The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1872.

Evening Star, Issue 2844, 1 April 1872, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1872.

Seldom has political folly been carried bo far in the Colony as by the settlers of Wairoa. Had not the document published in the Evening Star been actually issued, no one could have believed that sane men cmild have penned and signed it—and, still less, that the editor "of a journal could have been found to encourage them in their rebellion—fur it is nothing iesa The

Government have had difficulties enough to contend with, but thus far they have overcome them. Their system of management of the Natives has been put to a severe test, and has been proved to be sound and successful. They have adopted a policy of watchful peace in lieu of open war. They have been anxious that the Natives should feel themselves secure of justice and protection ; and just as they have obtained evidence of the confidence reposed in them, a number of men terming themselves settlers, through the ■ Wanyamd Herald, state that they ai c prepared to resist carrying out this pacific policy by force. General Cameron was right when he asserted bis belief that the Colony required the presence of British troops to keep the colonists in cheek, and to prevent theii doing injustice to the Maoris. It is impossible for any Government to overlook such conduct as they have been guilty of. All that has been done towards the complete pacification of the country will have to be undone, if it is allowed to pass unnoticed. In the face of those threats the Government must carry out its expressed intentions. That which might have been abandoned had temperate language been used, must now be at all hazards ; for to change the destination of the Maoris because one hundred or five hundred men have said they will use their rifles to “ force the first “ Maori back or lay him low,” would be to acknowledge the inability of the Executive to carry on the work of government. If the constitutional education of the Maoris is to be completed, they must learn that the Government makes no distinction between white and black subjects:. that if it were wrong for a Maori to rebel, it is equally wrong for a settler to do so. These Wairoa men have placed themselves in such a position as to render sympathy with them impossible. They have suffered from the tolly of former governments and now they repeat it themselves. They complain of the district having been formerly ravaged by hostile Natives, and yet they declare war. They have outraged the rights of every settler in both islands, for they have tended to render life in the North Island insecure, and been reckless about laying expenditure upon the Middle Island for their protection. It is simply abominable that on no question of wrong of which the Wairoa settlers have to complain, the welfare of a whole Colony should be jeopardised. Nothing has transpired to create apprehension : never since the islands were colonised have Native affaire looked so healthy, and yet this is the moment chosen for a number of persons boasting of their courage to throw impediments in the way of further progress. It would be unjust to suppose, however, that common sense has altogether forsaken the North Island. Luckily there is some left: all have not terrified themselves with a shadow, like the men of Wairoa and the Editor of the Wa.wjantd Herald. In Taranaki and Now Plymouth the inhabitants are doing their best to counteract the damage done by holding meetings to express dissent from the sentiments expressed; and the Editor of the Taranald Herald, than whom none is better able to speak of Native affairs, writing on the subjects, says;— These foolish men are pursuing a course which must inevitably end in their own discomfiture, They have now undoubtedly come to an issue with the Government. Is the Government inclined to risk the peace of the West Coast by allowing these men to carry out their mad project ? Is the Ministry put in power by Parliament to govern the country according to. law, and to carry out the policy of the country, or arc the Wairoa settlers to administer their own peculiar native policy in their own district ? These arc the (questions that require to be solved, and the solution of them peculiarly affects our Province. We may state that within no period of our history have native affairs been in such a hopeful condition. Throughout the whole Province, without a single exception, satisfactory terms could now be made with the natives lately in rebellion; and what does this mean ? It means that by wise concessions on the part of the Government and forbearance on the part of the white population, absolute security to life and property may be obtained in the most remote parts of the Province. It means that large tracts of land will speedily come into the possession of the Crown with the concurrence of the natives, affordfng future homes for a large additional population. And yet this golden prospect is in danger of bein'* marred through the wrong-headedness of a°few zealots at Wairoa, whose peace policy consists in driving natives out of the district to whom the law gives an equal right with themselves. This folly must cease. The time has arrived when the Government, if it has any rospsst for itself or any concern for the p ace of the country, must call in the aid of the law to stop such dangerous and illegal acts. The only way to bring these ruffianly whites to reason is to tax their property to the amount of the cost of their folly to the Colony.

Political.—Mr S. Hutchison will address the electors of the Peninsula at Porfcobello this evening. The Warrior Queen.—This fine vessel is now ready to sail, and her passengers and luggage went down by the Harbor Company’s steamars this afternoon. A Hint.—The Nelson Colo mat says; —Dr Hector, it would appear, is of opinion that the Peninsula, by which Dunedin harbor is enclosed, belongs to the same geological formation as the t hames. Should a payable goldfield be discovered, water supply is not likely to be any jdrawbaek to its development. A Maori Hero.—For some time past Tito Kowaru has been hovering about.. the PaUa district, but not meeting with support from the settlers, has retired to his former security at Ngatimarn, forty m les inland of New Plymouth. He is s 'id to be willing to submit to trial if Colonel McDonnell will place himself in the same position. Distillation. —A late Gazelle contains the annual returns of spirits distilled in the colony. We hud that the amount distilled and bonded during last year was 58,952 gallons, and the amount taken out of bond for home consumption, was 29.221 gallons, and for exportation 14 gallons. Too amount remaining in bond was 32,038 gallons. A Good Start. The Saturday Half-Holiday Association has decided upon inaugurating the Saturday half-holiday by giving a concert in the Masonic Hall on Saturday next, in aid of the Benevolent Institution. This is certainly a good beginning, and we have little doubt that the public will show their appreciation of the efforts of the Association on behalf of a local charity by filling the house to overflowing. Princess Theatre. —Ou Saturday evening the “Gipsy Farmer” was played at the Princess Theatre, Miss Anstead taking the part of the Gipsy Queen and Mr Hydes that of Joe. The piece went off remarkably well, as did also “The Bonnie Fish Wife,’ witli which the evening’s amusement concluded. To-uight there will be a complete change of performance : “ Fettered,” a new piece will be produced, which is well spoken of. “The Irish Tutor” is to follow. Both Miss Anstead and Miss Jessie Raymond appear in the first and Miss Raymond in the lasti piece. We expect a full house. Rather Eccentric. —Mrs Du Cane, wife of the Governor of Tasmania, recently met with a somewhat singular adventure. , A daughter of Lord Lyndhurst, she inherits some of the strongly marked features of her father’s character, and is by no means a conventional grande, dame. She fakes an active part in the management of the hospital, nurses the sick with her own hands, shows a much greater partiality for bulldogs than for poodles, and is very fond of solitary drives in a sort of tilbury, ht-r horse being gaily caparaisoned a la Basse with a number of jingling bells. A few days ago she got into a neighborhood where she was not known, and pulling up to enjoy a lovely bit of scenery, found herself surrounded by a 1 group of children. “ Oh ! come here, here’s the circus woman, let’s find out where she’s going to put up the tent,” She tried at first to undeceive them, but they would not be persuaded ; they would have it that she was going to “pitch” somewhere near the village, and were eager to point out a good spot. At last she entered into the spirit of ■ the thing, allowed them to show her a convenient spot, and after hoaxing them with a graphic account of the wonders of her show, was allowed to drive away in peace. This little adventure has made her more enamoured than ever of her solitary drive?. She has found that as a “ circus woman ” she was more an object of interest than as the wife of a Governor, Vive la Boheme. — , Leaner. Public Works in Auckland.— ; The Cross of March 15 says : —Or Pollen, General Government agent, left Auckland yesterday for the north in connection with the public works to be carried ou in the 1 Northern districts. It is contemplated to commence forming, at an early date a series of roads to connect the various northern set--1 tlements with each other, and Dr Pollen will visit the various localities extending from Whangarei to Hokianga, and from the east to the west coasts of that portion of the province. An impression seems to have obtained currency that the Auckland and Wai- ' kato Railway is not to be made any further than Newmarket or to Ouehunga at farthest, for the present, ’Gris rumour is altogether 1 without foundation. The line of railway to Waikato was authorised by the General As--1 seinbly and the money voted. When Mr Carmthers came to Auckland the route had : been surveyed, and certain plans of the line 1 prepared, but not finally adopted ; and ’ when what is officially designated the “ walk over ” was about to be made 1 some misunderstanding arose between Mr Wrigg, the then resident engineer, and the 1 Government, and some delay took place in ’ the delivery of the plans. When the plans 1 and sections were at last obtained, the “ walk over” took place, when various alterations in the line were made. All the necessary measurements were obtained, the nature of the ground ascertained, the distance from ballasting, &c., but almost immediately thereafter Mr Carmthers had to leave for'the South. The various data obtained were taken with him, that he might work out the different quantities, &c., in order that the line might be tendered for. Without this being done no tender could bo made ; or, if one were made, such a large margin would necessarily be made for contingencies that the tender would both be unfair to the tenderer and to the colony which had to pay for it. He has, therefore, in what spare time he has had since he left Auckland, been busily employed in working out tbe different quantities, &c., from the data obtained on the line to Mercer, and we understand he has received a considerable amount of assistance in this work from members of Mr Brogclen’s engineering staff, and that in the course of some six weeks it is believed the whole line to Mercer will be contracted for. The present arrangement by which work is being carried on between this city and Newmarket was merely for the purpose of expediting the work that progress might be made at this end of the line, while the data respecting the remaining portions of the line were being put in such a form that as economical a tender as possible could be received. His Honor Mr Justice Chapman, the President of the Dunedin M utual lm- I

provemeut Society, will open the Session 1872 by delivering an inaugural address iu the ball below the Athentfum to-morrow (Tuesday) evening at eight o’clock. A lecture in aid of the Total Abstainers’ Union will be delivered by the Rev. Jas. Copland, iu the Oddfellows’ Hall, ou Wednesday evening, at eight o’clock.