The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14. THE MAORI DIFFICULTY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 548, 14 October 1881, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14. THE MAORI DIFFICULTY.

It really bcems that we are to have no mat : ve trouble after all, and that the fanatical 'utterances of Te Whiti and Tohu, were to a certain extent misin•.t'jrprctod, 'and to a great extent mis■undcrstoo'.l, "by 'Europeans. It is one of the most remarkable 'instauces of the tolerance, and nlso of the wish to invest wiili importance, that characterises outage, that when atn-aniacal savage, makes a vague utterance, the people of the colony wait in breathless suspense till somebody pretends to have fathomed the meaning, which is generally of a most portetitious nature. It will be remembered how many brains were wearied in endeavoring to lay bare tho mystery that envelope! that terribl * sentence " the potato is cooked," and how that, and many other " words " of the great Maori prophet still remain unexplained. Now we have a certain theory regarding these cracked utterances to which so much importance is attached, that we .are almost afraid to advance. Our

theory is; that the native prophet, priest or Rangitiera that speaks them, knows no more about them than we do ; that with that intense love of hearing himself speak, which characterises the Maoris, (and is not solely confined to them) the dark orator after exliaupting the subject of his discourse, (if he has a subject, which is by no means, always the case,) talks a lot of mystical trash, which neither he nor nny one else has the least idea of the meaning of, rather than let the next speaker have a chance.

We of the south must remember the many interests involved in holding up the great Maori bogie to our wondering eyes. There are the neighboring settlers who would not object to a bit of the Maori land at a low price, and who know tha* they would have the sad duty of selling their stock to the troops at famine prices if a war should break out. Then there are a great staff of mystery men, such as interpreters, native land court officials, etc., etc., whoso income would cease to a great extent of the Ma-iri difficulty did ; and last, but not least, are the newspaper correspondents, including that marvellous romance writer connected with the Gloucester street thunderer, who, if you give him a chance at a dirty old Moari in a filthy flea infected ranpo whare, will throw three or four thousand words j a halo of romance, and the presage of another Maori war round him, almost betore you have time to ejaculate the storied words " Jack Robinson."

That the Maoris may at some time or other offer further resistance to our advance is undoubted, but that such resistance will take place at present is to our minds unlikely. The disciples of Te Whiti who passively allowed themselves to be made prisoners, have only recently returned home after a lengthy sojourn in the principal gaols of the colony. These men were active and intelligent, the flower of th 3 native raceand during their residence amongst us they must have had a good opportunity of estimating our vast power and the utter fruitlessness of any resistance they could ever hope to offer. < n their return to Maoridorn they must have told their friends of the wonders they had seen and imbued them with similar opinions, and it appears to us that Te Whiti and Tohu do not preach war, because they know that if they did some of their adherents might fall off.

A great deal of mischief, however? might be done by a fanatic few, who would blindly follow the prophet's dictate*-., and it is undoubtedly a wise precaution on the part of the Government to enlist a force sufficient to overawe the Maoris, and show them that we are fully prepared to put a stop to any nonsense. It is very annoying, however, that a lew vain natives, should have the power at any moment, to put us to such unnecessary apprehension and expense, and if they do not aw/iko to the realities of their position they will have to be taught them. Let our dark friends relieve their feelings by making " kings, prophets and parliaments " in their country, but let them leave our settlers in peace, and not burden us unfortunate and unin terested southern ratepayers with fresh taxation by necessitating the support of a, large force to guard against senseless hostile demonstrations.