LATEST PROM THE NORTH.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 25, 4 January 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

LATEST PROM THE NORTH.

CArTAIN JACKSON'S EXFBI>ITIbM.----^rjtt PARTICULARS. (From tbe Correspondent of New Zealand Herald, Dec. .16.) News here, there is little or none save the, at present, all exciting affair of the Forest Rangers in the; Wairoa district. F-MJj|ng had ; a long ;withOriS'ot the heroes of that expedition, an old acquaintance, I am able to give you the fullest particulars bf the a ffair, and your readers may at the same time rely on their correctness. On Friday last, then, the 1 lth, Captain Jackson, with a subaltern and 26. privates and non-commissioned officers, proceeded a little after noon in the direction of the Wairoa river. That evening, at about half- past six the party-reached the Hunua river, where they camped for the night, and starting again at halfpast'£ 7in the morning reached the "Wairoa river in something less than two hours. Here, for the first' time, they struck native tracks, and the excitement of the chase began. The tracks •were evidently quite fresh, and the men pushed on smartly. After traversing tome miles of awkward ground, and never losing the trail which they had once found, Jackson's party arrived about half-past 10 a.m; at a spot which had evidently been -used as a camping ground, for/one of the fires still contained live embers. Carefully examining the spot, the little band came to the conclusion that the Maories who had rested, there could not have been less in number than from thirty to forty, and pushing vigorously on upon the trail m the momentary expectation of coming up i with the party, they came again that j afternoon by about 5 o'clock, upon a j second camping ground, evidently more I lately used, 'for aU the fires, five in i •number, were hot; The men were tired after twelve hours' tramp, and the temptation for them to camp was great, but Captain "Jackson and his men were determined not to lose „ the advantage of a forcedmarch, and pushed on until nearly: sundown. Unfortunately, however, the ; trail was lost at this stage, and a halt , was ordered at once, all feeling confident that they would, by trying back, be enabled to strike it again in the morning. Next morning, as soon as the men had swallowed a mouthful of food, the party retraced their steps in the hope of finding the lost trail, and after some trouble it was discovered. Before starting, it occurred to Capt. -Jackson that it would be worth while to endeavor to look for smoke in the ■direction in which the Maories would be, as at that hour of the morning they would probably be cooking. This plan was most successful ; smoke was seen, ; and away they went, and in a short TWme, stealing quietly through the brush and forest, came within fifteen yards of tb»^yhole party, and between them and ts^^ sentry. Here Jackson halting his men as they came up, gave them time to breathe, and formed his plan. " Give them the carbines, my boys, and then charge them with the revolver." At the volley from the carbines four Maories j were dropped, and their comrades J appeared staggered, gazing here and j there, not knowing from what side the f -danger came, or what the number of their foes. When they saw, however, the real strength of the little party, they turned upon them with their guns and tomahawks, but they soon went to the right about when the boys let fly at them with the revolver. Many were wounded at the discharge of the •carbines, and were assisted away into the bush by the women. Altogether the action did not last more than four or five minutes. Seven at any rate were killed, four of whom fell into our hands dead or dying. One of the dying men said his tribe was Ngatipawa, but refused to give his name. A dead man lying beside him was, he said a chief named Matariki. The camping ground was well stocked with provisions, pork and fern root in abundance, and there was also a large amount of plunder taken from the houses of the settlers ; amongst this were papers belonging to Mr Richardson, of Wairoa, clothes and property of Messrs Johnson and M'Donald of the same place. These very articles found were part of the property taken at the very same time that the murder of the poor children was committed at Howiek. Most probably these were the wretches who tomahawked them, and savagely butchered Jackson, and Fahey and his wife. There was a large amount of plunder of all descriptions — scarlet window curtains, boxes, trinkets, &c, ; two parcels of hair, evidently a souvenir, which is in the possession now of one of Jackson's party. But little of this plunder could be removed, only enough to prove the complicity of these natives with the Wairoa marauders and murderers. ', During the engagement, as the men were hit and knocked over, they were assisted away, it appears, by the women, . and. their guns and arms removed, and* probably plantedj; '"" a " tupera" and a pistol were,. however, secured, and a quantity of their ammunition was thrown into the creek,, the ? men- being, as it "was, overloaded. Whilst the plunder was being secured, a daring rascal, returned/ and made a rush at a bundle, but a bullet from a revolver made him drop it like a/hot pptatoe. 7 Unfpr- ; ip-j&£ p )fr the dishonest 'rascal got away, c 2t!kg the ranger's '-bullet/with/ him in His leg.; ! This bundle turned out to be *,jjbe flags/ a7 description of which you ha?e already received. - / After the Maories were dropped with the fire-arms, the wounded ones, while lying on the ground, endeavored to .injure Jackson's men, one fellow lusihg a bowie knife and another a large carting knife, attemptin g /to stab them in the legs. .The revolvers, however/ soon settled these wretches. -Altogether, the natives are: very lia-rcl to kill. One

fellow took two re vplyer bullets and one 'carbine ball to settle him, and then it took another shot in the head before gave in from smashing about him with tbe butt end of Mb gun. ; . The Maories, when they bolted, made off in *an easterly direction /on; a /broad track. It seems that' Captain Jackson did not deem it advisable to follow fur-' ther, as probably the Maories would scatter ill the bush and no good would result. Had the party been a larger one,. the men say, that they could have taken the whole lot prisoners, for at the time they were surprised most of them were cleaning their pieces, and nearly all were unloaded, one man even having the lock off his gun. Those that did fire had not time to load again, as Jackson and his men were in upon them at once. The engagement took place at eight ! o'clock last Sunday morning, about five miles direct north of Paparata, and, from, all I can learn, there were at least forty natives present. One of the^ wounded men is reported to have said that they were only twenty-eight, and then, on being asked again, said twenty-eight twice told, which would in all probability be nearer the mark. Many acts of personal daring were shown by Jackson's men during the fight. The conduct of Ensign Westrup, and of a private named Smith, are both spoken of enthusiastically by their comrades. Smith had a terrible hand-to-hand encounter with a powerful savage, and was perhaps only saved by the readiness of Ensign Westrup's revolver. When all the men acted so well, however, it were almost invidious to point to individual acts of prowess. I was told that one of the women was accidentally shot in the leg, and indeed that it was with great difficulty that the other women and children were saved in the general struggle.