AUCKLAND.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 79, 7 August 1863, Page 3

AUCKLAND.

(Eromour>wn Correspondent.) j ,,„ ■■: Owin<j to thesM^^of my tim^ and' the great atnount^f. wbrkSeiitdiied ; upon every <mo,in -this; Provuibe atpsent'by -fteirtate of affairs, I have only tiine'by this mdl to: send you a few Beads of news which may possess some ■interest for your-; ■elves. War is going on here, and ta**?"^ like way I am truly happy to be able to say. General is all that the colony con .de«te, and had hebut aforceof 1500 men to be used freejy as a &a at war for«ac t ly ; a fortnigh^and in so short atimeifciktrulysurprising bow much hds been donb: Thi country is in "ms; not leis than 1500 settlers are'bearing arms at this moment, of whom fully athousaml are volunteers,, cavalry aad nfantry About one' thousand are militia men of ,he first class and, two^'thousand militia of the Ijond class. There 'biiro been already four enraLneuts of some consequence, and I ou£ht to uiy there have been not less than sis barbarous Murders committed by the Maories upon harmless m d unarmed settlors. The affair at Kirikiri, on fe Waikato, conducted by tho General in person, rtS the most important victory yet gained in a far Zealand war, hot less than about one .undred Maories being known to be killed, among .horn are soveral men of. note amonff the Wai■atos ono being uncle to the king. Oa the same lay a'very well planned and conducted ambush was aid for a convoy going down from the front, where he military road passes through a forest for ton files of its length. The road is just two chains P ide and about three hundred natives opened a orrific fire suddenly from all sides upon Captain Gn-'s party of the 18th regiment, who were only ft/stronsr, and wore encumbered with waggons mcl storos. The fight was, us may bo supposed, a cry fierce one, but by a free use of the bayonet rhen pressed hard upon by overpowering numbers, nd by the constancy of the men tho gallant capdn succ-eded in bringing off bis whole force with , loss of four killed and ton wounded. I neglected o mention that in the General's storming the ifle pita at Koheroa, held by four hundred Maories, as loss was only one killed and eleven wounded ien,— one of whom, however, has I believe since ied. For tho last three clays there has been Iraost uninterrupted fighting in tho bush, bout twenty miles from Auckland, near lie villages of Papahum and Dmry on tho great DUth road. Tue forest which skirts the settled istricts at ttiat place, and into which civilization as of late made manyjlinroads, has been occupied y the natives, who, have round Auckland reused to take thejoath of allegiance, and to render p their arras at tho call of Government. These ien, to the number of at least -WO, have been ommitting inhuman murders upon each opportuity, and it is now the desire of General Cameron, nd the intention of the colonists to get them out f their present strong hold . The fighting in this west, has, as I have said, been pretty continuous ar the last three (lays, but although we always et the better of ihe Maories when we meet them, ill our sttength is not enough to surround them ml therefore I fear we shall be reduced to the ninful system of peaceiueal destruction of the [aories. If necessary, this will be done. The ttm* hen cannot be treated as at Taranaki, and will not be for want of fighting, if the wnr lingers a many months. The Government is essentially weak one, yet, I believe so far as it knows, it lenns well. This is not- saying very much, lor it, ut it's miserable vaccilat ion will got allow me to leak more warmly in its favor. It would acmlly have armed every Jlaovi who came to it ith words of poace in their mouth, had it not sen for the volunteeers of this citv, who at the :stsi o 'ns of such a course, laid down their arms itil, -cowed, the Ministers withdrew the arms dually put into the hands of as rascally a lot of !aorios us ever it was my painful late to behold. r e louk for the troops now from Australia and cismunia, almost at once ; and also for the Gqsrnment Waikato 6teamer, which has been built Syuney. I hope sho will prove suitable lor the ork, as such a steamer will be of vast assistance to le Gcaeral in his proposed invasion of Waikato, his struggle is, of course, only begun, but it will s conducted with a vigor such as will ensuro it ing the last. The blood of every man iu this >pulous Province is fairly up, and, happily, we tve a Commander who knows how to make the ost of such a spirit. Not- much ot the cultivated untry will, I believe, be destroyed, as the settlers ill, when fully embodied, be quite sufficient to oteet the open country, extending about twenty iles round Auckland on every side. The struggle ill, of course, entail much suffering, but as the overmncnt have promised to confiscate tho land Wakati, doubtless it will be for the best for the •ovince before long, as we shall not then be amped in our efforts at expansion.