THE Evening Star. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1929, 12 July 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. MONDAY, JULY 12, 1869.

No New Zealand journal can do full justice to the debates in Parliament, and give insertion to the reports of events more immediately concerning the tastes and interests of its readers. A full report of a single exhaustive speech, would occupy more room for several nights than could be spared in an evening paper, and were this sacrifice made to one person’s effort, it would fail to give the information necessary to form an intelligent opinion on the subject discussed. For this reason the labor of the journalist is much intensi tied. He has not only to make himself acquainted with what passes in Parliament, but to bring it down to such a form as not to tire by its tedionsnoss, and yet to do justice to those whose arguments are sifted and the pith extracted. Mr Cracroft Wilson has scarcely had fairness done him by the Press. “ It has told of his proposition to employ Ghoorkas in the New Zealand war in preference to other troops, but his reasons for seeking to have the aid of alien troops at all have not been stated. Premising that we do not agree ■with his views on the war question, an analysis of his speech will only be an act of justice to him. On the 30th ulto. he proposed a series of resolutions embodying the propositions: That a change is necessary in conducting Native affairs; that the North Island must be abandoned or the rebellion crushed ; that to crush it is the prudent course; that the Colony unassisted cannot do it; and lastly, that Her Majesty’s consent should be obtained for the employment of one British and two Ghoorkah regiments. On these resolutions the House’ went into Committee. Mr Wilson then stated his reasons for his conclusions on the condition of the North Island. He sees in the Maori King movement the source and perpetuation of Native troubles. Referring to any member who was of opinion that it is best to leave that movement alone, he said :—“ If he leaves the King movement alone, the King “ movement will not leave him alone ; “ and whether it is better to attack the “ King movement, or be attacked by “ the King movement, I will leave him “ to determine in his own mind.” In proof of this assestion he reverted to an interview between Sir George Grey and Wi Tako, in 1862, at which he himself was present, and at which His Excellency said to that chief, “ If at “ the end of three years you are not “ satisfied that the King movement is “ not bad in itself, and will be pro- “ ductive of evil, then you can “ return to the King movement “ again.” We need not encumber this analysis with the proofs adduced. The chief entered elaborately into his reasons for supporting the movement. Those reasons might justify to himself the erratic conduct of a savage: they might even commend themselves to the not very clear intellects of certain untaught reasoners amongst ourselves, as they were an unqualified condemnation of the Constitution of the Colony. But unfounded as were Wi Tako’s deductions, they disclose a phase in the history of the North with which many later immigrants are unacquainted. Amongst other sentiments uttered by the savage warrior to the Governor, in reference to the mode of conducting the war, was this;—“ Why do you “ come here to cut off the branches 1 “ Why not go to Waikato, and cut “ down the tree, or destroy it by clig- “ ging up the roots 1 You will find “ the tree strong and vigorous, and you “ will have great difficulty in rooting it “ up ; when the roots are destroyed the “ tree and all its branches will perish." One cannot but admire the beautiful imagery of this reply, nor be blind to its importance, if it disclosed the true source of the troubles that have become chronic. We have some difficulty in assigning a position to the spots indicated by the Native names, so that we cannot describe the exact whereabouts of the Maori King settlement, It may be sufficient for general information to state that the Waikato tribes are the principal upholders of it, and that Mr Parris last year stated that their head-quarters were at Tokangamatu on the Mokau River. The population of those tribes in the year 1844 was estimated at 1,699, of whom 630 were men—the rest women and children. Fourteen years afterward* they numbered only 1,369, and of those 410 were men. We do not know their present numbers. As the names of those tribes may aid our readers a little to understand future events, at the risk of being tedious, we will give them. —There were nine tribes, named as follows ;—Ngatitahinga, Ngatipou (Kahn) and Te Kaitutai, Ngatitipa, Ngatikarewa, Te Ngaungau, Ngatiwhauroa, Ngatirura, N. Koura, N. Naenae, Patukoko, Ngatimahuta, Ngatiapakura, Ngatihinetu. Ten years makes sad havoc in Maori populations, and

it is hardly likely that those tribes arc now nearly so numerous as at that time : but if we are to believe the statement of Mr Parris, their influence is still sufficient to support the King movement. Mr Wilson maintains that although thus far tl ic Maori King has not declared for war, “ Tawhiao and his ad- “ visers, secure in their neutral posi- “ tion in the Ngatimaniapoto country, “ are accessories before and after the “ fact,” to all the atrocities committed by the Hauhaus ; and he believes that all the neutral Natives “ south of “ Auckland protect our active enemies “in their advance, and assist and “ shelter them in their retreat.” Such are the opinions of Mr Wilson on the state of affairs in the North Island. If true, they form a matter for very grave consideration with us in the Middle Island. To enter upon such a war as men holding Mr Wilson’s opinions would plunge the Colony into, would be to saddle this Middle Island with a debt that would cramp industry and prevent development for many years to come. He, in a true soldier’s spirit, is for crushing the movement with a strong hand. He has no confidence in Native allies, for he affirms whenever they think their services ir.dispensible, they strike for wages ; or, if the danger be too great, leave the Europeans in the lurch. The debate is settled, so we need not enter into any discussion on the merits of the Ghoorkas. Others do not entertain the same high opinion of their cpialities as soldiers that Mr Wilson does. The only fault he finds in them is that they will not eat beef. He, as well as we, think them bad judges in that respect ; but were there no other objection, even their superstition as to feeding is get-overable. But apart from this discussion, we think the fears of Mr Wilson are exaggerated. As to the shelter afforded to the rebels by the neutral or even friendly tribes, we can quite believe it; and this forms a strong argument why war should be conducted on the defensive, rather than the aggressive, unless we are prepared indiscriminately to deal with every tribe as enemies near which a rebel force has passed in retreat, Maoris are so very like one another, that even a detective officer would not undertake to swear to which tribe a Native, under shelter of a neutral tribe, belonged. If England would undertake, at British cost, the task of asserting and maintaining the Queen’s supremacywell and good. If the people of the North imagine their property will be safer and more valuable by attacking the root, let them do so, but let the South Island be relieved altogether from the burden. Every phase of the Native difficulty shows how little its people are interested in the matter ; and though the Stafford Ministry is out —and, through the preponderance of South Island members in the Ministry, there is reason to believe a material change will be made in the conduct and expense of the war—the fact still remains that it is intended the Middle Island shall contribute its quota to it. Mr Fox is reported in the Colonial “ Hansard ” to have said—“ The gene- “ ral principle which we have laid “ down as regards the conduct of “ future military operations is this, “ that as regards actual war and the “ actual defence of the country, the “ expense ought to be a burden upon “ the revenue of the whole Colony. “ If, however, any special operations “ are necessary—such as the opening “ up the county by roads by means of “ Colonial forces, and works of an ana- “ lagous character which may not be “ within the reach of the ordinary “ revenue, of the country, nor of those “ temporary aids to the ordinary “ revenue, such as Exchequer Bills, “ Treasury Bills, and so forth—the “ Government are inclined to think “ that it may be necessary to raise “ money by loan, but for such works “ as will have in them some sort of “ perpetuitv. The interest and sinking “ fund in that loan, however, should be “ borne by the North Island." Those words require fuller comment than can at present be given to them.