STRENGTH OF THE MAORIS ON THE WEST COAST.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1198, 2 March 1880, Page 2

STRENGTH OF THE MAORIS ON THE WEST COAST.

Wk have, on more than one occasion, taken exception to the sensational character of the communications furnished to the Xctc Zi aland JLwald by its "Special" at Waimate, and cautioned our readers against giving his effusions much -weight. Our strictures on this "Special are singularly borne out by Captain (!. \\ r . Woon, N.Z.M., an ol<l ai\<l respected settler who ritos to Wellington :—" The coirespondent of tlie 37 ir Zealand lln aid on the coast is responsible for a statement which may cause unnecessary anxiety and alarm. He says that an old settler assures him that between Wanganui and the White Cliffs 3000 natives capable of bearing arms could be raised at 48 hours' notice. Twenty years ago, when the v. ar broke out in Taranaki, a combined movement of the tribes on this coast took place against New Plymouth. Every man, old and young, and many of the women mustered to drive the Pakeha into the Taranaki roadstead. Well do I remember our anxious state of mind when our little town, after every outsider had been j driven inside the trenches, and with its handful of military and civilian forces, had to hold its own against the beleaguering horde of bloodthirsty savages, who had commenced their operations by cutting down two helpless boys in cold blood on the outskirts of the town. The total combined force of natives, including a contingent force fiom the Waikato, did not exceed 1210 men. All who could carry a musket or wield a tomahawk came, and they were made up as follows : — Taranaki tribes, 450 ; Ngatiruanui and Ngatiawa (Waitotara), 580 ; Waikato contingent and tribes north of New Plymouth, 200. After their losses in war, and it is a well known fact that the natives on this coast suffered terribly in various engagements, and from disease since 1860, I am not outside the mark when I say that it would be an extremely difficult matter to bring 500 fighting men at the present moment into tl\e iield. I may venture to say that even 20 years ago it was no easy matter* to take 300 Maoris into action at any given spot. "

The touching sentiment, "Our first in Heaven," appeared after an obituary notice in a Philadelphia paper the other day; and the father of the ohild. came into the oftioe hopping mad. It was the third death, in, the family, and he desired to kn,qw o,f the clerk where he supposed the other two lio4 Kouc,