I do not suppose a more useless gang were ever got together, but then on paper they represent three hundred men. Well, the Colonel had asked for them, the Parliament had granted them, the town magistrates had enlisted them; and as the lawyers, merchants and others, who constitute a parliament, are quite ignorant of the requirements of a war, they are apt to imagine one man to be as good as another, so that you have only got to put a uniform on his back, and clap a rifle into his hand, when the miserable scarecrow must be able to at once do the duties of a well-trained soldier, or even a highly skilled bush fighter. In the meantime more settlers had been murdered, more farms burnt and cattle looted, so that Titokowaru and his tribe, the Ngatiruanui, having saved their crops, and being well rationed with stolen oxen, considered it was high time to begin hostilities on a larger scale. It was on the 9th June the aforementioned bushmen were murdered, and on the following day every one of our forts were more or less invested, so that it was dangerous to leave the shelter of the parapet, as on the 10th, a trooper, named Smith, having left the fort to catch his horse, was killed and cut to pieces before the eyes of his comrades, who were only able to recover his two legs, the rest of him being taken into the bush and eaten. The Hau Haus also made it lively for the despatch riders, making numerous attempts to cut them off, capture or kill them, while on the 20th June sixty of them made a desperate attack on the ration dray, escorted by a sergeant and ten troopers, at the same place where Haggarty had been killed previously. The escort, however, made a stout resistance, and being relieved smartly from the fort the assailants were beaten off with loss. I think I may here give you a personal experience of the pleasures of despatch riding, such as were enjoyed by the mounted portion of the colonial forces when engaged on that necessary occupation. It must be remembered that in those days we had no heliographs, and therefore all orders, letters or news had to be transmitted by horsemen riding from fort to fort, and the Hau Haus looked on it as great sport, trying to cut off, kill or capture the unfortunate whose duty it was to carry them. Of course their chief ambition was to catch the despatch rider alive, as then it would afford them much amusement in torturing him to death, though failing capture he was of value to them dead, as they looted his arms, and also procured good meat rations from his remains. Anyhow it was good sport, so, as they knew we were far too weak in numbers to attack them, they made up hunting parties to catch us. Fortunately most of the main road ran along the sea-beach and was fairly open, but when it was necessary to ride inland you had to pass through scrub, bush and long fern, in which they laid their ambushes, and it behoved the horseman to have all his wits on deck.