TARANAKI.

Auckland Times, Volume 2, Issue 55, 30 January 1844, Page 2

TARANAKI.

The unhappy vacillating policy which has so long prevailed upon the subject of Maorie territorial dominion is every day, and in every quarter, producing its natural consequences. The miserable imbecility at Tauranga,—the impunity suffered to wait upon the interruption of Colonel Godfrey's court at Monganui, and the yet undecided views to be taken about the dreadful massacre at Wairoa—these, all have produced their natural consequences upon the Maori mind. The superiority in wisdom, skill, and disciplined courage, which were supposed to belong to the Pakiha, have become a bye-word and a reproach—or rather, a bye-word of contempt,—and unless more energetic measures are taken—not, God forbid, for the injury of the natives,—but, for the demonstration of our real and earnest capability, New Zealand ought to be at once abandoned. This is the opinion that every humane man and real friend of the native cannot fail shortly to arrive at. Every public step lately taken has been of a nature foolishly to teach the New Zealanders to despise us ; and it is the inevitable consequence of their national habit, and character—that contempt will bring on aggression and cruelty. Much has been done, well and wisely done, to regenerate their habits and principles but the basis upon which thus much good was effected has been, a display of our moral, mental, and physical superiority. Ever since the New Zealand Company and the British Government took a part in colonization here, these strong holds of our influence have been melting away. The New Zealand Company began by laying bare to the view of the native the gambling nature of the land-

schemes, and the Prdtectors taught the natives to look for a share of the spoil, which the European capitalists were to “ come down” for ; -that has had its effect upon our moral influence. The natives have Seen the lands they sold to Mr. Da ziel, and the property, so long by ti'eir consent, acknowledged as Mr. Fairburn’s, cut up, subdivided, and sold for the benefit of the Government in spite of every remonstrance ; this has not much improved the view they would naturally take of the dignity of British justice; The display made under the late administration of our diplomatic and military power has been fearfully effective in bringing us into contempt; and while we record the new outbreak at Taranaki, or New Plymouth, the Company’s newest settlement, we do most sincerely and urgently express our hope, that the local Government will endeavour, by a petition from the Council, or some other means, to make the dignity of the British Crown, a sacred security for the settlement of the Country— not piecemeal, but by the whole,—and thus set aside, in “one fell swoop,” the bickering and anxieties which prevent New Zealand from becoming what she ought to, and soon would be, “The Southern Brittanides.”

Taranaki, or New Plymouth, is now the disturbed district. This is the latest of the Company’s effective settlements, and we are informed that its European population consists of about 1200 persons, of whom about 300 are men. It appears that here, as elsewhere, there are rival claims to land, - not between British subjects, for the present system would soon settle that, by the Crown taking all—but between different tribes of the savage 3. T- e New Zealand Company have sent their settlers, surveyors, emigrants, Sfc., upon it, without payment, till the Commissi onprs decide upon these rival claims, and, in the mean time, the unhappy settlers are the shuttlecocks for either party, till the Company feel themselves secure in making the payment, or the Government feel disposed to decide the matter. In the mean time, the Maories come down upon the settlers 200 strong armed with muskets and tomahawks— and invest the place, with every possible insult short of actual bodily assault : the very name of the boasted Englishman (Pakhia) is with them a word of contempt. One settler, who had cleared his land and prepared it for a crop, is deprived of possession, and another, of whose allotment ti c best part was fourteen acres of valuable woodland, has bad the pleasure of seeing it destroyed. The settlement is in much alarm and have sent to Anckland a request for assistance ; but as it is supposed that the Governor, in the North Star, will be there before any thing useful could be done from here, it would be certainly unwise to leave Auckland without the protection which “ shadows before ” seem to make necessary for her own safety. If one could smile under such circumstances, it would be hardly possible to help it, when we add that the Taranaki folks have sold all their muskets to tbe natives (perhaps they have kept the powder),—but we saw an advertisement (perhaps a hoax) in one of the Wellington papers, stating that “ The Committee of management of public safety” had given out muskets to-the people for the preservation ot the p ace, without taking the precaution of having receipts for them, and, they wou'd be glad if all honest holders would acknowledge their responsibility, for they had found out that a great many of the people had sold them to the Maories ! It is bad! It is bad! ! -Are we adventurers? or are we British subjects, under the protection of the flag which has been accustomed “fora thousand years to brave the battle and the breeze.” We feel bound to notice in addition, that, it is reported to us, Mr. Campbell, the appointed Maori

Protector to this place, deceased some few months ago,-and that Mr. Creed, the Missionary whose‘professed flock this tribe of natives are, was treated with scorn in all his attempts at pacification, in fact-our very helplessness makes them begin to withdraw their confidence irom every useful scheme of colonization