MORE REBEL OUTRAGES.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 97, 5 October 1863, Page 3

MORE REBEL OUTRAGES.

EREE SOLDIERS KILLED AN© SEVEN WOUNDED. (TWELVE MAORIS KILLED. M the Correspondent of the Daily Times/) . ; i -23rd September. ■belong promised attack by the rebels Be Jine of redoubts at the front lias at H| carried out, and very fortunately B^W their great loss and detriment. Ib ■ mat/er of grent difficulty to tell what the ■of tfie enemy may have been whilst enled hi any action against our troops. The Kck o|i the Pukekohe stockade appears to Bcbudn of a much more serious character la I gave it credit for in my last letter to; . The rebels came upon the settlers quite j spectedly, in. fact, whilst engaged cook- ! their breakfast, and she nrst intimation had of the near vicinity of the Maoris •by the firing of a volley. The men ied into the stockade (none being fortu:ly injured) the natives firing upon them hey ran, and following close upon their s, surrounded the place, appaTently bent airing it by storm. The settlers manfully nded themselves for the space of about hours, having the disadvantage of an nished stockade, with walls so low that phad to kpep in a stooping position ; while natives, sheltered by stumps, fired velley r volley upon them. The walls of the cell was riddled with, balls. It was while Datives were thus held at bay that Messrs Be and Dal ton rode up within a quarter miie of the scene of action, and, seeing Kate of matters, immediatety galloped for reinforcements. Captain "Saltmarsh Lieut.'Grieson, with twenty-five men of 70th, at once marched to the scene of mi, ana got into the stockade. In the litime, Captain Moir, -with his tvrentyMilitia Volunteers, was busy, some couple liles away, -getting up ammunition. The being so bad the dray become embedded ie mud several times, and once oi twice as capsvzed, About an hour afterwards, tinman, with a detachment of the 18th, Lieut. Tabuteau, with a detachment of the tovertook Capt. Moir, sind accompanied by |. Hay, 3rd battalion of Auckland Militia, pi on to reinforce our troop. On their there, they saw twenty Maories at Mr Tie's home. Some were seated on the md and others were engaged in setting to the house. On seeing the party apch they immediately made off. On ring at the scene of action Captain Inman the command, and placing his men in tal position, he gave orders to open fire on enemy. The firing must have told with t effect for the rebels commenced to eat into a deep gully, still, however, ing behind the stumps, and firing as they fated. After.four men had charged down Mil, they fell back; and taking up position md logs and stumps, they opened fire upon fge number of natives who had taken iession of Mr Easton's bouse and shed, tot'from the Stockade not more than 200 Is, Captain Moir having in the meantime red with his men," placed them along the I) and Lieut. Kait and Mr Anderson, V.S., Keded to Mr Burtt's house witfi a' party *out 20 of the artillery, with the view of tog off the retreat of the rebels, but failed «• so. Tlie Maories made their way to the on which Mr Macdonald's house is built, they appeared to muster to the BW of about J2OO. The casualties on our •were one of tlie 65th (Mackay), and two |fte 70th f'Turley and Burdett), killed. R1 ' Saltmarsh and five privates were |?%1. The loss of the rebels has been so Stained to be twelve. Five stands of ''and a cartridge-box were taken from the eis. taing the time the stockade was being *ked, firing was also heard in the direction ? r Burtt's house, about three miles off. 'house, it appears, was in the occupation w Watson and his family—the family Ming of Mrs .Watson,, Miss Watson, a fc. and three sons, the oldest about 18. 'Utson employed two- men, Knight and rein. The men were all supplied with Pi in case of attack. Watson, Knight. i a son were engaged fencing. Maclean 1 lie eldest son were ploughing near a Nailed the Bluff. ' Tlie'natives apfrom the Pukekohe side, and it is W they first fired on Watson's party, ls ')ot one of'his sons. The boy ran Mistance and then fel' '•' The father 'bother son to run to Drury for assist-- }• Watson and Knight fired for some time '"fte rebels,' and afterwards made their f.'tross to 1 Hamilton's ■""... In the meantime Jutland John Watson, who were armed ** rifle and pistol, hearing the firing,

i made for the house, and; fp^d tue rebels all. about it. , They fireil their; rifles, and- the? rebels pnrsued them. Maclean 'and the boy got '• separated, and the : latter^takingoff; his, boots, ran for his life, and reached Drury in sft^jfe"' Q n his way he saw his 'little brpther Wimara, whom the father had dispatched to Drury ahead, and the little fellow, happeningv to look, behind him, .saw what he supposed to be a Maori in pursuit of him: 1 Of course he did his best to escape. To his joy it was, his, brother, and they, came on to Drury together, with the news.- 'Mr James Hamilton's house is -distant - a little -' way ~ from Watson's. : Hearing the volleys, he and his man immediately hastened, overhand. came up in the rear of the natives. Hiding thentselyes behind a hedge, they saw one old fellbw, almost naked, amongst the rest, in great excitement, -dapping his haunches, and exclaiming, in. a continuous strain, ."Pakaru the .pakeha^ pakaru the pakeha." Mr Hamilton and his man opened fire upon them, and for some time kept it up, and also firing off his revolver, the rsbels imagined there was a large force behind them, so they retreated. There is no doubt this was the means of saving Mrs Watson and hr daughters,' who were in. the house the whole of this time. Some time after the troops arrived, and having found the body of the boy Robert — the boy who was shot in the evening — the 'family were removed to Drury. The body of Maclean was found on Friday last. He had been shot, but not tomahawked. The natives showed themselves in the Wairoa district on the morning of <tke 17 th, and in accordance with their usual mode of commencing an attack, fired at the settlers ; who might be met with at work on their, farms. Several near escapes are narrated- j After these manifestations of the presence of ; the rebels, the settlers in the neighborhood . made their best way to the stockade, and, although the cowardly wretches fired their leaden messages like hail, they failed to do any injury to the pursued. Firing was then commenced from the stockade by the Auckland and Weiroa rifles, and from the militaiy redoubt. The desire was evidently to draw the men out of the stockade, and then to make a rush. In this, however, -they were disappointed. During the succeeding days the Maories bnsied themselves in visiting and ransacking all the settlers houses in the neighborhood, ] and although continually harrassed by scour- { ing parties of the rifles, they managad to carry away a considerable amount of property, and at the same time, commit most wanton destruction of all that could not be convenieatly moved. Three Maories are said to have been killed, and many others must have been wounded. Not a settler or volunteer was wounded. A private of the 12th Regiment, named Marsh, has been wounded in a tussel, single handed, with a native on the night of the 10th, at Whangamarino. Marsh was one of the three singie sentries placed on the spur of the light redoubt towards the WhanganiariHo. Colonel Nixon lias accepted the command offered to him by General Cameron, of the district lying between the south road and Waiuka, and the services of a " flying column" are to be put in requisition to clear the bush of all mauraders. While I was at the Whangamarino, the enemy stole up from the MeFe Mere works, along the scrub and flax cover, and opened fire en the 14th working party in the bush, close to the Whangamarino stream. Tkey fired ten or a dozen shots, fortunately withont. effect. One of their bullets must have been fired almost vertically, passed over the tents of the 14th camp, on the northern dip of tlis blui-F, and fell in the gully beyond. The fire was almost instantly returned by a portion of (lie troops, | and the men were got under arms to repel any attack, if necessary. An Armstrong gun Was quickly wheeled into position, and a shell discharged, which burst in the place, where it was reported the natives had taken cover after fir-ing on the Avorking party. About a dozen of the enemy had been seen retreating from the near swamp to £he fern. This w-as their first appearance at Mere Mere in a hostile attitude for a fortnight. They are observed coming back to their lines, but do not show themselves as formerly. I suppose they ni-ustered courage to come down and have a shot at the water-guard, on observing a bullock team leaving the position for Kohero, in the belief that the Armstrong guns had been taken away. If so, they must have been greatly chargincd at their miscalculation News has been received from Hokianga by a private letter, dated 7th instant. A la-ge meeting of natives was to take place on the 9th, at Waima. Arr.ma had prepared a'large house 95 by 30, and a discussion was to be held to settle the boundaries of their land ; after that, they were to liave something to say about the state of the country. The convict Hori, sentenced to death at the last sitting of the Supreme Court at Taranaki for the murder of Europeans, and who afterwards had his sentence commuted to penal servitude for life, Avas brought up from Taranaki in the Airedale, and has been since confined at the Mount Eden Stockade. .Five Maori prisoners were also brought from Nelson charged with endeavoring to incite others to rebel at Massacre Bay. Five vessels conveying further reinforcements of troops and volunteer military settlers have arrived since my last communication, and others are daily expected. The Annie Wilson, companion Nonconformist vessel with theTyburnia, has arrived, and brings 310 passengers and a general cargo. No fresh cases of small-pox have broken out on the Tyburnia. The body of Captain Swift (who was killed in the attack at Tua Kau) was brought into town on the 12th ; and the funeral took place with military honors on the succeeding Sunday. His Excellency the Governor attended, likewise the members of the Executive, leading citizens, regular troops, blue jackets, volunteers and militia. The entire proceedings would have been far more imposing had it not been for the extremely wet and boisterous nature of the weather. The following is a copy of an extra, now being issued by the Dally Southern Neios : — A SOLDI&K MURDERED AT THE FRO^T. Queen's Redoubt, Tuesday, 22nd Sept. This day about noon, a Lance-Corporal of the 14th regiment, Charles Livingstone, was murdered by an ambush of natives at the flax hill, on the Koherohe range. He was going alone from Koherohe to Whangamarino, ' when lie was tired on by an ambush of about 100 men, who were lying in cover of the flax, and shot dead. Eour bullets entered his body. The ruffians ran off towards Paparata, from whence they must have come down last night to lay the ambush. They allowed Livingstone to pass unmolested on his way down in the morning, and I presume they were waiting for the small escort of four men, which usually passed each day between the camps. An order had been in force for some time, prohibiting the passage ot single men along the Koheroe ridge The firing was heard at both camps, and a party was despatched from Koheroe and VVangamarino. The murderers were seen running off. but they were out of range. THIS WAIMAKARIRI. (From the Press.) We are sorry to learn that the Waimakariri still continues to encroach on the farms on Kaiapoi Isiand with, alaiming rapidity. The river has not risen more than 12 or 14 inches j and yet several hundred acres are under water, and the rapidity of the stream along I the ditches is such as to threaten a clear breach being made right through the Island. The wind yesterday was N. W. Another such day, and a fresh may be expected to come down. The destruction will then be irreparable. We have yet to learn that any one from the Engineers department has visited the scene of this disaster. |