The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-14 00:00:00

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Sydney Herald.)
The last fortnight or so has been the most stir-
ring in incident of any that we have had for some
time, although there are signs that would lead me
to expect that it will be exceeded by the next in in-
tereit. There has been a very unusual amount of

fighting, and a very unusual amount of bloodshed,
at least amongst the natives, during this period.

They have ventured upon an entirely new system
of tactics, and have found themselves thoroughly
worsted in every respect and at every point. The
news which my last letter contained relative to
natives who had left Mere-Mere, and had ventured
into the vicinity of the great South Road, and even
to Pukekohe, on the west of that road, was the first
indication of the new policy, now said to .be the

plan of William Thompson, who has been acting as
generalissimo of the forces for sumo little time back.
It was not then known on how large a scale the
new tactics were about to be carried out ; but it has
since appeared that not less than from six to eight
hundred natives must have been thrown into the
waste triangular belt of forest which lies along the
Waikato River to the westward of the south read,

.....
and terminates at the village of Waiuku (now a

military post), while it contains the settlements of
Mauku and Pukekohe, besides the townships of
Cameron and Tuakau. The forest is here very

heavy, and in places exceedingly swampy—so
much so as to be all but impassable for man,
while it is entirely so for beasts. The idea

of the campaign was certainty a clever one,
and does the general who planned it great
credit. The large body of natives was to
split into two or three divisions, and then at their
own time to come down upon one after another of
the settlements, all of which were occupied as mili-
tary posts, although most of them very inadequately
garrisoned. One of these bodies it undoubtedly was
that committed the murders of Mr. Armitage and
his two Eurdpean companions, of which you must
have heard, in this matter there is little doubt

they received no small assistance from the treachery
of the friendly natives who accompanied the party
as a convoy for the provisions to the Bluff. Having
succeeded in this exploit it seems probable they
were on their way to some other point of attack
when they fell in with Captain Swift and his fifty
heroes (for such they seem to have been). Their
numbers on that occasion were certainly not short
of 200 men, and it is a subject for wonder and just
pride even to a regiment of British troops that a
detachment so weak, and having lost its commis-
sioned officers at the very beginning of the action,
should yet have fought as they did for many hours
against an overwhelming force, and have finally
defeated and driven them off. Happily Lieut.
Butler, who behaved with remarkable courage, even
shooting two natives dead with his revolver after
being brought to his knees by a most severe wound,
is rapidly recovering. Our loss in numbers was
providentially very slight, while that of the
Nltiories now appears to have amounted to
between twenty-five and thirty men placed
hors de combat. The deepest regret is felt here
for the death of the gallant Capt. Swift, who was
by far the most promising officer of his regiment
(the 65th). His body was brought to Auckland,
and buried with all military honours on Sunday the
13th: being followed to the grave by the governor
and all the ministry, besides a large part of the
most respectable of the inhabitants. On the same
day on which Captain Swift's party was engaged
there was fighting at two other points, so proving
that the enemy were at least in three divisions in
the district. One of these was a mere skirmish near
the south wall at the Razor-back redoubt, where no
one was even wounded on our part, although the
body of one native, apparently a man of some im-
portance, was found in the bush where he had been
shot, after the fighting. The other was in the neigh-
bourhood of Manku, and was brought about by the
energy of our own local forces, who, having reason
to suspect that natives were in the neighbourhood,
sallied into the bush and came upon a large partyof
of little short of 100 men, engaged in the work
devastation upon such of the settlers' houses as
er
waswer
isolated in the forest. The fight that
ensued
men only
sharp but short, fer although our
ug more at
num-
bered 50, they had the advantage
efieb:land most of
home in the forest than the
them had the vast addition:la:de.vrntiage carbine bein
loading
armed with the short
deadliestbreec
and most effective.
which is by far the After about half an
weapon in the forest.. sometimes as near as
hour's hard fighting?
natives took to flight,
at ten yards' range,
exee-it ,•
thebe li n d them , their
leaving every chieg
killed pon whom the
roost important trophies of victory
wounded,y seem
look and
tolk as the
that could fall back into the Pakeha's hands. All
'heir plunder was rescued, and their huts burned
-ce by the foresters. The most hardly con
at o,
tested, a.yid probably by far the most deadly, of
fight, to the natives. took place on the 14th,
these
at Pakehohe. The natives had evidently kept en
eye for some time uColl this place, as they carefully
timed their attack so as .4.%) allow the convoy which
had come up on the Satqrday to go down again on