THE “TIMES” ON NEW ZEALAND.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2785, 20 January 1872, Page 2

THE “TIMES” ON NEW ZEALAND.

In its leading article of November 30, the Times, after referring to. the state of the Colony before the advent to power of the Fox Ministry, and its present condition, remarks ; Whatever objections may be taken on economic grounds to the financial schemes cf the present Government of New Zealand—and it must be allowed that Mr Vogel’s projects of loans and public works are startling—it cannot be disputed that the application of money and energy by the Ministry has been in the right direction. The Maori, who is admitted to be a fine type of uncivilised man, seems to be as remarkable for industry as for bravery, and the public works which, according to Mr Vogel’s plans,

arc to be rapidly extended over the whole of the Northern Island, sre likely to be constructed in a great measure by native labour. There is, as our correspondent observes, a curious and somewhat ironical significance in the fact that the Maori ‘ ‘navvy” who lends bis hand in piercing the bush or crossing the swamp with the road or railway. is fighting the obstinate independence of his rebel kinsmen more effectually than any regiment of redcoats that ever marched against a pah, or got entangled in a wilderness teeming with savage enemies. The work of opening up the iuacessible regions of the North Island to settlement and civilization will as surely be followed by the pacification of the discontented tribes as the opening of the Scottish Highlands after the victory of Culloden was followed by the reconciliation of the Celtic clans to the cause of order and Constitutional Geverment. It is quite certain that if the Imperial forces had still been maintained in New Zealand as the colonists unwisely demanded, and as some opponents of the Government at home ignorantly insisted—that if the duty of colonial defence had still been laid, contrary to all justice and wholesome policy, on the mother country, not one of the steps that have now been taken on their account by the colonists of New Zealand would have been adopted. The new policy, of which fnervy and self-reliance are marked featu es, is> beyond question, the direct result of the course pursued in spite of an angry outcry in the Colony by Lord Granville and his successor. Nor must we omit to reckon among the fruits of the policy of selfreliance the success which Mr M ‘Lean has experienced in dealing with the native tribes. New Zealand, now taught to weigh its responsibilities fully, and not to count vaguely on help from home, is treating the Maoris with a consideration previously unknown, and the native tribes, in consequence, are beginning to recover their confidence in European probity, and to engage in traffic with the colonists without misgiving. The progressive construction of roads and the projected extension of a railway system over the colony are giving an increased value to the lands held by the Maoris, who, no longer refusing to undertake steady labour, are tempted to sell their comparatively unused right over large tracts of bush which will soon he cleared and settled. A most satisfactory mea nro adopted by the Colonial Government is referred to by our correspondent which illustiatos not only the peaceful state of New Zealand, but tlie view that is generally taken of the utility of the public works. The Colonial force of “armed constabulary” raised to meet a sudden Maori outbreak, has, in consideration of “ the state of tranquility the country now enjo s which renders unnecessary in the field the employment of the colonial force,” been set to work upon the roads i« the vicinity of their depots ; and the Government has announced its determination to reward energy and talent displayed on roadways by individuals just as if they had distinguished themselves in action.” The Minister who dictated this order knows how to fight the rebellion better than any strategist or tactician the military academies of Europe could export to the Antipodes. By these methods, by encouraging immigration and granting laud on liberal terms to lurking sfettleys, the Government of New Zealand will soon make an end of what used to be called the “Maori difficulty.” Even now, when, so to say, the coloni t? have barely put their hand to the plough, the Colony is far more prosperous, far more secure, and infinitely more respected than it was when it drew a discreditable profit from our enormous and scandalous military expenditure on a system of defence which was at once ineffective and costly, and which we had neither the right nor the obligation to afford.