The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1876.

Globe, Volume VII, Issue 765, 2 December 1876, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1876.

We never had much faith in the class ofnewspaper contributions known now-a-days, pretty well all over the world, under the designation of “ Own correspondent’s letters. Of course there are exceptions, and those are of a notaablo character, as,'unlike perhaps other kinds of literary efforts, the quality of the communications in question knows of no medium; they are either very bad or else exceedingly valuable. In these colonies unfortunately the lower standard is the rule; correspondents’ letters at times, if not utter twaddle or inane penny a lining, being but too often productive of mischief by distorting facts to suit the bent of the writers’ mind, or to satisfy the political animus of others who may, for the time being, be associated with him. An instance in point occurred a few daysago which may perhaps deserve more than ordinary notice* One of those numerous “ Owns” (certainly devil’s owns, in journalistic parlance) who infest the purlieus of newspaper offices in Wellington, and who, now and then, essay their hands at disseminating hairbreadth pieces of news to journals at a distance, thought tho time had come to forward something spicy to a somewhat influential journal in Otago. The present aspect of Native affairs in the North was the 'piece do resistance selected by our friend, and this is how he handled it for the benefit of his patron’s bewildered clients far removed from the evil influences of Maoridom: —“ Sir D. McLean is very ill, and the Natives think it highly improbable that he will ever recover strength. Native affairs, in consequence, are all going wrong, and troubles are thickening fast. Arms are being imported at various Maori centres and gunpowder is being manufactured in several places. Our old allies the Ngatiporou, the Arawas, and Uriweras, say that they will never draw sword again in the white man’s defence, nor will they allow any European to pass in their country. All hangs on the health of Sir Donald McLean, as, should he die,

it is more than possible that every settler west of the Waipa river will have to seek fresh quarters. Should Mr Ormond become Native Minister in Sir Donald’s place, everything will go wrong. The peace of the colony, in fact, depends on the latter’s health, as for years past the Maori King has been concentrating around him the whole of the able bodied men of many tribes, as well as the whole of the discontented.” Now, could anything be conceived more absudly ludicrous than the above rubbish ? Talk of news, political, social, or otherwise ! We had been led to believe that this hydra with many heads, the so-called Native difficulty, had at last, been made to hide them, considerably diminished, in fact so humbled down as never to be able to raise them again. Parliament thought so, as the Government had led it and the country at large most emphatically to believe. It is all a mistake evidently ; the oracle has spoken, and we undoubtedly stand on the brink of another war ! Mr Ormond, who by-the-bye has been announced to take charge in a few days of Sir Donald’s Native and Defence portfolio, must now be prepared to reap the whilwind consequent —it must be assumed—of the wind sown by his predecessor. Some Otago papers, strongly imbued, of course, with Opposition proclivities, have taken the bait, and made the most of this extraordinary production of a diseased brain, one or two being rather ashamed of it since, apparently. The matter perhaps, is hardly worth noticing, the good sense of the public being quite sufficient to give it the weight it fully deserves. The joke—as such we are charitably disposed to treat it—is, however, too transparent and flimsy a one to deserve any serious comments, and as such we are prepared to leave it.