THE Evening Star. MONDAY, JULY 19, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1935, 19 July 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. MONDAY, JULY 19, 1869.

The growing interest in Australasian affairs at Home is shown bythe columns of the Home News , in which several articles appear in relation to them. One, reprinted from the Times, is specially dh’ected to the consideration of the New Zealand war. Assuming the writer to express the mind of the people of England, the idea of receiving assistance from Home may be at once dismissed. The arguments against giving it are very strongly put, and some of the suggested inconveniences of Imperial aid 'are clearly unanswerable. But it may be safely said that the conclusions are based either upon misconception or misrepresentation of facts. It seems that the news of the defeat of Te Kooti and the dispersion of Tito Kowaru, led to the belief that the Avar was at an end. Such a notion could never have entered into the mind of one really Avell informed in Colonial matters. Natives may disperse after a defeat, but it is only to gain time. Like snarling dogs at bay they run away until their pursuers cease to follow, when they again assemble and the Avork has to be done again. The fallacy of the English writers is, that because the Colony contains 200,000 Europeans and only 40,000 Natives, it is not because we cannot, but because we will not thrash them into obedience that Imperial aid is asked. It cannot be denied that much of our present trouble is owing to the culpable negligence of the late Government. If ever Avar was invited, they invited it. It is idle to put forward such excuses for lax discipline and Avant of preparation as have been giA r en. It is no excuse for the uon-performanco of military duty to say that no adequate reward can be held out to a zealous commander to induce him to the necessary solf-atciilice. T cl this has been

affirmed. A greater insult could scarcely be offered to a man of honor. We have before condemned the culpable negligence of the Government, and quite agree with every remark of the Times on that point. But with respect to the distribution of the Colonists and their right to bear the whole burden of defence we diflei, so far as the Middle Island is concerned. The Times endeavors to prove that it is because the Colonists are too busy and too prosperous that Imperial troops are wanted. It is maintained that of the 40,000 Natives in the North, 20,000 are Friendly, and that only 800 or 900 are in arms against us. Supposing that to be strictly true, even those eight or nine hundred may put the Colony to a, most extravagant cost of defence. Perhaps, compared with the population of Ireland, the Fenians are but a very small number ; and compared with the whole population of Great Britain and Ireland, they are only a trifling fraction ; yet the up-rooting of Fenianism has cost the Mother Country a sum greater, we do not fear to say, than the Abyssinian war. But 20,000 insurgent Maoris ai’e one-thirteenth of our whole population, of which only one- fourth are in the slightest degree in danger, or would be at all interested in the result, were it not that the others are expected to pay the cost. In a lecture delivered in Auckland on the New Zealand war, by the Rev. J. Buller. a very good reason is shown why Great Britain should bear the cost of the Avar, and the Middle Island relieved from the burden. That gentleman has been some thir+y years in the Colony. He knew it in its beat days, before the meddling of the British Government led the NatiA’es to mistrust and rebellion. It is quite possible to dissent from some of his political views | and yet coincide Avith the conclusions Ihe has arrived at. DiA’ines are not often sound politicians, although there are brilliant exceptions, and, in cases like the relation betAvcen savage and civilised man, they are too apt to esti--1 mate the poAvcrs of government for good 1 or evil by the experience they have had : of personal influence. This peeps out i throughout the rev. gentleman’s lecture. 1 But the folloAving extract, in our i opinion, states the truth :

I know it is asserted, as a law of Providence, that tin- colored ivcc must disappear in the presence of the whites. But where is the authority for that assertion ’ Unhappily, it has too often been the case. May it not he rejicated here '! But, whatever he the ultimate issue of the present unhappy state of tilings—should even the lay of the last Maori be sung—there is still comfort in the thought that it was not hy the desire, neither was it through the conduct of the settlers that the Maori perished. it is time to give my answer to the question as to the responsibility of the war, and I will do so by an appeal to facts. I say then that the ■ mperial Government sustain t his responsibility. I accuse not the Government of any intention of this kind. I am persuaded that they took possession of these Islands in good faith, and sincerely wished to preserve the aborigines. In doing so, they petted and spoiled them. They were more than humane —they were even partial. Of no act of oppression can the Natives justly complain ; hostilities have been the fruit of mismanagement alone. From the beginning it has been a blunder, and that blunder is not yet corrected even by experience very dearly bought. I inter good government —government conducted on sound principles—there would have been little, if any, danger of a war. If it be asked what is meant by sound principles’ I reply, just those which in the olden days secured for the missionaries their great influence over the Maori mind—an influence by which they often went between contending armies, and effected reconciliation before a blow was struck.

But there Avcre other causes that operated powerfully to render the Na tives hostile, and these are enumerated thus;—

There is one thing on which, above all otho s, the V atives Avere a’ways sensitive, and that is—their land. This was a subject f great di-licacy. No doubt, it would have been the best, as well as the most simple way, to take possession of the whole counti y, and aboeate to the Native tribes such portions as were sufficient and best suited to their use. But this could not be done. Every acre of land had it- owner ; their own titles were often complicated; and intertribal wars were not uncommon because of disputed rights. Keenly watched by the sagacious eye of a jealous people, the most careful action was required in order to secure their confidence. Unfortunately, the policy adopted by the Government placed them in a false position at once. At that time there was a general desire to sell land to European rc-idcnts ; in all directions Native ehkfs were offering territory in exchange for foreign wares. Traders were rapidly increasing, because the country Avas safe. Thousands of acres had been bought, and a large extent Avas under negotiation, v.hcu Captain Hobson’s proclamation made it an illegal act for anyone to traffic with the Natives in the matter of land. At the ScAine time Commissioners were appointed, who held courts of inquiry into the merits of the purchases already contracted. This was a rk'ht stop so _ far as it went. The results of that inquiry rdicctcd great credit on the honor of the Natives of those days. One of the Commissi ners told me that the decision of the Court always turned on the testimnny of the Natives alone. But all hough they had the matter in their own hands, I hoard not of a case wherein they repudiated a bargain that had once been fairly ratified by them. It would not be safe now to trust them so far. The technicalities of law ivonld be put in the place of right dealing. There was one great defect in the design of that* hurt. Instead of awarding to the claimant all the land lie had honorably bought, his grant Avas limited t-i a given quantity, and the balance regarded

•is w.nte lands of the Crown, This served to irritate the buyer, and to perplex- the Maori. The former felt himself wronged, the latter silently questioned the right of the Covernmcnt to take what private individuals had purchased. They said, “If the Governor serves his own people in this way, what then may we not expect ?” Thus a suspicion of the ulterior design of the Governm nt was, at a very early period, awakened in the Maori mind. The proclamation also strengthened this feeling. It deprived the Natives of the acquisition of merchandise ; and they were led to ask on what ground the Government prevented them from doing what they liked with their own. This again was aggravated by the refusal of the Gov.Tiuncnt'"to buy certain blocks of land when they were anxious to sell. Much vexation aro<e out of tb s, and it was fostered by anarv traders, who, pointing to the flagstaff a’t'the Bay of Islands as .he symbol of British power, led Hone Heke to out it down. Thus began the war in the .North in 1845.