LATER FROM THE NORTH.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Volume II, Issue 88, 2 March 1864, Page 6

LATER FROM THE NORTH.

THE ENGAGEMENT AT WAIAU. FURTHER PARTICULARS. Intelligence has just been received here that the 50th Regiment and the Forest Rangers have had a brush with the natives on the 11th. lhe following are the particulars of the case as far as I can learn :—The soldiers are in the habit of going to bathe, and the natives knowing this, have been prowling about in canoes. An ambuscade was laid to entrap the natives, which proved entirely successful. A small party of soldiers went down to the river, swinging their towels about their heads so as to show the enemy that they had no rifles with them ; the main body of troops kept out of sight. The natives seeing our men going into the river fired on them, killing four of the 14th Kegiment. The Fcrest Kangers and the gallant 50th did their woik well, as sixteen bodies of the enemy were brought into the camp that evening, and eight more this morninir, making in all twenty-four of the enemy killed, and eleven or twelve wounded. This ambush has been so well managed that it will make our Maori friends more cartful.— Wellington Advertiser.

AUCKLAND.

February 13.—Although no attack has yet been made upon the rebel position, the past week has been both an eventful and a serious one. The General, as your readers are aware, has between three and tour thousand men, and a vast quantity of cattle, whose commissariat sup?lies are mainly dependent upon the river traffic, 'oitunately, previous to the last advance from Whata Whata, and while fewer mouths were in the advanced camp, General Cameron had massed a large store of provisions as a stand by, and it is fortunate that he did so. The Pioneer has some time since broken down ; and the A\on is a total wreck, having been more than once fouled upon snogs and repaired. She now lies with her stern ten feet below the surface of the water, and with her bows in the air, and it is said that it will be necessary to blow her to pieces to clear the channel of the river. On Thursday the alarming intelligence spread like wild fire through the town that the steamer Koheroa, whose trial trip had been so successful only the day before, had ruu upon a sand bank and broken her back, thus cutting off the General's last resource. The feeling of depression experienced in town for two or three hours, was similar to what might have been expected to have occurred had the news of a serious defeat reached Auckland. The work of the whole season seemed prostrated at a blow. Towards evening, however, a telegram was received from the Hon. Thos. Russell, the War Minister, then at the Waikato Heads, to the effect that, though the Koheroa had been most carelessly run upon a sand bank and much strained, yet that only two or three of her plates were broken, and that she might be got into serviceable order in less than two days. It is to be hoped that she may be able to supply the loss of the Avon and Pioneer; but the state of the river now is such that at any moment she too may become the victim of a snag, and be rendered useless. The commissariat store of provisions was said to be fast melting away, and the men are already on short rations. As to the war being over in a few weeks there is no chance of that. Paterangi will be another Mere Mere. The General surrounds them on one the side. The fact is, the Maoris can come and go as they please. They have, it is said, a still stronger position some five miles further on to fait back upon when they choose to give up the one they now hold. It would not be possible to prevent them from leaving Paterangi, and then all our work, delay, and expense must be undergone before some new fort, —a game at hide and seek carried on in a lumbered up room, which has the ocean for its walls. To bring the war to a successful termination will require twice or thrice the number of men we now have —trill never, in fact, be accomplished until the military settlement scheme of the Whittaker Ministry is carried out, and the soldiers are left free to advance while the military settlers occupy and hold the posts behind them. Meanwhile, that our army is sitting down before Paterangi, our soldiers are being ingloriously popped off by a crafty and energetic foe. A few days since, some Maories were seen in a peach grove down the river. They said they were friendly—made great professions, and entirely palavered the forest rangers who tell in with them. A few hours afterwards, these fellows waylaid and shot two of a party of soldiers who crossed the river just below to get potatoes. The soldiers they shot were unarmed—the forest rangers they met in the peach grove and were so civil to, were armed to the teeth ; hence the different garb assumed by these wretches. Another escort was fired upon near Drury, this week, but no shot took effect. The Kaipara affair has terminated in the acquittal of the prisoner Henley, and the committal of Abbotts, who will, of course, be tried in March next. The fact that these Natives had been wantonly fired upon by Europeans in this peaceful district has spread like wild fire amongst the Northern tribes, and a feeling of great want of confidence in the good faith of the Pakehas has been created. At Kaipara, Maories will not travel singly, but go in twos and threes, and large parties, for the sake of security. What might have been a very serious affair took place at Albert Land last week. A Native went into a settler's house, and, as is usual, commenced pulling things about, looking first at this and then at that. The settler did not like this impertinent curiosity, and turned him out. The Maori then drew a knife, and, working himself

up into a passion, challenged the settler to tight. At this moment, the wife of a storekeeper came up, and, taking the Native by the shoulder, asked him if he was not ashamed of himself. He then threw down the knife abashed, and offered to make any reparation in his power. The Governor has just returned from a visit to head-quarters. His baggage escort was stopped on the road, flred on, and one of the drivers wounded. Coroinandel is looking up again. One hundred and fifty-six ounces of cleaned gold has been taken out of the reef in No. 5 claim ; and in No. 4 they have taken 400 lbs. of rich stone, estimated to contain 500 ounces, and were stiil taking the same sort of specimens out of the reef when the vessel which brought the news left Coromandel.—Correspondent Daily Telegraph.