IMPORTANT NEWS FROM THE SEAT OF WAR. 103 OFFICERS AND MEN KILLED AND WOUNDED. REPULSE AT TAURANGA.

North Otago Times, Volume 1, Issue 13, 19 May 1864, Page 1 (Supplement)

IMPORTANT NEWS FROM THE SEAT OF WAR. 103 OFFICERS AND MEN KILLED AND WOUNDED. REPULSE AT TAURANGA.

By the arrival of the Otago, we are in possession of files from Auckland to the 2nd inst. The " Herald" of that date has the following : — The intelligence of another dearlybought victory reached town yesterday morning, in which our troops have lost as many men as at Rangiriri, and again the enemy have escaped under darkness of the night, and, as far as is yet known, their loss has been inconsiderable when compared with our own. The pah against which our troops made an attack on the afternoon of the 29 th ult., is known by the name of the Gate Pah, arid is considered by competent judges to have been superior as a fortification even to that of Rangiriri. Like that stronghold, it seems that the real danger to the attacking party was not experienced until they were within the breach. Led on by their respective officers, the storming party rushed the Maori entrenchment with a gallant cheer, and showed great daring and spirit; but suddenly a panic seized upon them, and they fell back, leaving their officers to fight it out, as the long list of casualties among them too sadly shows. The 43rd Regiment alone lost foilr captains, and the gallant Colonel Booth, who is severely wounded in the back and arm, and other wounded officers and men, were left beside the dead, within the fortifications when our men retreated. From Colonel Booth the natives took his watch and a few other things, but they did not ill-treat him — indeed, none of the wounded men v» ho were left in the pah were ill-used by the Maoris. Colonel Booth was brought in next morning, after the evacuation of the pah by the Maoris, alive, but very badly hit. After the repulse, a cordon was drawn round the pah to prevent, if possible, the retreat of the enemy during the night ; the 68th Regiment formed a semi-circle about ifc, small parties being posted at intervals, j During the latter part of the night, how- j ever, the enemy made good their retreat, losing in their escape, it is supposed, some 30 or 40 men by the fire of the 68th pickets. These, with some 40 dead bodies found in the pah after our men took possession of it m the morning, constitute the whole Maori loss as at present known. It appears that the engineering talent of the Maoris is becoming still fnrther developed, and that this pah, in many points, is even more strongly and scientifically constructed than those which have already excited the wonder and admiration of our best engineers. In the present case, instead of the ditch which at Rangiriri, when onee carried, afforded cover and shelter to our men, a pallisading was used, and proved a far more deadly obstacle. The gallantry and bravery of the officers engaged, who, when left by their men, refused to leave the ground, and stood resolutely at bay, endeavouring to counteract the panic which had seized upon the troops, is beyond all praise. One officer — Lieutenant Glover — was wounded while carrying off the body of his brother, Captain Glover, who had been killed. We had hoped, with the experience gained from the loss of life incurred in the rush made upon Rangiriri, and only lately at Orakau, that these Maori positions, so strongly and scientifically built, would have been in future met, not by brute force, but by the application of superior science, and by all those means which the study of the art of war, and the possession of every necessary material, give us over such enemies as the Maoris. At Orakau, the chief Iosb occurred in the rush which was made uppn th,e position before a resort was had to the less dangerous use of the sap ; and in this present engagement at the Gate Pah, had not the Maoris evacuated it during the night, resort must have been had to the sap, or the risk of repulse and fearful loss have been again incurred. Col. Bastow, with head-quarters of 1st Batt. of Artillery, and the rest of the Defence Force, proceed to Tauranga this day in the Alexandra, taking with them two 10-inch mortars, two 32-lb. howitzers, and a large quantity of ammunition A detachment of the Royal Artillery, I. Battery, under the command of Lieutenant Toogood, arrived in town yesterday, from Drury, and also proceed to Tauranga. We regret to say that very little hopes are entertained of the recovery of Colonel

Booth. Half-an-hour before the Alexandra left Tauranga, paralysis had set in, and the principal wound, as our readers will see, is a spinal one.