ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE LATE ENGAGEMENT.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 304, 18 September 1860, Page 3

ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE LATE ENGAGEMENT.

A spectatqr has obligingly furnished us with the particulars of the encounter which took place on Tuesday last from the starting of the troops to their return. In most points there is such a similarity to our other descriptions that there is no necessity for repetition. The details which follow immediately after the destruction of the second pa however possess points that are wanting in the, other accounts. . . . ;

A further advance was then made to the third pa, situated about a mile from the second, when a halt was made for about half-an-hour; thi^was about eight o'clock in the morning. The original intention was to make the No. 2 division the attacking party, also to be a. covering party for Nos. 1 and 2 guns. Major Nelson, however, it is believed, requested permission of General Pratt to allow the first division to be the attacking party at the third pa, as it was expected that some resistance would be made there, and bis men desired to have the opportunity of repayiug the enemy for the loss of their comrades on the 20th June at Waitara. This being acceded to, it advauced the big guns to the front, the friendly Maoris being sent out to the skirts of the adjacent bush and to the. pah itself. No resistance however was made, the bluejackets, sappers and and regular* going inside. Nos. 1 and 2 guns were .then ordered to the front to proceed to a clearing about 150 yards from the pa, and at right angles with'it, withsbush on each side,: this was done in order to be prepared againat a sudden attack from that quarter. A few. of the friendly Maoris accompanied the guns. No. 1 gun was ordered to * Action right,' and scarcely time was given to get unlimbered, when volley after volley came from the bush on the right hand from the concealed enemy. Nos. 1 and 2 guns then commenced a heavy fire of grape and canister amongst the trees: this continued for some time. While this was going on Commodore Loring, "wjth a body of seamen and a 241b. rocket-tube, also fired upon the concealed enemy. The other two 24----pounders, belonging to Major Nelson's camp, were meanwhile throwing shell over the bush, while some of the soldiers and. blue-jackets kept up a heavy fire down the gully which skirted the bush to their left hand. Nos. 1 and 2 guns continued firing until the enemy were silenced. They were then ordered to retire.

During these occurrences some of the enemy were observed on the opposite slope of the gully, but not in any number. The whole force then fell back abreast of the pa, and there was a cessation of hostilities for about twenty minutes. Three civilians were then seen riding-after some horses belonging to the natives, which turned up the clearing just occupied by the troops; the civilians followed, and one shot was fired at them from the bush. About 150 of the 40th were then ordered to extend themselves from the pa up through the clearing, Nos. 1 and % guns at their head. Meanwhile the pa was ordered to be burnt. The Maoris then recommenced a heavy fire from the bush. The smbke of the burning pa was rolling over the. men of the 40th stationed in thejsjearing*., -A return move-, iiient of the 40th then happened, whichleft the guns where they had been stationed at the head of the column entirely, unprotected with the artillerymen alone around them! Lieutenant M'Naughten however with his men, although left. thus isolated, plied the guns manfully towards the bush where the enemy were concealed. Ultimately a retreat was safely effected to the main body. A smaller pa to the right which had been fired by the troops was burning in the meantime; The order was then given to retreat, and the whole body returned, much to the dissatisfaction of some of the men, who expected a temporary retire and a recommencement of the attack. This however was not ordered. The whole force arrived at the Waitara camp about four o'clock next day. There is every probability that had the party of the 40th been allowed to enter among the peach trees and biish where the enemy had concealed themselves (no doubt sheltered in their rifle-pits from the big guns) that by resolutely 'rushing' them, scarcely one of the enemy would have escaped. The policy which carries our men before an enemy concealed by bush, sticking them out upon clefr ground while their assailants are concealed; and yet interdicts ing any attempt which the troops might desire to come to close quarters and escape such disadvantageous terms, must be deeper than an ordinary observer can fathom.