THE LATE VICTORY OVER TE KOOTI.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2022, 28 October 1869, Page 2

THE LATE VICTORY OVER TE KOOTI.

The following is frqnp the Hawke’s Bay Herald of Oct. 8 : It is gratifying to be able to record such successes, and every praise for the same is due to Lieut.-Colonel M‘Donnell and the force under his command. That the difficulties of his position are great, every one who knows the Native character is aware. His foi’ce is—as Major Fraser’s was on the East Coast campaign—almost entirel}' a Native force. At the same time he has, as in that case, a small European body that is the life of the whole. It is composed of men who are acknowledged to be the pick of the Armed Constabulary, ready to go anywhere where brave men can go ; and experience has taught us that a combined force of this character, acting thoroughly in concert, can almost command success. That judgment, temper, and experience, are requisite in the management of such a force, no one who understands the position will attempt to question; but, under proper leadership, the experience of the past, as well as the events of the present day, show what can be accomplished by its means. And when.it is considered that, out of the 500 men composing Lieut.-Colonel M‘Donnell’s force, 400 are Natives, whose services are obtained at short notice, and who, when the necessity for their assistance no longer exists, can be discharged without further liability to the Colony,—the value of such a contingent can be truly estimated. There is one requisite which occurs to us in the employment of such a force, and that is, that the Native portion must believe in those who employ them—

they must have faith in the Government. Without that they become, as they did in the hands of the late Government, a useless and expensive encumbrance. So long as we can command their services, so long can we secure efficient services from our allies ; and, in the active and friendly aid they

are now rendering us, we have the best possible guarantee that they have an interest equally with ourselves in desiring to secure peace for the colony. Of those who assert differently we would ask, what else takes men like the Hawke’s Bay natives to the front ? Why should they at this season leave profitable shearing and other work for hard service in the field 1 There can be no other answer than that they view their interests as identical with ours. Nor should we forget that their readiness to take the field relieves the settlers of demands for military service which might otherwise be made upon them. We have heard that a small lot of local politicians, systematically seek to depreciate what is now doing. They say that the present successes over Te Kooti are nothing —that of course we should have successes —that he is a contemptible enemy and so on. There is, however, one singular fact and that is that the force led by Te Kooti is almost identical with the one which, with odds of five to one in our favor, it was deemed so creditable to beat at Ngatapa; and whose prowess caused the disastrous defeat of the Constabulary and Native Contingent, under Colonel Whitmore, at Ruakature, where the opposing parties met on pretty equal terms. When we hear now of this same enemy being thoroughly beaten on two occasions by Henare Tomoana and a few Hawke’s Bay Natives, we cannot help enquiring what it means ; and at anyvate it enables us to estimate the true value of a change of government, which has made such results possible. The whole Colony, we are sure, will receive with gratitude the intelligence of the recent complete defeat of Te Kooti, and will thank the Colonial forces of both races for what they have done.