The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2229, 29 June 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1870.

The Native - last iiigbt. shows that |S3c^i,..tth ? large, is not in a position to make any serious stand against the Colonial forces. He may have forty or fifty men with him, and there is the chance of liis dicing JoiuecT by Te Wauu with thirty more. Unfortunately seventy 01 eighty men bent On robbery or murder render the employment of ,ten times their number or more necessary to guard honest men from their attacks. Were they to shew themselves in fair and open |fight,' they would be easily disposed of, or were the marauders' in the backwoods-of'America they would be hunted to death. Every man capable of bearing arms would be on their track. Biit this is not the fashion in British Colonies, or at least in New Zealand! Hie mode’of settlement in the.North Island; has been for men, to occupy land, knowingly in a dangerous locality, in faith that they will be maintained- iii their holdings at somebody else’s cost. This is too bad, and should be remedied. It is too late now to lay down conditions for past mismanagement iu North Islaiid colonisation, but there should be koine ep'edFtic regulation, fop the, future., There seems to us no reason why forethought should mot Uie equally exercised iiC flOttlin| a coUiftry as in conducting business? ‘The doctrine .of; free.- selection, oyen for a township should not be adopted without reference to the consideration of willaffect the interests of. the remainder of the colonists; Why should men be allowed for their individual interests to place themselves in danger, 'under the idea , that they will b’e protected and maintained in possession of their property by othersj the cost of police protection is a serious matter. Hie financial’accounts of the; Colony of New South Wales disclose a heavy sum expended oh the pursuit and capture Of a single bushranger. Against such lawless characters no fore;thoitght can guard. ’ Most cohimonly such men are,fiie abnormal creations of civilisation. They have become what they are through an indulgence in’.lts pleasures;.and,a desire to escape its toils. Since their depredations are visited -indifferently upon every class of the community, and are limited only by opportunity, there is a ■common interest hi their capture, ahd therefore it is right it shpuld be effected at, a common expense. The .society oh wliicli they prey does hot go to them. It existed before'them, and is preyed upon by them. But in the colonisation of , the North Island of ,New Zealand tlie case lias' been reversed. Civilisation has jayaded the boundaries of barbarism, and those who expect to reap the profit are not willing to take the risk. But this is precisely what we, of the Middle Island ought to insist upon. To the North Island the danger is comtnjbn. f The temptation for jben to go and settle there, is that there is fertile soil, genial climate, and cheap land pasture for flocks' and herds. All these are very good things, but they Would- be in demand and more costly were it not for the drawback of an the integer; who, although now* reduced to eighty or ninety men, may break the boundaries within jwhichthey are-now hemmed, ,- outskirts of settled country when they are nbt expected. Since then the danger to which -the settlers are exf>o6fed is A common' ohd, the expense of defence ought t6 be ; borne in common by those ; Who bavd 'knowingly ibchped thdrisk r , ; Thisl,pv pnly equalising the conditions on which property is held’ in the two islands. In the Middle Island it is more valuable than in the North, or at least than in the risky portions ,of the North Island ; and the difference would bo greater were it not that, in the most inequitable manner, a tax has' been laid upon the South for NoHliern defence. „Were flie Southern Provinces in thp slightest degree,. involved in the danger* there would be a shadow yof reason for submitting to it. Had the Southern Provinces jointly or severally been consulted on a systematic plan of-colonisation of the North, and had agreed to become parties to it, or counselled its adoption, there-might have been a show of justice in compelling their assistance to uphold it. But nothing of the -kind has been done. The two islands have been united by an Act of the Imperial Parliament into a political partnership, and being thus called one Colony, although there is not the slightest common interest beypnd geographical contiguity, the Middle Island has been compelled to bear the weight of the burden of the Northern war. So far as commercial advantage is concerned, the City of Manchester has reaped far more frofo the union than the Middle Island. Our geographical contiguity renders such a federal unity of the Provinces desirable.as will enable us to do those

things that are really for,the good. lighthousep||)<ip’al taffi, graphic tion of op. Blit exfqppt against enemies, the cost of defence is iJ fact, a matter of -police ;• ondr as, each Province pays icist afi 1 xti-oWD. •polibd.Jit surely .as a principle, that. at any rate each island shall pay the cost of its own internal defence. There should be no mincing the. matter now. The North is 'veil able to bear the expense, if the. Middle Island speaks out determinately, it will be able to secure financial separation.