The Evening Star THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2260, 4 August 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 1870.

Te Kooti has escaped again. Hunted, harassed, and forsaken, excepting by some twenty men, it seemed hardly possible that he should get away ; but his cunning has once more availed him, and for a little longer he endures his doomed life. Were it not that the memory of his murders is e\er present to our minds, the romance of his misfortunes would tend ,to create sympathy lor him j just as one pities an old fox that has been hunted twenty times by the hounds, and has each time escaped to rob our hen-roosts and destroy our game. But it would not do to allow him now to rest. For two years back he has been the plague of the North Island, and it is necessary to the complete assertion of the power of the Government that he should be taken. The lesson taught will be, that no matter what success attends the first attacks of a semi-barbarous leader upon the lives and property of the Colonists —.though months or even years elapse ultimately he will be brought to justice. The Maoris are very slow at learning the character of the foe with which they have to deal. They have been accustomed to think, for years past, that they were superior to the settlers in the art of war, and they gave themselves airs accordingly. This fow estimate of Colonial prowess was based upon the division of labor that accompanies advancement in civilisation. They witnessed the Colonists steadily pursuing their various avocations ; one at his farm, another at his store, a third at his professional, clerical, or legal duties, and all these looking to the Mother Country to defend them. It did not seem to enter into their minds that men engaged in these various occupations could turn their attention to war with equal chances of success. They fought the soldiery in their own fashion, and when they were beat they ran away into the bush, and single out another point at which to make a stand. And so the game Avent on until the Colonists Avere left to fight their oavo battles. It Avas only then that our barbarous neighbors learnt Avhat sort of stuff Britons are made of. Their pahs, previously deemed almost impregnable, Avere stormed, taken, and destroyed ; the forest fastnesses, in which they trusted, Avere no longer strongholds, for they Avere tracked into them and hunted out of them. It is, in fact, a mere question of expense. Wisely, the Government has enlisted the Natives to act against their own countrymen. This has the double advantage of leaving the colonists free to follow their oavu occupations, and dividing the house against itself, besides giving occupation to men as friends avlio might otherwise have proved troublesome hostile neighbors. It is just possible that Maori cunning may be at the bottom of these namm escapes of Te Kooti, for if they catch him too soon their vocation is at an end. HoAvever that may be, Ave imagine that, sooner or later, he must be caught, and, though tardy, he will reap the reAvard of his misdeeds. Noav, these reflections are all very pleasing. They are as true as they are flattering to our superiority; but then comes the question, so far as the Middle Island is con-cerned--What advantage is this to us I No matter lioav lich or peaceable the North Island is, our taxation is the same, and our proportion of the revenue returned is no greater than before. Our object should be to relieve our selves of the cost of these benefit] css Avars. The statistics given by Mr Creighton show lioav Avorthless the land in the North Island is, compared with the Middle Island, and that the revenue of the Middle Island is absorbed in defending this comparatively worthless property. They have fought their battles at our expense—henceforth they ought to go to war at their oavu charge.