THE ENGLISH PRESS ON NEW ZEALAND AFFAIRS.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2008, 12 October 1869, Page 2

THE ENGLISH PRESS ON NEW ZEALAND AFFAIRS.

(From the European Mail.) The Spectator says “ The colonists of New Zealand, will certainly not be prevented from declaring themselves independent by the debate respecting them in the House of Commons. The disposition of English officials to treat their complaints with scorn and themselves with insolence was as fully displayed in the House as it is now in the Blue-book, which is from end to end a repertory of carefully-worded and apparent'y intentional contempt. The department evidently d slikes and despises New Zealanders. New Zealand, however, is filled with Englishmen, and .the Government did not even care enough to appear interested for five minutes. No Cabinet Minister thought the Colony important enough to require a word. We cannot but think that when about September it is known that New Zealand, despairing alike of justice, of sympathy, and of common courtesy at home, has claimed its independence and sought the protection of a Government not yet too decrepid to value empire, the amour propre of the British people will he wounded, as since the peace of Utrecht it has never been wounded yet ; that even this Government, powerful as it is, will wince under the question, ‘ What have you done with the British Empire ” The Standard cinnot think that the discussion in the House of Lords will be any more satisfactory to the colonists of New Zealand, than that which was held last week in the House of Commons. There could not be a more striking proof of the systematic neglect and indifference with which colonial affairs generally are regarded in this country, than that afforded oy the course ami result of ths speaking on Lord Carnarvon’s motion. The misplaced enthusiasm and singular blindness to the real point at issue displayed by the nolle mover himself, were aptly met by the flippant inaptitude and careless impertinence of the Secretary for the Colonies. Future historians who will desire to know' how a great Colony was lost, ami by what steps the loyalty of a kindred race was squandered, have only to read the deba'es in the English Parliament on New Zealand, Regarded in the true spirit, they are among the gravest signs of the present period of England. They prove that we have come to a stage in the growth of an

empire when the burden of dominion is felt to bo too great— when the policy of our rulers is directed, not to the retention of onr territories, even to those who hunger and thirst to remain a part of us, but to a general loose n : ng of bonds and universal disintegration. Lord Granville’s"attempt to show that it is for the colonists themselves to choose between a policy which leads to “ brigandage” and massacre, and a policy of conciliation, is utterly refuted by all the facts of the case. That choice, if it was ever with theCol.ny, has long gone far out of its hands. For the result, whatever it is, it is not the Colony but the mother country which is to blame. The dest ny of New Zealand has been shaped entirely by England, and it is preposterous, at th s e'evonth hour, when she is overwhelmed with the troubles of our creation, to reproach her not choosing a policy of conciliation. The Times observes that whatever errors the Home Government, cither acting _ by itself or in conjunction with the colonists, may have committed —and one knows of no great error except that of spending too much English money —they must bo considered as bygones. We have made the best reparation by giving the colonists complete independence of action. They are completely their own masters. Any policy with regard to the Maori which has been unjustly adopted by the mother country it is in their power to reverse. As for money, they have the Eower to come into the market and borrow ke other people. As to the suggestion of Lord Carnarvon that a commissioner should be sent out, as Lord Durham was sent to Canada, or Sir Henry Storks to Jamaica, undoubtedly the presence of an able and eminent man, enjoying the confidence of the Homo Government and the colonists might bo advantageous to Now Zealand. But it might also give rise to hopes and expectations which would tend to make the govern* mwnt of the colony still more difficult, and one cannot hut think that the proper person to report the state of the colony to the Queen or to advise the colonists in the Queen a name, is the Governor for the time being.