LATEST NORTHERN NEWS.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 214, 9 February 1866, Page 2

LATEST NORTHERN NEWS.

DISSOLUTION OF THE ASSEMBLY. ISSUE OF WRITS FOR THE ELECTIONS. THE MAORI PRISONERS. " (Condensed from the Northern Papers.) We are in receipt of our files of Northern papers of the latest date. We subjoin the following items of interest : — The New Zealand Government Gazette, of the 27th ult., contains three Proclamations of His Excellency the Q-overnor. The . first dissolves the Assembly •• the second notifies the order for the issue oi writs for the election of a fresh Assembly, bearing date, 27th January, and returnable on the. 16th April ; and the third summons the House of Representatives to meet at- Wellington, on the 16th April, " then and there to have a conference with the Legislative Council of the colony." There is not a word' farther to communicate relative to the operations on either the East or West Coast, but the Rangitira from Napier is overdue, and may probably arrive before the ; present Southern Mail closes. At Wanganui they have had late dates from Patea, but nothing had been heard of the General. The announcement that " General Chute is still moving northwards, destroying everything that comes within his reach," means nothing to ordinary readers. They have read the same stereotyped intelligence of numerous expeditions under other commanders, and they have got to regard it as a mere stop-gap, to be inserted for the sake of saying something when there is really nothing to communicate. But ordinary readers will .be surprised to learn how much is now hidden under that hitherto bold announcement, when I tell them, by way of illustration, that recently no less than "fourteen pahs were destroyed in a single day's march — not fortified pahs, of course, but the ordinary dwelling pahs attached to Kaingas (or cultivations) . and yarying: in sixe from thirty or forty whares to three, or four. To the right, to the left, and ahead, wherever anything can be done to harass the rebels and disabuse their minds of the idea that soldiers are unable to follow them into the bush, the General does it, and does it aa well as if he were in command of purely Colonial troops, which (looking to the achievements on the East Coast) is the highest praise that can be bestowed. The escaped prisoners still occupy the attention of the country volunteers. The former appear to have separated into several parties, and have up to yesterday been located among the kills between the Hutt and Porirua. There are all sorts of tales flying about, from some of which it would appear that the escapees had been treated with much brutality by the armed parties in pursuit, who had the satisfaction of knowing that they were perfectly safe in consequence of the poor wretches having no means of defence ; but after verydiligent enquiry I do not believe any of them are true. One prisoner was taken on Thursday near the Hutt road, by a man named Bassett, who was searching for cattle, He had a couple of dogs with him, and seeing a crouching Maori, pursued, and easly took him, he being unable to run far, from exhaustion. Another Maori was found near the Porirua road, on Friday, by the same means. There are the marks of the dogs' teeth on one of these men's legs, the excitement of the creatures not being under control. This has given rise' to a story in which doghunting and laceration have been worked in very barbarous detail, but there is no foundation for barbarity whatever. On Thursday, the Johnsonville Volunteers were out all day and tracked a party of fifteen. They are tracked mainly by the black ferns ancLNikau palms cut down for food. Towards evening the natives scrambled up a precipitous hiH and the volunteers after them. On one of the latter, named Woodman, reaching the top, the prisoners seem to have halted as if they were going to surrender; but one with an axe appeared .to be more resolute and advanced towards Woodman, who shot him dead. The rest of the prisoners then made off, having been fired at and two wounded. Government have, it is said, since prohibited the use of fire arms against the prisoners, except under peculiar circumstances. Lieut.-Colonel Butler, 57th Regiment, with three guns and 300 infantry, was despatched on the evening of the 15th to destroy a village in the bash, . bo. me three, miles to the right front of the camp. After per*

forming this service he rejoined the field A forcef<3i^^ wards, everything that comes l within Hb reach. Colonel Warre, C.B, i with the Taranalri Division, is reported as • at Qpariakei, and, doubiess he will forma > junction with General Chute at that post. I The only item b£ local election news is / that Mr. W. H. Watt of Wanganui has / come forward for Uangitikei, in opposition to Mr. Pharazyn. Mr. "Watt belongs to | the firm of Taylor and Watt, and has been j a member of the Provincial Council, forj his district, from the first election in 1853.

SEVERE ENGAGEMENT AT WAIEOA. The IlavbJctfs Bay Times of the 22nd instant resumes the narrative of the Wiaroa campaign from the point tr which it was lastbrought, the escape o the Hau-haus to the broken and unknow: country round the "Waikara Lake. Ot Thursday, the 11th instant, an expeditia of 350 natives, under the command f Major started in persuit, havig given the enemy ample time to prep?e for their reception. After a marchof some thirty miles during the remainer of that day, part of the night, and ;he following morning, they arrived at md walked into the trap set for them by ieir wily foe, in a narrow pass, rifle-pittel in, terraces on both sides, and ending n a well-defended trench at the. . extrem^y. So well did the enemy conceal themseltis that 'their' presence was not r eveo. suspected by any one, until lured by tie bait of a group of fanatics worshipping round a niu, . visible through the. gorge, they were fairly surrounded by the enemy, and had . actually reached the trench at the extreme end when the attack was suddenly opened/ upon them, and at : the first discharge five of the friendly natives were; killed. Now, by the exercise of the most ordinary amount of skill and courage on the part* of the enemy, the fate of the day could have been speedily decided. They were greater, in number^ had .the advantage of position, and could have exterminated our people, but strange to- say, with all these advantages, they were paralysed with fear, and fired only at random. The first onset being withstood, our people, after finding an attempted retreat impossible,; took advantage of such shelter as the fern afforded them, and returned the fire towards the rifle-pita, though under great disadvantages as regards the enemy. The number of the killed being augmented to twelve and and the odds being "conquer or die," they rushed the rifle-pits on both sides of the pass, from which the^enemy were speedily ejected— driven first to their pah and afterwards ' to their canoes ; so that the bulk of them are again at liberty, well armed and fully supplied with ammunition, to be heard of again shortly without doubt. The loss sustained by the enemy in killed and wounded is, beyond doubt, much greater than that sustained by our people, "owing to the way in which they were routed and pursuecl. It is certain that the number killed exceeded forty, of which some were shot while swimming in the Lake, and the number consequently not exactly known . but it is to be feared that this loss will not dispirit them ; their con- , fidenee in their fanaticism seems unbounded. Our loss amounted to twelve men killed and eighteen wounded all of the native race.