The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-14 00:00:00

ee" e aie enneerned to add that a ball stuck Thomas
eesercen, Mr. Boulcott's seivant, in the act of getting
tof bed. The ball passed through his body, inflicting
a mortal wound, and lodged in his back, fratn which
atthsecpiently extracted by Dr. Galbraith of the 99th.
14Ir. llouscott himself rarrowly escaped the same fate.
Immediately On receiving the dispatch informing him
99th
ftwhat had occurred, Major Last directed eo men of the
h
Regiment to proceed to the stockade at the Hutt
bridge, 'with instructions to Captain Hardy, the officer
la command. to advance with his men to the support of
titilir
comrades; and shortly afterwards proeeeded him-
‘ich self the scene of action, in company with Major
Itniond. On his arrival he found the rebels had
crossed the river and under the protection of the stand-
Tg bush they kept up a straggling fire on the troops.
he order 'was now given for the sol iers to advance in
ext ended line, and drive them out of the bush. Epuni,
.941 accompanied Major Last, was very much struck
With the gallant manner in which this manmuvre was
executed. Throughout this and the following day (Sun-
Y) the rebels remained in the Hutt, occupying the
ground on which the troops were formerly encamped,
.ftabeut ball* a mile beyond Mr. Boulcott's section. On
is.aturea-
, they robbed WHardie's house, killed his pigs
'°°d, and took away or destroyed all his property.
_n obedience to a message from Rangihaeata, they re-
turned to Porirua on Monay.
Darin g the whole of Saturday the town of Welling-
,,,`" was in the most painful state of alarm and excite-
rats Families were flocking in from the Hutt. Fa-
thers and heads of families
were sending their wives
and children to Wellington as a place of safety ; and
rumours of all kinds were in circulation. At one time
1t was believed that the party of militia and police sta-
e untied at Tihata as an outpost, about three miles above
ethfe the inp, "ere cut off by the natives. In the early part
!I , the week Major Richmond, disregarding the warnings
had received from different quarters, had, from mo-
tit)
ves of economy, disbanded the militia in Wellington,
and reduced the company in the Hutt to 25 men, and
but two days previous to tie attack had informed Mr
Turnbull, the only acting officer, that his services would
be dispensed with. So menthat, on S itray ing, the
at Tihata were Only tnidor the ced rnmand morn
of a ser-
geant- Fortunately, however,
ing their retreat, they succeeded in effect-
and joined the troops without meeting
With any opposition.
_ Every assistance was rendered by Captaintanley.
Two of the Calliope's boats were sent in the afternoon
of Saturday to Petoni, one with arms, and the other to
13,nrhe ing ay. ay the women and children to Wellington.
rewoundsd, who received every attention and assist-
e from Dr. Turnbull until the arrival of Dr, Gal-
braith, were also sent over to Wellington to be placed in
h nospital. The slain were buried on Sunday, on the
fief
of battle.
V__,Various measures of precaution and defence were now
oeted—among others, that of arming the natives.
Puni's nffer, which was before treated with coldness
and itelifference, was now eagerly embraced, and, with a
little solicitation, the old chief was persuaded to arm
With his tribe and fight with the settlers against his old
se"l°Y. Accordingly a hundred stand of arms were
-at over the to Petoni for the use of his tribe. On Monday
.
were
natives of the pass at Waiwetu, Pipiten, and Tearo,
wtuc e
salso supplied with arms, though the manner in
bedthis 'a as done by the superintendent was calcu-
rather to repel them than to enlist their services
eartily in the cause
ba Tvh; natives are Placed under the command of Mr.
b Scott, who will acs as the organ of communication
etween them and the commanding officer. They are tillateended to form a sort of guerilla corps, fighting with
troopseaemY after its own fashion, and falling back on the
r in case of need for support and assistance.
14301essrreabtiedissatisfaction was felt by the natives at the
description of arms supplied to them Irma the
forTnein ent stores.
simile equiement of a New Zealander
,e nght is very p. A good musket, and a car-
treaisticownielaisht°,x to contain hie ammunition, strapped round
ate all that he require s. But so little prepa-
supe • ut“tinst any emergency has been mace tie the
iive rireen
0d aunt, that a great portion of the muskets de-
/emelt; !'° the natives were returned as. unfit fur use,
.the
awe rution had been formerly wet, until was unseryme-
and there were very few cariouche-boxes for the
bovxv„lY of Our allies : the greater part of the cartouche-
. th s-8
giV(ll out to the natives me re obtained from
out e°°)Pane's stores. It will hardly be believed
• ar°of the settlement, that although the militia
been called out since the destruction of
or orarika, now a period of fifteen months, and
have been more or less employed (luring this interval,
fo:Yhave nut even yet been supplied with scabbards
their bayonets. The greater body of the natives be-
T•
ing to the pas in Wellington went over to Petoni on
anuesday, and are now encamped Letvreen the stockade
nd Mr. Boulcott's section. The number of friendly
atives under Epuni amounts to nearly 250 men. They
d a war dance on Wednesday evening, and speschcs
Were inede by the chiefs expressive of their determina-
tion to make common cause with the settlers. " Why,"
they said, "should we wait until some of our own
People are killed before we take up. arms ? It is true wo
Ltiay remain here and not be attacked, but are we to
allow our pakehas, our friends, to be killed before our
face ? No—we will show our love to the pakehas, and
• identify our interest with theirs."
' Rangihaeata is busily engaged strengthening the de-
fences of his pa at Pawaitanganui, and thinks, now that
the Ngatiawas are arming against him, that affairs are
assureieg a more serious aspect. After these defences,
Which are on the plan of those at the north, are com-
pleted, he intends to send out parties to kill and plunder
revery direction. The natives say he openly expresses
determination "to continue to kill white people ;
eeil?rilt.,en he is himself killed, he may previously have
Eph• ett a great utu. He is determined to continue
; he will never end."
f . e have thus endeavoured to give a succinct but
ealthful narrative of the events of the past week. We
not pretend to decide where responsibility rests, but
it must rest somewhere. Te linupataba, in a communi-
cation lately received from him, distinctly states, that cn
their visit to Perinia last week he said to Major Rich-
ullicoa 'sad Major Last, " an attack will be made on the
utt ; when you reach (Wellington) take precautions ;
concentrate the people."* Major Richmond was re-
peatedly, deliberately warned, from various quarters,
that an attack was contemplated. What measures were
adopted to ward off the blow ? What is intended to be
done ? The natives have engaged heart and hand
with the settlers from motives honourable to both
parties, and their present conduct is the most satis-
factory refutation of the calumnies so often repeated
by those who, wishing to excuse the conduct of the
local Government with reference to the land claims,
have asserted that the settlers of Cook's Strait were
the oppressors of the native race. We do not repeat
idle reports,. we are satisfied, from our sources of in-
formation, that we express the honest sentiments of the
peat majority of the natives in the neighbouring dis-
tricts, when we say that in thus committing themselves
to this contest, of which they could have remained un-
cncerned spectators, they have been actuated by a sin-
good-will towards the settlers, and a desire to up-
cere
ml`"n the supremacy of the Government—that they have
ade common cause with us in a spirit of justice, and for
Maintenance of peace and good order. They know
that Rangihaeata is actuated by a savage thirst of blood,
that
heail insatiable desire of destruction—that he is at the
edc f a band of robbers and murderers, the outcasts of
ry tribe, who herd together for every evil purpose,
avid that the safety of the community depends on their
being pi t down. They know that he has only 200 men
et the uttermost under his command, that at present
hthere is little probability of his being reinforced. Epuni
hs 250 v, arriors armed and eager for the fight, and
e Ngatiawas at Waikanai and Queen Charlotte's Sound
who will join them number 600 more. We repeat,
what is intended to be done ? Will the authori-
ties take advantage of the present feeling of the natives
in their fas our, and crush this common pest, or will
they suffer their zeal to grow cold by inaction and delay?
We wain them—for the public good, and the present
erisis requires us as public journalists boldly to proclaim
the truth—we warn them that the natives are unable to
account for the delay that has already taken place. They
say if it had rested with them, not one would have re-
turned to Rangihaeata to give an account of the conflict
on the Hutt, and that if it had been their quarrel they
Would have ended it in a week, and they su the
peke ha to be afraid or unable to defend himsepplose f: We
Wave them of the mischief occasioned by the westing
,e precious time—of the reports which the emissaries of
rgihaeata will circulate to our prejudice—of the eft eii of these reports at the north, exaggerated as they
Ueibe in their progress. We warn them that the mur-
wfLut the Gillespies was no common crime, to be dealt
.4" by the ordinary tribunals. It was a deliberate
challenge by Rangihaeata. The challenge was repeated
whoa the beats were fired upon at Porirua—it was re-
t)!'ated when Gillespie's but was burned, the day pre-
lOas to the attack, although the authorities remained
•
naceuainted with the fact—it was repeated in charac-
tbe ers 0s blood on Saturday.
Permitted Bangßangihaeata will
cel ed to con!plete his defences, and deal indis-
. nsitiate rain and destruction through the land, or be
st!acr:.ally arrested in his career, depends entirely upon
time is
they make of the present opportunity. The
the 1i Pig• God grant we may not have to record—
time is past!

In consequence of the report of an attack on the camp,
thee Lheriff, in the absence of his honour the superinten-
. dent (who had gone to the Hutt without leaving any
instructions behind him) called a meeting of the settlers
on Saturday afternoon at Barrett's Hotel, for the pur-
pcse of adopting measures of defence. Mr. Revans bay-
it g been called to the chair, Air. Lyon said that he had.
bt en requested by the sheriff to explain that the magis-
trates had, in the absence of his honour, requested the
oitcer in command of the militia to call,
out the whole
of that force, and that they had applied to Captain
Stanley, of the Calliope, to land the marines and small-
arms men.
Mr. Vincent and Mr. R. Davis then moved a resolu-
tion that a deputation should wait upon his honour to
ascertain what steps he intended to take for the protec-
tion of the town;
colt,entl and that Captain Daniell, Mr. Boul-
e and Mr. Lyon, should form such deputation. The
gmen named, however, immediately declined wait-
ing upon his honour on the ground that Major Rich
char
Mond had proved himself utterly incompetent to dis-
ge the duties of his office, and had so grossly neg-
lected the warnings given him that they deemed it not
Inerely useless to hold any communication with him, but
that they were unwilling in any degree to induce a be-
lief that any confidence could be placed in the superin-
tendent. Other parties were then proposed, but they all
declined to form superintendent. part of any deputation to his honour the
lO° Sunday last 1, large canoe with thirty natives,
'Wed with provisions, for the supply of Rangihaeata
andr his band, was seen in the eastern arm of rorirua
garbour, approaching his pa. The police-boat immedi-
• The following is the original of Rauparaha's letter:—
" Kihai i mate nga pakeha na kua ki atuano au ki a te Riti-
Mona raua ko te Rati kei Heretaunga te huiki ai, e tae, kia
1491119 ilighigil ittli Pp Palssillun