TAWHIAO ON CIVILISATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2305, 18 December 1889, Page 2

TAWHIAO ON CIVILISATION

Refevrlng to Tawbi»o'd reo^nt proolama'ion, Mr James Mtokay to a letter to the i: Now Zealand Herald " nays : — Ab regards the offensive Btatement about an inferior raoe, 1 may state that einoe the retnrn of T*wb!ao and his com panl< ns from England, their Ideas of the •dvantagea and benefits of olvllieat'on have not increased; I aaw Tawhiao at Wh«tlwh*tihoo before be went to England, and asked him the objeot of hfs proposed visit. Ho expUlnait it to me ; »nd I said • (( If yoa go as a Maori chief you may perhaps see the Qaoen ; If you go as King of the Maoris you nlll notsao her. You will perhaps have Interviews with some of the Qaeen's Mluhtera; some Engliah rang,atiras will treat yoa kindly and make a great deal of yoa. However, the answer you *»U1 xecelva wl\l be * there is a Government m New Zealand and yoa are repress: ted In the Parliament of the colon y, and you must go there foi redress Id the matters yoa complain of.'" I>n the retnaa of the Maori party I i asked Reveral of them if tuy words were not t ue. To this they assented. I then inquired their opinion about England, and received the following reply :— '•Eng'aad Is a fine oou try, t\vd there are wonderful things to be seen la It. We saw many 1 . men who owned largo quantises of land, aud had more mane; thaa they aonld spend, grand hooses, numerous servants, In faot all thny cauld deeire. But we also s&w men In London dressed In rpgi, begglog and swejpia^ orosain^s, who slept at night under houses, on doorsteps, or anywhere they oould. TneJie men hod no hnnies and uo land at all. Now, where Is there a Mtorl who doaa not own & plase oflacd, or whu has n;t a right to put up a bouse for himself ? You Europeans killed men inwtr, and a? We understand, you; to'tared them to do>th m oonaoquenoe of differences In religion. Weaino kil'ed men la war a d oco*BlonaHy tortirad a murderor whon wi caught him. We ate man, you did not, that wai all (he d fferenoe between ua. You were so horrl Gad iit our oannlbal practices that you rnt mlß3lonarleß to prevent the continuance of that oastom. Now why did not your missionaries atop at home, and ameliorate the condition of the p»upers of Enghnr ? (Nga tangata rawahore o Ingarama,) We were fighting and eifclng people m tim ■of war, bat (n times of peace we eaoh had our lands and our houses,"