The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-01 00:00:00

THE LATE DISASTROUS FIGHT

IN NEW ZEALAND.

The following additional particulars of this melancholy
..tfair are taken from the Sydney Star of the Ist of August.
After publishing the dispatches from Colonel Despard,
• ilich appeared in our Saturday's impression, the Star cun-
t "awes :

The names of the killed and wounded of the non-commis-
sioned officers as yet known are as follows :
The 58th Regiment.—Killed—Sergeants Halliday, Morrow,
and A. Wilson ; Corporal William Stewart ; Privates Davis,
Claxton, Punchett, Goodrum, Fisher, Norton, Reynolds,
Payne, Sutton, Doherty, Leech, Molloy, and Anderson. Two
sergeants and 33 rank and file wounded.
The 99th Regiment.—Killed--Grenadiers Todd, Martin,
Moran, J. Hill, Watson, Pope, Macgrath, Maher, Noble,
Hughes, • Eaton, Hicken, Mosely, Stocks, and Heath.
-Wounded—Crane, Dowse, Edmonds, Farren, R. Hughes,
Spencer, Swan, • M'Cormack, Thomas Marten, Bridges,
Crawley, Mark, Couriers, Duncan, Flynn, and Murray.
Ensign O'Reilly's wound is of a very severe nature, being
in the elbow, and if amputation is avoided, the power of
bending it is destroyed. Lieutenant Johnson had an exces-
sively narrow escape ; a ball struck the peak of his cap, the
edge of which caused it to glance off ; Major M'Pherson's
wound is in a fleshy part of the thigh, and it is rather
singular that Captain Grant had only a moment before he
was shot struck off with his sword the head of a New Zea-
lander. His tleatli occurred just as he was entering the
second palisade, and it is singular that before the action he
had a presentiment that he would be shot.
Now let us come to the dreadful commentaries that are to
be added to the Colonel's dispatch, which we take from an
Auckland paper.
The gallant leader of the brave grenadiers of the 58th Re-
giment, Captain Grant, was killed, and afterwards roasted and
eaten by the natives.

Ana er of the wounded, one of the 99th Regiment,
Who fell into the natives' hands, was actually roasted alive,
his cries being distinctly heard in the camp. [This
horrible story is not confirmed in the original ac-
count, and is entirely at variance with the humane
character Heki has hitherto manifested.] Lieutenant Phil-
potts, of the Hazard, was killed in endeavouring to force the
inner works of the pah, and scalped by the natives; his
body was, however, obtained afterwards by Archdeacon
Williams, an eye •glass, and a small portion of his hair were
the only relics that could be found of him.
Lieutenant Beattie, who led the forlorn hope, had died of
the wounds he had received.

The chief Nopera, or Noble, of the Rarauwa tribe, who
had joined the stanch ally of the British, Waka, had his
wife surprised and taken prisoner by some of Heki's party,
and then most barbarously murdered by them, and her body
cut in pieces.

By the 10th of the month, some guns and ammunition
having been got from her Majesty's ship Hazard, then, and
then only, it seems a hill was discovered which overlooked
the fortress ; and then, after so much blood had been spilt,
so many barbarities and atrocities at which the life-blood
curdles within us, was the cannon got to where it ought to
have been before a shot was fired and the pah taken. This
we gain from a private letter, dated the 10th, which states—
"On Wednesday (the day before yesterday) we found a way
of getting our large guns to the top of the hill, not far distant
from the rah, and firing down upon them into the deep holes
they had made in the ground to shelter themselves, a num-
ber of them were ilestrpyed, and in the night, which was
dark, thay evacuated the place, and had gone away two hours
before we knew of it, and they were then too far off to follow
them in a country where there is nothing but continued wood,
and no roads."

The account further adds, that four pieces of cannon had
been taken, the contents, with some potatoes, of the pah, and
that Heki's colours have been secured ; and a postscript,
dated the 14th, three day's before the Velocity's sailing, an-
nounces the troops having returned to Waimate, the mis-
sionary station, where they were tolerably housed and com-
fortable.
The accounts given of Mkt were, that his forces had been
divided by a part proceeding to a pah twenty miles to the
southward, and which being situate on a mountain was
almost inaccessible, and was being fortified with every
possible strength. This was to be his place of retreat,
and rallying point for the disaffected natives, as well as
the traitorous Europeans who were supposed to have joined
bis standard.

Since the forezoing was in type, the Herald, and other
sources, have put us in possession of other documents, and al-
tEough it appears that Colonel Despard did subsequently
give a description of the pah' his account was not written
until private communication had been dispatched ; and we
do not therefore see any reason to cancel the observations
we have already made respecting his remissness in commu-
nicating the particulars of this extraordinary fortification.
This tardy and late letter of the 12th is equivalent to no
communication at all, particularly when it is considered that
a full description of the pah had been given in a private letter
two days previous to the Colonel's dispatch, and suspicion
will arise that if somebody had not busied himself in the
mater what little account the Colonel commanding has
owed would never have appeared in the Despard dispatches,
documents which will be remembered when Wellington has
been forgotten, but not till then.
We give the letters in the order they occur:—
"Camp beforeneki's Pah, July 11.
" Sir,—ln my letter of this morning, four o'clock A.M., I
had the honour to acquaint you that the pah was in'our pos-
session, and that the enemy had retreated to fastnesses
amongst the hills, about ten miles distant, where it is, I be-
lieve, impossible to attempt to follow them.
"The enemy was unable to carry off his guns, and we have
taken three iron ones on ship carriages, and one more was
found disabled in the fortress. _ _ _

" There is no doubt that it was the fear of another assault
being made after the renewal of offensive operations yester-
day that caused this retreat.
" In conseqeence of the alteration in the state of the affairs
here since my letter by the Velocity, I have taken upon my-
self to suspend the sailing of that vessel until your further
instructions are received.
" The quantity of provisions stored in the captured fortress
( potatoes) exceeds anything I could have formed an idea of.
" One report in camp is, that the principal part of the
envoy have dispersed in different directions ; but I have so
little opportunity of gaining correct information, that I
scarcely give credit to any.
" I shall proceed as rapidly as possible to pull down and
burn every part of the pah.—l have, &c.,
" 11. DESPARD.
4"ro his Excellency Governor Fitzroy, Auckland."
"Camp at Home, Heki's Pah, July 12.
" Sir,—l have the honour to acquaint you that the total
destruction of Ifeki's fortress was commenced yesterday,
and will be completed this evening, fire having been applied
in every part of the stockading, and all the woodwork burnt
down.
" The strength of this place has stkruc me with astonish-
ment, and I feel convinced that some European must have
had the direction of it.
"Independent of the double stockade, many of the timbers
of which were twelve inches broad, by four and six thick, and
sunk three feet in the ground, there was a ditch within the
inner stockade about five feet deep, and the same broad, which
was crossed by traversers at every five or six feet, with a
narrow communication between each that would admit
of only♦ one man passing at a time. Deep holes were
sunk in various parts of the interior of the place,
and thick embankments of earth were thrown up around
Mimi; and some of them were strongly stockaded besides
with heavy timber, which enabled the garrison to remain in
them, without being endangered from our shot ; and it was
only after the guns were raised to a considerable elevation,
on a hill about 350 yards distant, that we were enabled seri-
ously to molest them by a plunging fire, which entered those
underground habitations.
" I cannot venture to attempt following the enemy into
the interior, as the season of the year is so very unfavourable,
and there would scarcely be a possibility of my obtaining
supplies. I shall, therefore, break up from this camp on
Monday next, the 14th instant, and return to Waimate.
" The guns taken consisted of two iron 9-pounders, one
iron 4.pounder, and one iron 2-pounder swivel.—l have, &c.
" 11. DESPARD.

" To his Excellency Governor Fitzroy.
"P.S. As I had no means of carrying the captured guns
with me, I gave orders that they should beblown up."
Subsequently it appears a pah belonging to one of Heki's
adherents, situate at about six miles distance from the British
camp, had been evacuated on the approach of the troops.
The concluding portion of the letter shows the enemy we
have to contend with.

" Waimate, July 16.
"Sir,—l have the honour to acquaint your Excellency that
the pall belonging to Ilaratooe, about six miles from this
place, was totally destroyed by the troops under my com-
mand this morning.
" I marched hence before daylight with 200 rank and file,
two gam, and a proportion of the volunteer pioneers and ar-
tillery men, and on our arriving near the pah the enemy
evacuated it and retired through a very thick wood, where
pursuit was out of the question. The enemy had set fire to
a bridge over a difficult river within half a mile of the place,
which we found burning.—l have, &c., " 11. DESPARD.
"To his Excellency Governor Fitzroy, &c."
To this may be added, a private communication, giving
an account of two pahs--

" Waimate, July 16.

" We had the opportunity afforded us of observing how
well-skilled these savages are in the science of defence; their
stronghold was a perfect warren—houses urder ground, a
triple row of stout fencing, strong enough to resist six-pound
shots, two of which were found sticking in one of them ; the
apace between the fences deeply trenched, affording shelter
to the defenders, and also the means of firing low and with
'correct aim..
"Another pah near this place was destroyed by the light
companies of both regiments, accompanied by forty of the
96t12 mid the friendly natives. No lives were lost on either
side;: a bowie fell into our hands, and an old woman, and
.abundance of potatoes."
The late accounts also, give an account of the manner in
-which Heki received the wound that prevented his being
prese,tt at the late battle. It seems that a few days previous
to the arrival of the troops at Koororarika, Heki made a
sudden attack on the tribe of the friendly chief Waka, in
-which he was completely vanquished ; his general and some
of tha troops being killed, and he narrowly escaped being
taken prisoner himself. It is gratifying to add, that the pre-
vious au:Aunt given of the remains of Captain Grant being
burnt, is totally incorrect, as they were subsequently found,
and unmntilated.

W. may expect further intelligence her
be wi
convinced
of the state of the war
1)y an early arrival, ande earnestly hope that the Execu-
tive will by this time
that
that the day for half
measures has passed; and
ta force commensurate with
/the claims and exigencies ofe unfortunate
e service must be forthwith
th wised and draughted into colony. Until an
adequate number of troops, well
Tipped and duly appointed
'with the ministers of war, shall brought in contact with
the insurgents, there can be no ho of effectually quelling
them. . Our country cad never endureil thelen disgrace of being
islanders must be re-
foiled by rebellious barbarians; the
is
duned into submission, and with as little de
fury arrangements will admit of. In this colony' as the netes-
aforce com-
petent
to assure to us a successful terminatio
of
cam-
paign might be rafted in an exceedingly shortee w
iteitme e
darnation of indulgences; if all military u ,
abarth-
with pardoned and draughted into the regiments
pruners enlisting be assured of a ticket of leave, all tickets
l
of lelive of a conditional pardon, and all others promised the
tioveraor's intercession for a freee pardon. a numerous and
ejective battalion might be raised almost immediately,with-
out the expense of one shilling of bounty-money; and there
are now many young gentlemen of good family who would
gladly volunteer their services on receiving subordinate com-
missions in the colonial service.
The only hope we have at present is in the operations of
the two friendly native chiefs `'aka and Nopera, the seizure
of the evacuated pah tells nothing in favour of the com-
mander of the forces, but rather evinces the military skill of
twheislanders, who show a disposition to profit by experience,
hiell'it is most desirable that the British commander would
imitate; but from him we expect nothing which would be
creditable to a veteran soldier ; his measures have shown him
to be ignorant of the common tactics of the field, deficient in
every advantage '
. which experience bestows, and wholly de-
stitute of the military genius. whieh might tend to supply
the want of these uiditi
eieti
e.i opratci.
It. is said that Colonelcln Thedoes not intend any imme-
diate attack againstmeasures that have been
take. in the colony are. that 280 of the 58th Regiment are
to prock,ed to New Zealand, for which
purpose the detach-
meats at
,411oretonaly It 1 a
..athuest
are called into head-