NEW ZEALAND

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE,

(PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON.)

Published by Authority.

All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signatures thereto annexed, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.

J. WOODWARD,
ACTING-PROVINCIAL SECRETARY.

VOL. XI.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 1864. [No. 30.

Report by His Honor the Superintendent of Wellington, of the battle of Moutoa, and subsequent events on the Wanganui River.

(From the New Zealand Gazette, July 20, 1864.)
Colonial Secretary's Office,
(Native Department,)
Auckland, 15th July, 1864.

THE following report is published for general information.

WILLIAM FOX.

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HON. THE COLONIAL SECRETARY.

Immediately on receiving intelligence on the 11th May, of an intended attack by the rebel natives upon the settlement of Wanganui, I made arrangements for taking up with me in one of the N.Z.S.N. Company's steamers some 25 men of the Colonial Defence Force, for the purpose of strengthening the troops stationed in the upper part of Rangitikei, which, as it is to, attack from the Taupo and Waikato natives, is perhaps the most vulnerable point in this Province. Owing to delay in the arrival of the steamer in this port, we did not sail till the evening of the 14th. On arriving at Wanganui the following afternoon, I found the whole population, European and Maori, in a state of great excitement in consequence of news having arrived early that morning, that an engagement had taken place some sixty miles up the river between the rebels (composed chiefly of the adherents of the new religious sect—or fanatics, as they are appropriately termed) and the friendly natives, in which the latter had gained a most signal victory. As to the details of the battle the most contradictory statements were afloat. The settlers were enthusiastic in their praises of their native allies, and the Maories, elated beyond measure with the success their friends and relations up the river had achieved, were prepared at once to clear the Wanganui River of all Kingites, and at the same time to march to Taranaki, sweeping all before them. Some hundred natives were preparing to reinforce their friends up the river. Having ascertained that our native allies were really short of ammunition and guns, and that it was more than probable that the Waikatos, Taranakis, and Ngatiruanuis, and other tribes, would at once muster in force to avenge the defeat and death of so many of their relations and chiefs in the battle of Moutoa, I determined to furnish the friendly natives with arms, ammunition, and food, and to proceed myself up the river with the reinforcement, taking with me Dr. Fletcher to attend the wounded, and Mr. Booth as my interpreter. I failed in procuring more than seven guns. Previous to leaving, having heard that the Ngatiapas were anxious to join the Wanganui natives, and that the latter were nothing loth to accept their assistance, I requested Mr. White to write to the Ngatiapas forbidding them to move from their district, and then explained to the Putiki chiefs that in the present state of relations between the Ngatiapas and Ngatiraukawas, nothing would tend so much to embroil them with the Ngatiraukawas as their seeking the aid of the Ngatiapas, it being well known that the Wanganui natives are backing the Ngatiapas against the Nga-