handsomely placed at the disposal of the Governor of New Zealand during the troubles, and her services as handsomely accepted. She brings the news that an unfortunate determination of the Executive has been carried out, by the deportation, much against their consent, of the women and children from Taranaki. They had been landed at Nelson, where to the everlasting honour of its citizens, they were provided with food and shelter at the public expence. I am utterly at a loss to understand the reasons that influenced this decision of the authorities, which must be considered impolitic to the last degree. was in truth a craven policy, a virtual admission of defeat, for it must be obvious that nothing could tend more to influence the courage of the natives, and lower the spirit of the colonists, than this wholesale removal of their families upon any plea whatsoever.

It

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Henceforward Taranaki must be considered by our own act and deed, as nothing better than an entrenched camp, the natural consummation of a series of blunders. One of these, and by no means the least, was the proclamation forbidding the exportation of sheep, cattle, and other farm produce. And what was the result? Large quantities of various kinds of stock were utterly lost to the proprietors, and fell into the hand of the Maories. The justification for this arbitrary proceeding was, "that the cattle, &c., were wanted for the use of the troops,' who certainly have never benefitted by them, and remonstrances were of no avail. But for this proclamation, all or nearly all of the stock belonging to the outlying settlers might have been saved, especially that on the Tataraimaka block, whose proprietors have been great sufferers. One farmer there had just sold 300 head of fat sheep for the Auckland market, at twenty-eight shillings a head, and brought them in to Omata to be ready for shipment; these all became a prey to the Maories, as well as the rest of the stock, amounting to some 4,000 sheep, besides horses and cattle!

May 14th.-The Cordelia arrived to-day from Taranaki, she was out in all the late bad weather, as well as the Pelorus, which has suffered some damage. Captain Vernon gave me an amusing description of a grand promenade militaire, and expedition undertaken to punish the southern tribes, at which both he and Seymour assisted with a portion of their ships' companies. The story may be told in a few words. A thousand men marched some fifty miles, destroyed a few empty pahs, arrived in sight of one full of men, evidently determined to make a stand, upon which a council of war was held, and it was decided to return to Taranaki! Can it be wondered at if the natives become bolder, and more troublesome? But I shall refrain from any further comment on these proceedings, contented with the reflection that we (Nigers) are in no way mixed up with them.

May 19th.-The Caroline returned to-day from Raglan. I had become very anxious about her safety, having received no intelligence of her since she sailed, nearly three weeks ago. Her détention was owing to the impossibility of getting out of the Waingaroa river, till the sea on the bar subsided. She will now be completed with her armament, but precious time has been lost.

NO. 1.-VOL. XXXII.

D

Although my attempt to reach Waiuku in the boats failed, I have since seen quite sufficient of the country to determine my course, in the event of hostilities breaking out.

The natural military front of the district in my charge, is the line of country lying parallel to the lower part of the Waikato River, and extending from the Great South Road near Drury, to the settlement of Waiuku. Canoes can descend the Waikato with the stream, at such a rate, as to reach the Awaroa creek, in a day and a half, from the most populous native districts; four hours would then suffice for Waiuku, the Mauku, or Drury to be reached, and it would thus be possible for an advancing enemy to bring the intelligence of his own arrival, especially after a night march. In the event of such a contingency as this arising, it will be necessary, in the first place, to consider how instant notice might be given to the capital.

1st. Unremitting vigilance on the part of the outsettlers is essential. The bend of the Waikato at Mangata-whirri should be constantly watched, and in the event of an assemblage of natives, a messenger would, even on foot through the forest, have several hours start of any armed party that might proceed in canoes, the only means of transport, and be able to give the alarm at Auckland in good time. The establishment of beacon stations, where tar barrels could be burnt at night, or bells rung and signals made by day, together with a mounted patrol, would very much facilitate this service, and raise the country in a very short time.

2nd. A man-of-war ought to be stationed in Waiuku creek, with half her crew landed, and ready to meet any foe advancing up the Awaroa. It would not be difficult to find a strong position near the head of the river, upon which a block house could be built, it might be victualled from the ship, which would receive all her supplies by water from Onehunga. The Caroline could be stationed at the entrance of Drury (Slippery) creek, and with two of the ship's boats to patrol at night, ought to prevent any movement in that quarter.

3rd. An expedition should be organized as soon as possible, having for its object the destruction of every canoe on the shores of the Manukau. Those belonging to the friendly natives might be hauled up at Onehunga, and placed in charge of the militia there. With these precautions, and another armed vessel stationed off the Whau, I should consider this side of Auckland perfectly secure.

While I write this, a great meeting of the Maories is being held in the upper Waikato district, ostensibly for the purpose of deciding which side the natives are to take; whether Wirimi Kingi's claim is to be supported or not; but also to pay homage to a chief named Potatau, who is looked up to as a sort of king among them, although he is said to disclaim all idea of assuming regal dignity. A Maori flag is also to be hoisted, but whether in token of defiance, I leave those who profess to understand the native mind to determine. For my part I consider all these proceedings utterly childish, and quite beneath our serious consideration.

May 26th.-We have now been at this anchorage more than six

weeks, and I have hitherto had no reason to suppose that it was anything but perfectly safe, especially after the heavy gales experienced, which the ship rode out without starting anything. It was therefore with no little astonishment, that upon the flood tide making this forenoon, we felt her heel over four or five degrees, grind against something below, and shortly after she had recovered herself, the men at work in the copper punt brought a piece of the false keel on board, which had floated up alongside, showing that some damagehad been done to her bottom.

I was exceedingly puzzled at first how to account for this contretemps: the ground hereabouts was all soft mud when we moored, and both the master and harbour-master sounded carefully all round the ship, and could find nothing like rock within her own length. But upon mature consideration the cause was sufficiently manifest, and there can be little doubt that the rock, most likely scoria, upon which the ship grounded, has been gradually laid bare by the increased scour of the tide under her bottom, during the late heavy rains. This casualty is one of those which it seems impossible to guard against, except by periodically sounding under the keel with a rod, at high water, the necessity for which never entered into my head. But the experience will not be thrown away, should it ever be my fate to be again placed in similar circumstances.

Tuesday, May 29th.—I had intended moving the ship yesterday to a berth lower down the creek, where we anchored the last time we were here, but it was impossible to get a turn of the engines. The screw has been shifted, a serious crack having been discovered in one of the blades of that in use, new bearings have been put in, and all the glands repacked during our lengthened stay here, and it was supposed that the pressure of all four boilers was insufficient to overcome the friction, however by working the screw round all last night with the gearing, we were enabled to start to-day, and anchored about a mile below the White Bluff, abreast a little stream from which we can obtain our supplies, the distance from the Onehunga springs being now very inconvenient.

June 1st.—The attitude of the natives still continues peaceable, and if we do not molest them, there is little chance of their becoming the aggressors. Although I have not alluded to the subject before, I calculate, and feel convinced that I shall not be disappointed, upon receiving the most cordial co-operation and support of all classes of the community, in the event of our having to take the field. A finer body of men than the settlers in this neighbourhood it would be difficult to produce anywhere. They are full of fight, eager to show themselves equal, at all events, to the volunteers of Taranaki, who have already given proofs of what they can do, if allowed. A superb body of yeomanry has also been organized, who will doubtless be of the greatest service to my flying column, as they are most ably commanded; but with all these elements in our favour, I most devoutly trust not to be called upon.

June 7th.-The necessity for having our defeets made good has been debated during the last week by the Commodore, as the worm commits incredible ravages in these waters; and in the present state of affairs, as the Governor can afford to spare us, he has decided that the ship shall be docked immediately. Accordingly I received orders to proceed to Sydney without delay, and should have started to-day, but our best bower chain had caught a rock, and it was impossible to weigh the anchor in time to save the tide; we carried away five capstan bars and all our runners in attempting it. There was also a repetition of

the difficulty in moving the engines, but this had been anticipated.

At low water slack we hove taut down, but in tending to the flood the cable cleared the obstacle, and as the ship rose, the anchor came up easily.

June 8th.-After much delay and difficulty in turning the engines, we got away at 11 a.m., with a fine fair wind. At 12h. 40m. the pilot left the ship, and by 2 p.m. we were safe over the bar. Got the propeller up and put the fires out; there was some difficulty in drawing the shaft out, but the chief engineer has no misgivings of any thing being out of order.

June 10th.-The wind drew round to N.W. and N.N.W. as we got away from the land, and we experienced a heavy swell from S.E., probably the effects of a gale in Cook Strait. This morning the breeze declined almost to a calm for a few hours, and then shifted to S.b.W.

June 18th.-We have had a good specimen of what the Book of Directions calls a southerly burster, and I never wish to experience another. On the 15th, the barometer, which had stood very high for three days, began to go down, the wind gradually increasing, accompanied by a tremendous swell from S.E. About noon it commenced to blow from the South, and increased till its violence exceeded any thing that we have met with before, until noon yesterday, when the gale was at its height. The sea was frightful, but the ship behaved very well, and shipped very little water. On the 16th the jolly boat was blown clean away from the quarter davits, and the master met with an accident, which will, I fear, deprive us of his services for some time to come. In a heavy lurch one of the guns capsized, and took the first joint of his right fore-finger off, as if it had been done by a knife. My galley astern had a narrow escape too, having been so badly stove that it was a question whether her remains should be cut away or not; however, she has survived, and will I hope when repaired be as good

as ever.

Our other casualties were the dolphin striker (which was tongued two years ago,) carried away, and jib boom sprung, and a storm staysail blown out of the bolt ropes. The shot also rolled out of the racks, and one of them smashing the fairleaders of the wheel ropes, such a stream of water poured down my cabin that I was fairly afloat of course the ship leaked all over, decks, waterways, and top sides, and will require a thorough caulking.