THE ESCAPED MAORI PRISONERS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 57, 11 October 1864, Page 3

THE ESCAPED MAORI PRISONERS.

The last account of the doings of the runaway Maoris is thus given by. the /Southern Cross in its issue of the 28th- :r-r- ;■•.;• vr v The question of porice or war in t3io JSorth, thanks to the bungling mismanagement of the Governori hangs upon a single thread. ; The rebel natiTes, who escaped from the; Kawaup have en> trencbwi tt»m|?4yes irpxm tb» mtinlimd »tGir«*t

Omaha, and are building a formidable pa there. Our informant,, who leftthere ion Monday night, describes the...position, .and; says -.that., from ..his house the Maori works are plainly, seen k at a distance of about three miles. Oh~ Monday morning about sixty of them were seen by our informant at {;he ■VYaikauri beach, inside the Kawau r possage, bringing-flour' round: They had two whale boats and a canoe engaged. From inquiries we find that an unusual demand on a firm in town has been made for flour- for the past fortnight byi a European trader in the neighborhood o£ the escaped nativeß. Hib last order informed the firm in- question that tho " friendly " -natives had "cleared out" bis store, and had given the flour to the men from the Kawau ; and on subsequent inquiry we find that at least a month's supply has been procured from this source alone. The natives are killing the live stock of the settlers, and say they require it to makeup their commissariat. It is due to the Auckland firm, to which reference has been made, to say that immediate information was communicated to the Government respecting the destination of the flour, &c, freely bought by the Northern natives. Since the above was written, H. M. a. Miranda has arrived from the Kawau, and His Excellency the Governor has returned by her. There is every reason to believe that all the principal Kaipara chiefs are true to the Government, and will not permit, so far as they can help it, any outrage within their district. There is, however, a small party of natives — particularly some of Ruarangi's tribe — who may be inclined to foment a disturbance, and who, it is reported, have already joined the prisoners. The movements of the Ngaruawahia natives are causing some uneasiness, but are closely watched. Respecting the murder at Te Rori, an investigation into the circumstances has been held, and the verdict was — " That private Jeremiah Donovan came by his death from a gunshot wound inflicted by Private Thomas M'Coy, 40th Regiment, while the deceased was attempting to bayonet Private Harry Travers, 65th Regiment," and the Court was " unanimously of opinion that Private M'Coy was perfect ly justified in so doing, causing the act to be merely one of justifiable homicide." The verdict gave universal batisfaction. o