Since that time we learn from the _London Gazette_ that the Victoria Cross has been awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel McNeill, of the 107th Regiment; to Assistant-Surgeons Temple and Manley, and Lieutenant Picquard, of the Royal Artillery; and to Ensign Down and Drummer Stagpoole, of the 57th Regiment, in recognition of gallant deeds done in New Zealand. The bestowal of the Cross on Assistant-Surgeon Temple, R.A., was a tardy act of justice; it was awarded to him by the unanimous voice of the army for humanely exposing his life to almost certain destruction in hurrying to the assistance of Captain Mercer, R.A., who was mortally wounded. This occurred during the attack on Rangiriri, the great pa or stronghold of the Maoris on the banks of the Waikato river, about sixty miles from Auckland. The Taranaki war began in 1860, and was carried on with various success till 1862, when it was supposed to be over. There was no truce or peace concluded with the enemy, but the settlers indulged the hope that they might now live in peace. On the 4th of May, 1863, they were roused from this state of false security by the report that two officers and eight men had been fired upon by an ambuscade, and all, with one exception, killed; this act was denounced as murder, but we must remember that they were marching through the enemy’s country with arms in their hands, and were thus almost inviting their fate. General Cameron wished to take precautions against such attacks, but the governor assured him that there was no danger, as the war was over. Then came the abandonment of the Waitura, the disputed territory, and, a month later, the battle of Kuitikara, in which twenty-five Maoris were slain. After this the province of Auckland became the seat of war. The governor issued a proclamation denouncing all the natives as rebels who should not surrender their arms and take the oath of allegiance within a week: the result was such as might have been expected; the Maoris cleared out with all their valuables, and fell back into the interior. Their forces were concentrated at Pokewu, or the Queen’s Redoubt, a place thirty-five miles south of Auckland, close to the Waikato river. Our troops advanced against them, and a battle was fought at Roheroa, a mountainous ridge, two miles south of Pokewu, where the insurgents had encamped and fortified their position with a series of rifle pits, from which they opened a heavy fire on their assailants as they ascended the steep declivity. The regiment opposed to them consisted of young recruits who had never been under fire before; for a moment they hesitated, and all might have been lost, if General Cameron had not rushed forward in front, waving his riding-whip and cheering them on to victory. He thus saved the character of a young battalion. The Maoris dispersed, and found refuge in the neighbouring swamps, leaving twenty-two killed on the field of battle. Their loss was not great, considering that the force opposed to