SUMMARY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 175, 7 June 1862, Page 5

SUMMARY

CURRENT EVENTS

TRANSMISSION

M E LBOURNE

WAR AMONGST THE NATIVES NEAIi

AUCKLAND.

RETURN OF SIR GEORGE GREY TO AUCKLAND.

Our last summary for Melbourne readers was published on the 3rd inst, tor transmission by the Aldinga, and we have,therefore, but a brief period of "current history" to chronicle. This period, although brief, has, however, been not uneventful, the principal interest being; however, in the Northern Island of New Zealand.

By the White Swim, which arrived from the North on the 3rd., we received intelligence of a very important, not to say alarming nature. It appears that an old land feud between two sections of the Ngapuhi, a warlike tribe in the Northern part of the province of Auckland, has broken out into actual warfare. The facts are these : As long ago »3 1856, one Matin, a chief of the Ngapubi tribe, Bet up a claim to certain lands in the possession of another chief named Tirarau. This claim lias been allowed to stand ever since as a source of enmity, notwithstanding the frequent elibrts of the European authorities to briug the matter to an amicable settlement, but until just lately there has been uo actual fighting between the parties. At length about a month ago, Matin sent word to Tirarau that he intended to come down to snrvey his land. Tirarau's reply was a. polite intimation that ho would shoot the first man who attempted to do anything of the kind. Matiu, nothing daunted, made his appearance in force with a body of about 200 fighting men, and erected a pab. Tirursu put up a few sticks about his place, and the two " parties sat facing- each other. Tirarau then drew a line/and by a tacit agreement between the opponents it was settled that the crossing of this line by either'party should be taken as a declaration of war. At length, on the 16th May, one of Matiu's party crossed the line, and was at once shot ■by a member qf Tirarau's Jtbrce. This brought on an engagement, in which Matiu lost five men, besides a number wounded, and Tirarau, although having none of his men killed, had three wounded. After this fight the belligerents waited for reinforcements, and by the latest accounts, natives from other tribes were hastening to the battle ground to take side with one or other party. Our special correspondent in Auckland, writing under date of May ' 24th, remarks :—" Since then, reinforcements are joining the belligerents on both sides, and it is impossible to say how the affair will end. Tirarau's people, having Wangarei Harbor as their base of operations, and a fair road to convey supplies on horses, have a great advantage over the northern natives, who are a long distance from their own cultivations. On the other hand, the Bay of Islanders are likely to be supported in larger numbers thaa Tirarau, who may get the worst of it, and retreat on the English settlement at Wangarei, which is rapidly growing into great importance. If this should unhappily take place, the settlers may become involved, just as the Taranaki settlers were, by the desperate and bloody feuds between William King and Ihaia ; and their peaceable cultivations may be invaded, and natives massacred under their eyes, as happened in the case of Katatore on the Bell Block, at Taranaki. Tlie absence of Sir George Grey at this moment is keenly felt ; and I should not wondei if he had to return here after all. When battles have taken place between natives in purely nntive districts,aa has so frequently happened, we have been apt to look on with indifference ; but this one is at the very doors of a flourishing English settlement, and it will hardly be possible for the Government to "permit its going on. The Resident Magistrate and a European clergyman, who, with great devotion, tried to stop the shedding of blood, had a narrow escape of their lives, if the native accounts I have heard are to be relied on." Another serious matter is, the report of a great meeting of natives of the Thames and Waikato tribes, besides delegates from other tribes. 1,500 of them met at a place called Kerepehi, on the Piako. The object of the meeting was unknown, it being stated that no Europeans or half castes were to be admitted to the deliberations. The Rangitake, alias William King, was to be present, and was actually on his way to the place of meeting when he was recalled by messengers,who informed him that war had broken out in Tiiranaki. Of this supposed fresK outbreak of war in Taranaki we have no intimation beyond the incidental mention of it in the first notice of the meeting in the Auckland Southern Cross of May 24th, the day the mail steamer left. The Covomandel difficulty is still unsettled. The few diggers who have remained in the neighborhood, being unable to do any good on the land which is open to their operations,continue to cast longing eyes upon " Paul's block," a tract of land variously stated at 40 and 70 square miles, and which the native proprietors have hitherto steadily refused to sell or lease. It is to this land that the hopes of the miners are directed, and if reports may be believed, not without reason, for it is stated in the Auckland papers that the diggers have been making nocturnal incursions on to the reserved land, and that some of them have made rich finds. Our own correspondent to a certain extent corroborates these statements, but says that they must be taken to refer solely to quartz reefs, as no alluvial workings of any value are known to exist. It has long been known that quartz reefs oi some value exist in thc-Coroinantlel peninsula, and it is by no means improbable that the diggers may know where to pitch upon one or more of these, and in their nightly expeditions obtain some valuable quartz specimens, but it is much to be doubted whether anything has positively been found to warrant the extreme anxiety of the Auckland Government to acquire this block and to throw it open to the diggers. Government has offered LIO.OOO for the land, besides all the fees the diggers may pay. This offer w^is made by Mr. Fox, and the Superintendent of Auckland Province, who went io Coromundel for the purpose. It is not clearly str.ted whether this sum of £10,000 was to purchase the land outright, or merely to obtain the right to mine. Whichever way it was intended, it was refused by tlie native proprietors, who number thirty-six persons in all, counting men, women, and children! The matter, therefore, remains in stulu quo. It is, however, reported in some qunrteis that the natives have signified their willingness to treat, hut only with Sir Gco. Grty in pcrEon. Tira, an old chief of the Thames district, had been stnt for, he being in some way conmcted with the proprietorship of the land. It will thus be seen that the affairs in the North Island as regards the natives are in a very uncertain and hazardous condition, and that the prospects of a collision may fairly be deemed imminent. Th» land *t Kaiparo, about

which Matiu and Tirarau are quarrelling, is not far distant from Wangarei, 'and' Tirarau being an old friend of the settlers of that! district, will if defeated by his enemy; naturally^ fall back upon them for succour and protection';'' and thus draw them into a quarrel with tho* I powerful chief of a warlike tribe, who has alliancas; with several important tribes in other districts.! What has still further tended to complicate thisi unfortunate affair, 'has been the fact that one of the newly appointed " Native assessors" has joined Matin's party, alleging in justification of the scandal of a Queen's magistrate mixing himself up iv so lawless a proceeding, that he " has not come to fight about the land, but about old quarrels '." Again, looking at tho fact of Tim, one of the most important" Chiefs in connection with the Coromandel land, (Paul's block,) being resident in tho Thames district, it is hardly possible to help connecting the great native gathering at the Thames with the Coromandel difficulty. If we add to this the report that tha presence of William King at Kcripeki was only prevented by the news of war in Turanaki, it must be acknowledged that there is foundation for the gravest forebodings, and it will not be held to bo matter of surprise that a special steamer should hive been despatched from Auckland to Wellington witlrdespatcb.es urging Sir George Grey to forego his intended trip to Otago, and to repair at once to Auckland. This was done, and Sir George without loss of time started on the return. The next news from the north is anxiously looked for. The health of Sir George Grey had, since his arrival at Wellington, been not at all such as could be -wished, uml our correspondent in that city informed ua th^i it was not at all improbable that 'he iniglic have delayed his trip southward until after the meeting of the Assembly, even if nothing else had occurred to alter his plans. The people of Otago have therefore the consolation, if consolation it be, of knowing that their disappointment might have occurred all the same if the natives had been quiet, and all plain sailing in Auckland. As already stated, tfc have but little in the way of purely local news, but such as there is we will now proceed to detail. From the new Hiyhlay diggings the intelligence is" of cold and snow, of little work, but much hope. In our issue of June 4th, we published a lengthy and detailed account of the diggings and the road, furnished by a gentleman of | our own staff, specially despatched to the spot I to see report. lie tells us that about 200 diggers were at the Highlay at the time of his j visit, that the quartz working could hardly be (. said to be commenced, that in Timbrell's gully a ' few parties were sluicing notwithstanding the in- 5 clemency of the weather, but that the majority li of the diggers had shifted to a place known as <! Deep Dell, which, being lower down in the range,' a was not so cold and miserable as Timbrell's. ti There was a fine stream of water flowing through *' Deep Dell, and the Unicers seemed to be doing ], tolerably well in spite m the bad weather and the b loss of time in obtaining firewood. Oar reporter 1> had 1 Ooz. of gold offered to him by one party at £ Timbrell's, and he wa3 also offered some at Deep U Sefll ~ The gold at TiiabriU's was angular, and * as if freshly beaten out of quartz ; and that at ™ Deep Dell, vrater worn. He saw other quartz Bj reefs besides that on which claims had been taken y> up; one four feet thick; and his general impression of the auriferous capabilities of the country a was decidedly favorable, although it is exceed- si ingly undesirable that there should be auy rush *j before the spring. . '1 The wintry weather has not only checked the c opening out of the Highlay diggings, but has n also had a very unpropitious effect upon the v yield of those already established. The last es- 0 cort wa3 only 3201 ozs. 10 dwts. This falling ofF k is not, however, viewed with any a.larm, for it is t well understood, and is, indeed, less than was ° anticipated. v Some attention has been excited within the last ~ day or two by the exhibition in Dunedin of two ti very handsome specimens of auriferous quartz,, *> containing, it is said, twenty ounces of gold. A \ mystery is made of the locality where they have n been obtained. A report has been published of the proceedings s of a Government prospecting party that has been trying the country in tho vicinity of the Mataura 0 River. They had been out in that district for V ten days when the report was written, and had found gold wherever they had prospected, al- 0 though nothing " payable." They were, how- \> ercr, sanguine of being able to trace it by following thu lay of the country, and expected to find & something richer, as all tha creeks flowing into I) the Mataura appeared i 0 ba auriferous. The roads to the gold fields are just now in a ti sad mess, the rain having coma upon them be- " fore they were metalled throughout, and in many £ places they are very soft and difficult to travel on. A On Thursday the escort waggon got stuck more *j thau once, and on the 01 her side of the Taieri r , fresh horses had to be procured to drag it out. .« But, although the roads are bad, and although p there is a good deal of raiu and some snow, the V winter cannot he called sO7ere ; for warm sunny ' D days are frequent, and on these one has only to c get out of the miry town, or off the deeply cut up l roads, to really enjoy exigence. v The corner stcne of the New Episcopal v Church was laid on Tuesday by the Bishop of b Christchureh. Up to tho present time the services of tiie Church of England have been held in a ternporary wooden building, bnt soon that will be left h I for a handsome stone structure. The Presbyterians i also we building a costly stone church. The Provincial Council met again on the 4th, for the special purpose, air was understood, of v passing a Building Ordinance. This has now q passed, and the Council again stands adjourned to l the 18th instant. t Resolutions on the euhject of the Separation of J; the Middle from the Northern Island were intro- t duced at the meeting of the Council, but as it was t represented that the retointions would have more * weight if carried in f:il Council, and after the a fullest notice, they we-- withdrawn for the time, [, but will most probably I ■• brought up again at the I next meeting. .. ~ The Dunedin Athenroum is at length opened * for its legitimate objects. There is a good supply ( of periodicals, but tho library is ns yet very « small. " The Provincial Government, alive to the neces- * sity of providing for a more regular «nd complete t steam communication between Dunedin and the 1 various ports on the coast, is now advertising for j tenders from parties willing to undertake the various , services required. ' It was stated in the Provincial Council the ( other evening that the GoTernmett was engaged j in negotiations for a Btef.m postal service between j Melbourne and Dunediw, to be carried on at the ( sole expense of this Province, ;as before proposed, 1 and to commence on the expiration of tho contract } «ntered into by Mr. CvobYm Word. 1