Te Kooti's Return.

Meanwhile the colony, and more especially Poverty Bay, was thrown into a state of excitement by the news that Te Kooti, who had been deported to the Chathams in 1865, after the Waerenga-a-hika fight, had seized the schooner Rifleman and with a band of Hauhaus had landed at Whareongaonga. That was on July 10, 1868. The Europeans at Turanga and on the flats did not know of the arrival until two days later, and Captain Biggs called out the Poverty Bay Mounted Rifles under Captain Westrupp, Mr. Thelwall being amongst the number. The volunteers camped at the head of the Arai, and the first clash occurred on July 20, at Paparatu, on a field of snow. That was the opening shot in a campaign which lasted for many years, cost many lives, and involved an expenditure of thousands of pounds.