inquest was held! and. the jury returned the ibllovniig verdict-—* that‘ the' 1 deceased Wa s s‘ accidentally drowned.”!' The bcidy J was’buried' in'the afternoon, ' ' l ":‘ 7 ' J J " .*•'*

yj[e bave -been requested to. publish ’ the of' the affafr.{has!..been avowed!to. qrcep into.the columns .of abqntemporary/;-^*! , ! l'; sf& .1867,!,the, pyce.rtationdd. at j?ye*s Pah^ in* all, Mi* <M}j? at A • stp^at^act.the^Madri, pbsrfJibii * oftKe HauSaiisf QUbi the alarm and the Hau

Han belL rung with great .force; .whilst the fanatics themselves were ‘yelling and 'ohaunting. their, religious songs with, great siuritr CbloherHarrington having‘b'fdered a! few shots t to, be fired as a signal to tha ’Begiihent ; and' Arawas;' whio proaohed :by way of Omanawa; the rebels opened, fire, whiob -was, as promptly .returned by Nos. 2 and 4 divisions, .wHo entered the gully, which is, thickly wooded,' ana the fire became general. ‘Major StJohn, who-was in reserve with No, 5 divi-sion;-(having! received ; orders to try /and penetrate ; tho bush on,the-right,, 20 volunteers Were balled, and t quickly responded t’o' tiie. call. ' This party ’ approached the village’gradually, driving- the cnenky before it, many of thorn. being .seen :to fall; At this time Private Woofy, of the .Engineer Corps,.received.a shot in the grpin ; and Captain Muir! of the Yolunteers, had a most miraculous escape, the ball glancing off - the brass button 6C his tunic and wounding him in the' throat.. By this time-the Major and his party had . gained the . village, the rebels retreating into the bush ; they wore quickly followed by th'e remaining divisions, and the work of pluia's cler commenced, the Arawas remaining, in the village of Akeake, whilst the force proceeded onwards to' Taumata, which was destroyed. Here we met tho 12th Regiment, under the command of Colonel Hamilton, who did all in' his power to reach the village in time to cut off the retreat of the rebels, but having a long and difficult maroli of twelve miles, this was not accomplished. The whares having been burnt, and pigs, poultry, &c., sacrificed to tho knife, the Arawas, 150 in number, under command of Captain Walker and Ensign Coats, of the Ist Waikato regiment, appeared, bringing as prisoners, one man, seven women, and one child, who had been found in the bush; these were at once marched to Te Papa. Having destroyed everything possible, the force were preparing to march to Akeake from Taumata, when they were fired upon from the edge . f the bush; the Major and the whole of the men immediately scoured the bush for some 500 yards, but no rebels were seen; the force then returned to Akeake, where it encamped for the night. Next day the village of Taumata was revisited by a party of 100 men, under the command of Major St. John, who commenced destroying a crop of potatoes, about 21 acres of which were planted in bush land. On the 6th of February, four divisions, under command of Captain Stark, proceeded to Omanawa, where they encamped. Preparatory to the men being marched away, the Hon. Colonel Haultain called the officers commanding divisions together, and stated to them that a rumour was current in camp to the effect that he had stated that the position would never have been carr ed .but for the pluck and bravery of the Arawas, thus throwing a slight upon - the Militia and Yolunteers,' he stated that he had called them together to deny that statement, it being perfectly ' untriie; and lie took the present moment to thank Colonel Harrington, and the officers, non-commissioned officers, and' men for their gallant conduct. Colonel Harrington was requested to convey; this to the; men, which he did, and of coarse was met with general approval; the men were then marched away. February .7,1867, the men in camp still employed destroying potatoes. February 8, camp Akeake —dreadful weather; rain in torrents ; all miserable. Tkrougli some mismanagement we were served out with no grog, and orders have arrived for the men remaining here along with, the engineers to proceed to Omanawa to-morrow 1 ; ’-Feb. ,10—-Still raining ; several tents blown down ; the commanding officer, Major St. John decided not to march, in such dreadful Weather. - February 11 —a prospeofc of clearing up, the force left for Omanawa at 10 a.m., and reached that place about 4 p<m. Feb. 12 —an .order, having arrived for Nos. 5 and 6. to proceed .to. Tovey’s Farm, they paraded at 3 p.m. and marched, arriving there a't‘6-30,"under 'command of Ensign Atkyns, Ist Waikato Regiment February 13—the whole force marched from Omanawata to Tovey’s Farm, where they encamped.; . '

SKIRMISH -BETWEEN THE ARAWAS AND THE HAUHAUS. :• [New. ZealandHerald/MarcliH.] -v ' • •• -•■- March 6.-

Our correspondent has been enabled to .glean particulars' relating to a brush which took place between the Arawas and Hauhaus 1 oh 'Saturday last. It appears that the former- did npt go; out for . the purpose of fighting, of which they-had not the most distant idea. They mustered but twenty and were out for the purpose of pig huhting, having with thein no food-pf any kind. Eive of them, with.; whom was Hr. Gilbert Hair, had, separated from'the'rest, ahd after having lolled some pigs; Hauhau tracks were discovered by them; each man flew to his gun, and had scarcely made, preparations for their, defence, when a volljey was poured into thehrfrom 1 at.least thirty rebels: • Nothing- 'dannted; ‘:this handful of men: stood their ground,"and returned the fire with interest,killing two of their opponents, a bullet havihg'entered the lotwer part of the'face of one' of them, carrying with it the crown of the head;. The remainder of jibe twenty (amongst whom were ngis) came up at this juncture and also opened Are, when,' as usual', the Hauhaus" skedaddled. I regret to have to record, ph the most reliable authorityytliat the-Ngateraagis on this occasion fired blank cartridge.... . Ab'undahee.pf evidence can be add need of" their 'so” acting on a recent occasion, but for ' reasons! it is unnecessary to mention, I have not hitherto disclosed; but the feet is patent. The' 4rawa^wouhded! in this'afiair was’ brought in this by boat, MrfWarbrickktfcendingoa the .beach; at .the'request of: the uativesjtp repeive him, ; and by. wlipm: the wonipkd 'man. was, conveyed to the hospital. gerious’iiature than at;4rpfittiagihed.;'" * ' -;f 1 It should be noted; that-.the itwb-’Hauhaus' who' fisll .were' rtpt natiye inaineA B|he; one jpf those who were"ehgagedm fightihg agauit Eire-’ opa at the fimous Tapiri affair,

; New - and : Yabiabee -Stars,f-*At last week’s sitting of, tlia Academy l of Sciences, M. Fay spoke at.some length on the question of new:&tflrs;and variable.; ones,: After j ,to>. ~th» rariry. of .tlie | ; and stating jhat Mrißir mingham; in Ireland * was,-the ; perceiye, on the 12th May; last, the ( star. which appealed; in Corona and is not.a new one, but merely No. 2765 of catalogue, and which,; being,only jof, the? ninth magnitude, and hence invisible.to the,naked; eyei suddenly burst jfiorth on .tlm,t dateiwith considerable splendor, M..Faye'states that it attained its maximum, brilliancy almost immediately,, and that it has now gradually dwindled down again to its original .sir*• M. Faye holds the opinion that:;the stars hitherto mentioned, as ,ne,w* are merely old ones, which suddenly increase in .brightness owing to some volcanic convulsion. We beg to illustrate: this to our, readers by an example. Mpst geologists imagine (erroneously, we.believe) our earth to be a. hollow.shell-enclosing a vast quantity of.mineral matter in a state of igneous fusion, the shell itself being, nothing, but the cooled crust on the surface of this fiery liqnid. This crust occasionally cracks at some place or other, and some of the liquid (lava) issues forth, as in the case of volcanoes, which, by the partizans of this view of the case, are considered as a strong argument in favour. Let us now suppose the shell of our earth suddenly to burst in consequence of the; violent action of the ingneous matter, which woqjd then rush out and cover nearly, the whole surface. , To.an observer,situated on some other celestial body our earth, in: its. ordinary state, would , either not be visible at all, or scarcely „sobut this convulsion we have described would at once , bring it conspicuously into view by the glare of. the fiery fluid. But the latter' would gradually cool down iii time, like a reel hot iron, which ultimately becomes black, and so, to our observer, the earth would soon relapse into its former lustreless state. This is the explanation given, of stars that suddenly appear and then fade away. Returning to M. Faye, he proceeded to adduce several arguments in favour of his own view, which is that variable stars, and those which are called new, belong to one and the

same class of phenomena. From 1586 to 1800 not more than 12 or 13 vari : able stars were observed; but since then the heavens have been subject to such a searching and unremitting exploration that since 1846 nearly TOO of them , have been observed. 1 The same is the case with new stars, three of which have been observed since 1848, while hardly 20 are mentioned in history previous to" that time. M. Faye rejects the various explanations attempted by the earlier astronomers, simply on the ground that,'as Schwabe has shovvn, the sun itself is! but a variable star, the period' of which is 11 years, and the variations of whose brilliancy wliich are the characteristic 9^. variable stars. The case of new ones is the same. only such stars, were known as might be seen with " the naked, eye; now we have catalagued upwards, of 300,000 stars, and our . chances " are’much greater of finding in our catalogues some , small star thot may suddenly .blaze forth in unwonted lustre. Thus Janson’s star, which appeared in 1600 as a star of the .third magnitude, disappeared in 1621, and reappeared in 1665, is now; catalogued as, P. Cygni, according to Avgelsender. *M, Faye, promises to continue the .subject on a future oceasion.—Galigriarii.

Immigration to Hawke’s Bay.The London correspondent of The dtago Daily Times, ! writes Miss Rye' and Miss Lewin are har'd at work for the Colonies.' On : lhe .sth inst. they superintended the embarkation of 310 -married couples,: with f their.: children';; Besides 44 spinsters 1 and' z 22 bachelors, on; boaird ihe Montmorency, bound for Port Napier, under instructions from the Hawke’s Bay Government —eachkdhlt emigrant contracting of the- passage-money,’ (£17!) in' three years. These.;parties hake been carefully selected; and as it is known that- there are many re*; spectable thousands in England similary circumst£«iced, ; who;would gladly; go to ■ New Zealand- onithe same -tenhs; ihAfirst butlayj.shduM no longer, be .am inapedincient to relieving tlfbCGldiGoun:-. % and wricking the New,

J. JEtapaip, Prize! cpmpetitors of the puttying! ‘districts "of Hawke’s Bay mot at Waip'ukurau on to advertisement, Hut the’weather was even more unfavourable than that'experience d- by .the Napier party,* it Mbwing a gale"! the Whole day.- six madeca score af 20 "and upwards, these were; Witherow, 32; Buchanan,ijun r ., 25; Meddins; 23 ; Hollis, 21Weston," 21; Chapman, 20.’ ( ;