THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION. 
375 
Fifty men and horses went, about the 18th of March 1863, from Auckland 
to the Manukau harbour to embark for Taranaki, under Lieut. Pickard. 
On arrival at the beach it was found necessary to drive the horses into 
the water, slings having previously been placed on them; boats then towed 
them to the ship, which was about 500 yards from land, and the horses were 
hoisted on board and stowed away in the hold or on deck. 
On arrival at New Plymouth in Taranaki—where there is no harbour, but 
only an open roadstead with generally a high surf running—the ship anchored 
about f mile from the beach,' and the horses were hoisted overboard and 
towed on shore by men in surf boats, two horses being taken by each boat. 
Some of the horses were very unmanageable in the water. A mare was 
drowned, having got under the boat and then, while swimming away, been 
carried off by a strong current. 
The second troop and the guns followed about a week afterwards, and the 
squadron was drilled as much as possible in riding, carbine, pistol, and 
sword drill. 
The horses were picketed in a field until sheds were built to protect them 
during the rainy season which began about this time. 
The disputed land at Tartaraimaka was peacefully occupied by the troops 
in April 1863, but an ambush of natives having soon afterwards waylaid 
and shot down a detachment of the 57th fiegiment and two officers who 
were going to New Plymouth, hostilities commenced, and the mounted 
artillery were continually employed, as patrols during the night, and as 
orderlies during the day, between New Plymouth and the various posts in 
the province of Taranaki. 
These duties were most arduous, as the winter season had now begun, and 
incessant rains falling made the roads so slippery that horses fell continually; 
while in some parts the mud was so deep that the horses sunk in it and 
strained themselves badly. The field in which the horses were picketed 
also became so deep in mud that it was almost impossible to groom them 
properly. 
On the 4th June 1863, after a night march of 15 miles over a difficult 
country, a force of about 600 men accompanied by three 12-pr. Armstrong 
guns, the whole being under the command of Lieut.-General Cameron, 
proceeded to attack a position taken up by the natives on the left bank of 
the Katikara river near the sea coast and about 15 miles south of New 
Plymouth. 
As soon as it was light, the three guns were brought into action about 
800 yards from the Maori entrenchments, and covered the advance of the 
57th Regiment with such success, that hardly a native could show himself 
to fire until the 57th were quite close to the principal work, when the guns 
ceased firing and the entrenchments were stormed and taken. 
The bodies of the natives showed that the effects of the shell firing had 
been very great. The principal entrenchment was made on an entirely new 
plan to any before constructed by the Maories. No palisading was used, 
but a low indented parapet surrounded a few huts in which they lived. 
The Maories fired from a traversed ditch in front of the parapet, and a few 
fired over the parapet itself. 
The position taken up for the guns was most favourable for artillery fire, 
but the ground was very soft, owing to the recent rains; and the fern. 
