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PAPERS RELATIVE TO MILITARY OPERATIONS
No. 232. Lieut.-Colonel Moule to Mr. Commissioner Branigan. (Telegram.) Cambridge, 13th February, 1870. Mr. Vogel's instructions being the last received by Inspector Cumming, he will, of course, remain at Tapapa. W. Moule, Inspector, A.CF.
No. 233. Lieut.-Colonel Moule to Mr. Commissioner Branigan. (Telegram.) Cambridge, 13th February, 1870. The following letter received from Inspector Cumming this afternoon:—"Camp, Tapapa, 13th February, 1870. —I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your's of the 12th instant, directing me to remain at Tapapa till instructions are received from the Hon. the Defence Minister. On communicating this order to the Natives they distinctly refused to stay. They said Kemp and Topia have sent forty men to bring us to Tauranga, and go we will. I have therefore no alternative but to march. I have no doubt, however, the move will meet with the approval of the Hon. the Defence Minister; circumstances having evidently changed since the order to hold the fort was given by the Flon. Mr. Vogel. Constable Scott, of the Corps of Guides, is sent to Cambridge with the convoy, he being unable to march. I will march at 8 a.m.—George J. Cumming, Inspector." The surplus cattle and stores will be brought in from Hinuera to-morrow morning, and that camp abandoned. W. Moule, Inspector, A.CF.
No. 234. Mr. H. T. Clarke, Civil Commissioner, to the Hon. Defence Minister. Sir, — Tauranga, 13th February, 1870. I have the honor to forward for your information a letter from Lieutenant Gilbert Mair, reporting an engagement which took place at Ohinemutu on the 7th instant, between a small party of the Arawas under his command and Te Kooti's forces. I have, &c, H. T. Clarke, The Hon. the Defence Minister. Civil Commissioner.
Enclosure 1 in No. 234. Lieutenant Mair to Mr. Commissioner Clarke. Sir, — Ohinemutu, 11th February, 1870. I have the honor to make the following Report for your information. On 6th February, had a force out in the direction of Opoutihi, and another along the edge of the bush. About 11 o'clock a party of the Ngatirangiwewehi, came to the edge of the bush, and sent a messenger in saying that they were anxious to give themselves up. I sent a party of twenty men to fetch them in. The party consisted of ten men, eight women, and four children, under a chief called Pirika, one of their number. Te Rautakiri was suffering from a wound in the foot, received in the attack on Tapapa. From information received from these Natives, and forwarded to you, it appeared probable that Te Kooti might force his way through by the Taheke or Marirea; and as you were of the same opinion, I made arrangements for protecting both places as well as the small force available would permit. At daydight on the morning of the 7th, I had just detailed the men in the following order, viz., fifty men (Hans Tapsell's people) to guard the Kaharoa as far as Pakatore from the Taheke; fifty men for Puhirua to Waerenga Marirea and Ohau, a small party to patrol the Roria road, through towards Hamaria, and Ngatirangitihi and Tuhourangi to be stationed at Parikaranga, and patrol as far as Te Rae-o-horo-horo, when a messenger came down to me at Tc Auahori, with news that Lewis Baker (a stoker, lately deserted from H.M.S. " Rosario,") had come down from Paparata to tell the Ohinemutu Natives that Te Kooti was there with a large force. I immediately ordered the men up to Ohinemutu from Puhirua, and sent the Tuhourangi and Ngatirangitihi round to Parikaranga, to guard the road which comes down to that point from Paparata and Te Raho-o-te-Rangi-pieri, as I thought it most likely that the enemy would choose that road, besides which, in the event of his taking any other road across towards Kaingaroa, it would be very easy for them to get ahead of him. About 12 o'clock, the enemy surprised a party of Ngatiwhakaue women who were up in the wood getting food. They were fired upon, but made their escape. The enemy now lit large fires all along the edge of the bush,
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