LATEST NEWS FROM THE NORTH.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 27, 8 January 1864, Page 3

LATEST NE WS F ROM THE NORTH.

We extract the following items of latest news from the North from the letter of the Wellington Correspondent of the Otago Times :—- . . . . The news from Auckland is not of the character, expected." We ... anticipated receiving the' histoi'y of the interview between the Governor and the natives at Ngaruawahia, but no such interview has taken pla<:e. At the date of our last j advices (the morning of the IGth) the I Govefnorand his Ministers were then to start in -an hour or so. But circumstances occurred which rendered it desirable that no negotiation should be attempted, and the contemplated visit was abandoned. The General was still at Ngaruawahia, and no armed natives had been seen. The further pi ogi ess of the Geneial will be for the present only a few iiiiles, when he wi!l wait the news of the arrival of a force of about 609 to be landed at Raglan. Then, with a force in front and rear, we may look for something in which the Ngatimaniapoto will not escape so easily as they, have done . heretofore. The impression about tire speedy submission, which by last advi es was so universal, seems to be now entirely dissipated, and " more fighting" is fully believed in. Ensign Ducrow, of the 40th, died on | 23rd from wounds received at Ranfjiiiri At that fight we have lost more officers j than we did at the battle of Alma. — i ( ? Ed. /. T.) A force Is to be sent to Taranaki. I think it is the GBch that is destined there J immediately on its arrival. At Kaipara, on the 21st. the wife and daughter of a settler named Thomson were muidered. The distric: is a friendly one, to the north of Auckland, and the murder does not appear to have any poli- i tical signification. A native named i Rnranga went to the house, and making; a pretence to purchase some sugar, .struck Mrs Thomson dead with an axe while her back wa* turned to him. He brandished the axe over the daughter present, and then going out pursued another daughter j (Olivia) about fourteen, and struck her I down; a third daughter would have shared the same fate had she not been too nimble. ! Other natives are supposed to have been ! close by, but the evidence is only ciear against Rnranga, who was well known to the family, and had been in the habit of going to the house for the las! two or three years, and was regarded by them as a quiet inoffensive man. A force of nearly 100 militia and bluejackets was forthwith sent up towards the district for protection of the settLrs there, and Mr Fox at once proceeded to the scene of this bar- ' barity ; the natives professing the greatest ; concern at what had taken place, and declaring that all their (ribe should be | assembled for Florin da . Thomson, the j daughter who saw Mrs Thomson struck I down, to pick o-»t the murderer fora. ! For what followed, I refer you lo the following extract from the Southern Cross of the 2(>ih : — ' Mr. Rice returned to town by boat at a quarter to two o'clock ibis morning, and brings the astound ng intelligence that Thomson, the husband of the murdered woman and father of the murdered child, refuses to allow his daughter to go up and identify the murderer. The Maoris, irue to their promise, assembled i yesterday to the number of 300, held a runanga, and were quite ready and willing that the alleged murderer, whoever h*» might be, should be picked out from amongst them. Ruranga' was amongst them ! Thomson assigned no reason for his strange conduct ; and as nothing couli be done under the circumstances. Mr 11 ice came to town to consult with Mr Whi taker, the premier, and was to return this morning by the next tide to Kaipara. Mr Fox and Thompson with his daughters were at Lamb's mill The runanga was held at Kaukapakapa We ma/ expect to hear news in the course of the day from our special reporter, who is on the spot. We presume that to facilitate the ends of justice Thomson would be compelled to allow his daughter Jo identify the murderer ; which there is little doubt she can do." The only solution — the only charitable solution — of this proceeding, is that Thomson is crazed by the calamity that has befallen him. The Maories declare plainly that Ruranga shall be instantly given up to be hung, if he is identified. Whatever the object in view which the natives had in committing these murders, it is quite clear that so far as his tribe is concerned, there is no more political significance in it, than there was in the equally barbarous and mysterious murder of Mr Rayner, of this Province, a few months since. The Pioneer gunboat is not able to push on much beyond Kgaruawahia, in consequence of the river not being wide enough to allow of her turning. Another and smaller has just arrived in frame from j Sydney, and will be of the gi*eatesi use in the General's contemplated movements ; for although the tortuous course of the river makes conveyance slow, yet it liberates a large number of men from escort ! duty ; and numerous as the force now is, it is none too many, looking at the posts at which they are obliged to be located. Mr Gillies is down by the Phaebe, and is up to his eyes in work settling sundry matters with all sorts of officials. Some of them, those belonging to the Post-office, will possibly give him black looks wherever he goes, for he is certainly tasking them rather severely. From Taranaki we have one of the most abortive attempts at pah taking on record. It really looks more like the writing in Punch than sober reality. You vrill firid the account in the Hsrald of the 26th. A pah at Eaitake was the object of attack. Three parties .were sent out, one consisting of seventy," and the oilier-' two of one hundred and fifty each, besides some of the Royal Artillery with two howitzers and a cohorn. The fire was opened at 600 or 700 yards, and some breaches made. The Maories-kept up an occasional fire, as manyas five firing at one time j ! Mr Parris, v Captain Mace and others, performed sundry feats of valor, : riding up cjose to the pal) j but the party of seventy, who were to have cut off retreat from the rear of the pah, not making their appearance, the remaining force of 300 retired. The Herald naively '.say's, " it is, perhaps, difficult to estimate their

number (of natives in the pah), as only ten or twelve of them were seen, and not more tliart, that nuinbcr took any. active part in the engagement." It also says that " when pur forces retired, two natives who had been garrisonincr the Httle pah above, came down" and manned the rifle pits on the edge of. the ridge, but their fire was without precision, and took no effect." Of course the account concludes wiih the usual notice of gallant conduct, &c. ; the firing, we are told, was especially good, some shells bursting beautifully " high up Jin the clouds " This ridiculous account ! must be read in to be thoroughly i appreciated,' and shows "that wjrse days than Gold and Tratt's are not altogether impossible.