OTAGO.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 4, 22 May 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

OTA GO .

MURDERS BY THE NATIVES IN THE L NORTH.

TWO OFFICERS AND SIX SOLDIERS KILLED. INQUEST ON TUB MURDERED MEN ALL EUROPEANS ORDERED TO LEAVE WAIKATI. ("FROM OUll OWN CORRESPONDENT. J DUNEDIN. Saturday, 16th May. The news from Taranaki detailing the lavngo massacre of six men and two offi;ers, has created a profound sensation in but midst. Nothing else is talked of, and when an ''extraordinary" of the Provincial Government Gazelle was issued on Saturday nfternoon in Dnnedin, in which Governor Grey's offer of 50 acres of land ivitii one acre at the site of the aliases, public excitement became ntenBe. War may be said to be >roclaimed, and a most bloody one it vill l>e i fear. The indignation of the vhole population will not he allayed until nil retribution has fol'owed on the terri>!e massacre, and they can feel well a^ nred the like will never occur again. Nl loubt, news has rrnch you in sonM hapo, but I cannot do better than recapitß ate from the most authentic sources tfl ullest particulars which have occurrß roni the commencement of the niassaA own to the time when the latest intelfl ence came to hand. I On Saturday the following letter wfl cceived bythe Superintendent of Otago :-■ <l New Plymouth, 1 " 10th May, 1063. I Sir,— The (lovernment has determine! d take possession of the block of land be! ween Omati and Tataraimaka in this] •rovince, upon which the lite murders fere committed, in order that a settlement my lia pl.iee'l thereon of persons able to rotect themselves. "The intention i 3 to give each settler fly acres of l,»nd, with one acre at the te of each of the villas, on the conition that they shall hold the land i a system of military tenure. " Much of the land to be allotted is of very fine quality, corresponding land at; ataraimnkn, which is further from the iwn of New Plymouth, having been ought hv settlers before the war at from sto Ll O per acre. " It has nceurrred to Government that lere might lie many active youns men at ta»o qualified to form such a settlement ho would hewillins to become settlors on jp above conditions of military tenure id free "rants of land. " Your Honor would oblige me by giving ie your opinion on this point by return of ost, the object heing'to place the men on ie lnnd with the least possible delay. "Further particulars will be sent ext mail. I will only add now that GoBrnment will undertake to have a stockade r stockades built for them, mid find them uns, ammunition, and with necessary' itions. •' I have the honor to he, Sir, '■ Your most obedient servant, "ALFRED DOMETT. "You will perceive by this that Sir eoT»e Grey has taken a powerful initiave by confiscating all the land between mata~ ami Talaraimaka. Whether the tagonians or you Sonthbinders will come >rwar<l in numbers is, I think, very doubtil. Most people prefer gold getting, or (Mowing the peaceful pursuits of trade, to inning the chance of being scalped or >mnhawktd. The following exceedingly iteresting and truthful account (in the >mi of n diary) is from the TaranaH hr&ld. I send it without curtailment, as kely to interest your readers, and placing lem «n rapport with all that has occurred. The following is from the Taranaki (ecald's JoHrnal of Kvents : — Monday 4th May, 1803.— This day will eas lon* remembered as Tuesday, the 7th March, IS(?O, when five of our settlers 'ere shot down and tomahawked while eacpsibly following their several vocations n the Oninta road. To-day we have to hronicle the murder of eight more of our ellow-countrymen under circumstances as omble as those which attended the death f Messrs. Ford, 8h iw, Passmore, and two itrle boys. At about ten o'clock this noming the inhabitants of New Plymouth vere thrown into a state of great excitenent by the arrival in town of Ropata tfgaron!;omafa from Poutoko, wilh the ntelligence that the naiives had attacked i party of the 57th Regiment on their way to town from Tataraimaka. The GenevfiJ, who was en feis way to Poutoko, with Coionel Warre. and who met Ropnta, hasceneel on, and was soon after followed by the Governor, and his Excellency had jiot long left town when his A.D.C. Capt. Bulkeley, galloped buck to announce to \\w Colonial Secretary that several sol<litrs had been shot. The excitement of the towns people 1 reached Us height, when coßlrrmatory tidings cime to town by more than one horseman, on reeking hovses that no less than six men anil two olficeis had been waylaid and shot down by an ambuscade of natives on the beach near Wairau, between the Oakuva River and the Tataraimaka block, exactly in the same place as >that occupied by the central party we mentioned last w«ek. Some time elapsed before particulars of the murder reached town, and w<* gathered the following, which we believe to be reliable :— A party of the Commissariat Transport Corps, with two drays aud two bullocks, with supplies, were on their way to Tataraimaka, and having crossed the Oakura River heard the teport of a volley of small arms, and saw the smoke of the pieces some half a mile before them. They saw that a party of soldiers and two horsemen (who proved to be officers) were attacked, and some of them fell, when they immediately abandoned their carts and" hastened back to the Poutoko and gave information of what they had seen. Captain Short, with a party of 30 men only from the Kedoubt at •Wtoko, were the first to arrive on the spot, "»•--* dvprtty afterwards by Co 1 Warw, and it wR .J-, oumfß , to gather the bodies or the fo|] flw iug officers and men, savagely n»»*le Wt ) .__ Assiatant-Surgeon W.a Ho p c) jn.u, Lieut. T.H. TMgett,S7t b^. Colof-Segeant Samuel Mer*,^ R e gt. Sergeant Samuel Hill f) Private Edward Kelly .» '••' „ JolmFlynn .» Bartholomew Macarthy « " William Banks '

They J^^^^l duty, to^^^^^^H ment's^^^^^^H bly "^^^^^H of th^^^^^H hadj^^^^H and die °'^^^^^H head. Mr Tra^^^^^H but Or H^^^H brutal nssa^^^^^H all were S^^^^^^H those whu^^^^^H at once do^^^^^^| its snear flic Nort^^^H horse wa^^^^^H broken natives ye.^terda'^^^^^^H injr foun^^^^^^| maka h?^^^^^^| spite °^^^^^^^^^| and liav^^^^^^H the trib^^^^^H determi^^^^^H deavor '^^^^^H It is sa^^^^^H natives kokuru, them, families town to are movi^^^^^H white po^^^^^f of blockj^^^^^^f Wedne^^^^^H ten o do^^^^^| paraded by Major-^^^^H them &b fo^^^^H gether to-d^^^^H lication in 'l^^^l I feel quite soldiers and number of mo^^| houses and E^/^^| vere ; bu^n m .?PVe lessenec^H will wantsome^B attend parades you may becom^B There was a go^H Volunteers. an ° l^| served out t°t^B with them. Tj^l ing been told o^H Nonewsfrona 'H 1 1* -.i --»»(. annl fixed (no dors* ~^ 1 the murderr men]