A.—No. 7.

Reply by Captain Brassey to the Chiefs of "Wanganui and Rangitikei. Chiefs, —It is but little I have to say to you. By direction of the Governor and of Major Atkinson I was ordered to occupy Pipiriki, to keep possession of it at all risks ; I have done so, and would have done so had five thousand instead of the miserable five hundred who came up against me and my men been here. I appeal to the chiefs, Mete Kingi, Hori Kingi, and others, that no act of theft or outrage has been committed against any Native of Pipiriki. I perfectly agree with my friends as to Pehi Turoa, he is a traitor, who, if caught, should most certainly be hanged—made an example to all traitor Hau Haus. Of the other chiefs, of the leaders of this taua, against Tophini, Tahana, Topia, and others of Taranaki, of Taupo, of Waikato, I will not hold so bad an opinion, they never having taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen. As regards the graveyards on Cemetry Hill, I am sorry to have been obliged to occupy them, but the Hau Haus first took possession of them, and the safety of my people was concerned in the affair. Te Mawae. —Listen to this you Europeans and also you Maories, this is what I wish to do. I wish to do honor to the bravery of my valiant friend Captain Brassey. My love to the Pakehas who have been living at Pipiriki is very great, because of the murdering done by Pehi Turoa. But do not feel dark, O Captain Brassey, because I went away to the Weraroa. The Q-eneral left the Weraroa to stand, and for that reason I went. The Weraroa has fallen, and I have this day come back to you. We will sband up together at Pipiriki to fight against the Hau Haus. I will never agree to make peace with this evil tribe —the Hau Hau, but rather let them come to me as prisoners. I will not agree to make peace with them as free men ; only as slaves will we make peace with them. Te Ratana, Rangitikei. —I salute you my European friends. Ido not belong to this river; but when I heard of the traitorous conduct of Pehi Turoa my heart was very dark. We said to the Governor, we will go to the relief of Pipiriki; the Governor said you have Hau Haus in your own district, you had better go and defend your own homes at Rangitikei. "We could not bear to think that you were being murdered, so we left our wives and children, and came up to see you my European friends. Salutations. Kawaka Hunia. —This is the Ngatiapa. This tribe has not been engaged in any fight. I have (i. c., my tribe has) not seen this river since the days of my ancestors. The law of the Queen has now brought me up. The Hau Haus of the tribes are collecting in one body; let the men of the Queen also collect at this time. Listen to this my European friends, also let the edge of the Governor's sword go forth throughout the land to put out of sight the evil people. The good parts of the country take in winter —Rangitikei; the bad part of the country let it be taken in summer. This is all. * No. 3. His Excellency the Governor to the Right Hon. the Secretaey op State fob the Colokies. Sic,— "Weraroa Pa, Saturday, 22nd July, 1865. I have the honor to report for your information that Her Majesty's Forces, European and Native, at daylight this morning took possession of the Weraroa Pa. The enemy escaped yesterday evening, leaving fifty prisoners in our hands. No casualty whatever took place on our side. The events which led to this capture were as follows — Brigadier-General Waddy consented, as detailed in the enclosed letters, to establish a post of 400 men of the regular troops, about 900 yards from the fortress, to afford Her Majesty's Colonial Forces and Natives the moral support they were certain to derive from the presence of British Troops in front of the place. He further undertook to order a detachment of Artillery to the front, to take part if necessary in the operations which Her Majesty's Colonial Troops were about to undertake. These forces consisted of the following officers and men:—2s Wanganui Cavalry, 139 Forest and Bush Rangers, 109 Native (contingent), about 200 efficient friendly Natives, and some old men. Total, 473. Late on the night of Wednesday, the 19th, intelligence was received of the very critical position on which the force under Captain Brassey, at Pipiriki, was placed, although the full extent of the danger was not then known. It was evidently necessary to act as rapidly as possible with regard to the Weraroa Pa, as until that place had fallen it was impossible to detach any sufficient force to rescue the garrison at Pipiriki. Upon considering the position and defences of the Weraroa Pa, in so far as these could be ascertained, it was manifest that a fatal error of judgment had been committed in the construction of the pa, through which, if the assailants availed themselves of it, the defenders of the pa, if they did not escape at a very early period of the operations, must probably be nearly all captured or starved or destroyed, with little or no loss to the assailing party. The pa was constructed on a high point of land formed' by the junction of the Koie stream and the Waitotara river ; both of these streams ran through very deep precipitous valleys, but with tolerably broad level open bottoms. The front of the pa formed as it were the base of a triangle, one end of which rested on the Koie stream, the other on the Waitotara river. Where two other faces of the pa ran along these streams precipitous or very steep banks, of the height of probably three hundred feet, fell abruptly from the pa down into the valleys of the two rivers. The valley of Koie was about five hundred yards wide. The pa stood on its left bank, and on the left bank also of the Waitotara river. On the right bank of the Koie stream was a precipitous wooded ridge of the same height or rather higher than that on_ which the pa stood. This ridge on the right bank of the stream ran out much farther than that on its left bank, from its running into a bend in the Waitotara river. The right bank of the Koie stream, which afforded excellent cover for riflemen, thus commanded not only a great part of the pa and the banks under it, which ran along its own proper valleys, but also, to some extent, that part of the pa and the banks under it which ran along the Waitotara river.

11

CAPTURE OF THE WERAROA PA.