The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-10 00:00:00

NEW ZEALAND.

We have been favoured with a Melbourne paper
(the Australian News) of the 23d of February. It
brings the following details of the recent affair in
New Zealand :

This morning an alarm was given in the town of
Wanganui that the road party at Kai Iwi had been
attacked, and that some of the men were missing.
Two sons of Mr. Mailman, who has a store out
there, rode into town with the intelligence, at half-
past 5, on one horse, without a saddle, and with
nothing on but their nightshirts, and a little later
in the morning Mr. Mona Rees arrived, and gave
a more minute detail of the circumstances.
It appears that there were about thirty of the
road party still there—men who had not finished
their contract, and who were waiting till the
advance of the troops might enable them to resume
work with safety, and that their tents were pitched
along the road on both sides for some distance, those
outermost being near the Kai Iwi, and the others
stretching in this direction as far as to this side of
the Puketotara Creek, which runs across the road a
short distance on this side of Kai Iwi stream. Mr.
Rees' tent stands on this side of the Puketotara,
and he was aroused this morning at dawn by shots,
which he found, on rushing out, proceeded from a
number of natives who had come along the road
from the Waitotara, and, as there had been no
guard or look-out at any part of the encampment,
had come upon it without the slightest warning.
At first, Mr. Rees thought they were firing for
amusement, but was quickly undeceived, for, so
soon as they saw him and Mr. Symonds, whose
tent adjoined his, they fired upon them. Five bul-
lets entered Mr. Rees's tent while he was getting
his saddle, and, as he carried the saddle out on his
head to put it on his horse, another bullet struck it.
He immediately made off, and, on getting to a rising
ground, could see about 250 natives, who had now
possession of the tents, and were busy plundering.
Most of them, of course, appeared to be round the
store kept by Palgreen, and no doubt the liquor in
it and Mr. Mailman's store quickly disappeared. Mr.
Symonds twice fired at them from the low ground in
the gully, and one man was seen to fall, while it was
believed a second was also shot. He and Messrs. Mail-
man and Richardson then stationed themselves be-
hind some slabs, and kept up a fire for a few minutes,
but they soon found the position too hot for them, and
retreated. After a little they mustered, and only 12
men assembled. Many of course might be in hiding,
but Mr. Rees thinks that the tent on which the
natives must have come, and which contained seven
men must have been so surrounded that the men
could not ha're escaped. Some of them immediately
made for the camp, about three miles distant, and
Mr. Rees galloped into town. General Cameron
arrived with his staff at Camp Alexandria about
four o'clock in the afternoon of Sunday last. He
was received with great enthusiasm, the men cheer-
ing lustily and throwing their caps in the air on his
arrival. Foremost were the old die-hards,' and
their cheers were heartily re-echoed from the warm
hearts of the 18th Royal Irish and the devotedly-
loyal Queen's Own. The skirmishing party pro-
ceeded in skirmishing order as far as the pah, a
distance of about half a mile from the camp,
when a volley was poured in upon them from the
huts there. They returned the fire, which was
replied to, not only by those in the huts which
lay to the left of the advancing party, but also
from high scrub which lay to their right. This was
about 6 o'clock in the evening. In the skirmish
which ensued Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General
Johnston fell, wounded in the abdomen by a bullet,
which was afterwards extracted at his back. The
wound is supposed to be mortal. Accounts vary as
to the number wounded. The first account gives
four, and the other 11, as the number, the others
being private soldiers. Certain it is that this morn-
ing three dead bodies were brought into Camp
Alexandra, together with Lieutenant Johnston, who
is still alive. The reconnoitring party seem to have
returned to the camp, the Maories following ; and
it is said that a dropping fire was kept up in the
camp until 3 this morning, when the troops fired
a heavy volley in the direction from which the shots
proceeded, which silenced them. It is not known that
any Maories have been hit, as the soldiers could only
fire into the scrub without seeing the enemy.
"In an extra' of the Chronicle, 25th January,
the following additional particulars are corrected,
in some respects, from the first account given :
The pah is at the corner of a bush, which stands in
the rear and left of it. As the soldiers advanced
from the camp, about 900 yards distant, they had
the pah directly in their front, and saw before the
huts an ordinary Maori fence or taiapa. About half-
past 4 o'clock a signal shot was fired from the bush on
the left of the pah as the soldiers (80 men of the
18th) advanced to it. When the soldiers got up to
the fence a volley was fired on them from their huts
within, on which they threw off their knapsacks,
scaled the fence, and got in by an opening, charged
the huts, and fired on the Maories, of whom
they killed seven. The Maories returned the fire,
and it was here that Lieutenant Johnston fell. The
firing continued, and in about an hour a reinforce-
ment was sent from the camp, consisting of a de-
tachment of the 50th, under Major Rook, who were
sent for the purpose of surrounding the Maories,
and took up a position under cover to the left. On
this the men of the 18th charged to the edge of the
bush on the left, and found the ground thickly
rifle-pitted among some long weeds, chiefly camo-
mile, from which they kept up a fire till half-past
11, when the enemy's fire ceased and they retired. Two
men were killed, and two have since died, namely,
Lieut. Johnston ,D A. A. G. ,and a private. Seven others
were wounded, most of the wounds being on the
head, owing to the position in which the men were
lying. The Maori call through the night was,
Come on, come on ; be brave, don't leave me 1'
and a female voice was heard several times en-
couraging the men forward. This was heard when
the Maories were retiring under fire from the
soldiers. The cry was then, Gloria, !oh I
hau! haul ' It may be mentioned that several
bullock drivers got the wounded men's guns and
took part in the fight, as well as assisted in carry-
ing the wounded to the rear."