NEW ZEALAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 394, 16 August 1856, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND.

We were mistaken in supposing that there was no intelligence to record in our last publication from Tarauaki. If we are always to be dependent upon the files of Wellington papers, received by the mail, for news from the North, we may be often again under a similar error. We have since received from a private source a' Wellington Independent,' ofjthe 2nd instant, containing the following:— Important from Taranaki. We stop the press to give the following particulars of an affray that has taken place between the belligerent natives at* Taranaki, which we have exracted from the ' Taranaki Herald,' of the ] 2th July, receive 1 this morning by the overland mail. On Tuesday morning, intelligence was brought into town by a native policeman that another sanguinary conflict between the Ngatiruanui and the natives of this district, had occurred on the preceding day, and that from thirty to forty of the former had fallen, together with several of their opponents of Arama Karaka and Ihaia's people. Later in the day it was ascertained that this account of the result of the fight was greatly exaggerated; and further enquiry fixes the.numberkilledatfiveon either side, the Ngatiruanui having eight wounded, one dangerously, and the opposite party three,all slightly. The following account of this affair is gathered from | reliable information, and we vouch for its accuracy with confidence. ; " ' : ■ ; ■ Soon.after the arrival of the Ngatiruanui it was announced that they were building a pah between the Ninia pah and the European boundary, from which its site is distant scarcely a quarter of a mile. In this strong hold the main body of the Ngatiruanui had taken up their head-quarters j and on the morning of Monday l<tst, they left the pah with the intention of taking Jhaia and-his. people, who are stationed in a small untenable pah, near to the south side of the Devon line, and only a short distance from the Mangoraka, by surprise, and destroying them. To reach this spot, avoiding the Ninia, they were obliged to make a circuit of about two miles, skirting the Kaipakopako and Timah pahs, where they are said to have picked up some of Katatore'* people to assist them. On reaching the neighbourhood of Ihaia's pah, the character of the ground was found to prevent approach without crossing the Devon line, so that they were compelled to make their attacks from the north side of the road, to which accident the safety of Ihaia and his party — only numbering fifteen —is mainly attributable; the movements of the hostile party having from this cause been discovered by the inhabitants of the Halftown and Ninia pahs, which immediately sent out their people to the rescue. ' The attacking party of the Ngatiruanui is said to have numbered three hundred men, and would without doubt have carried Ihaia's pah and killed the inmates, but that the Halftown and Ninia pahs, pouring their people on to and along the Devon road, aided.the determined resistance of Ihaia and his followers, and confined the fight to the north side of the ro.*d, cutting off their opponents from their pah and from all assistance. The firing continued till dusk, when the combat ceased, and the parties engaged withdrew to their respective pahs. We subjoine a list of the killed. It is confidently asserted that a much larger number were killed of the Ngatiruanui, but the following statement is admitted by either party. Ngatiruanui.—Killed: Patara of Ketemarae, Rophia of Mawhitiwhiti, Hemi of Whareroa, Herewini of do., and Rupuha whose district is not known; and eight wounded, one dangerously. Ngatiawa.—Killed : Maka, Panapa, Kon?ene, Herewini, llawiri.J Wounded': Mahau, Chief of Mahoetahi, Timoty Wite Who. Time only can develope the consequences to flow from this renewal of hostilities, and we, therefore, forbear to give any of the many speculations—more or less reasonable—which are naturally rife regarding the future action of the belligerent tribes.