MR HOBBS ON NATIVE AFFAIRS.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1668, 25 June 1879, Page 3

MR HOBBS ON NATIVE AFFAIRS.

AUCKLAND, Jane 24. Mr Hobbs in his speeoh to the electors at Otahuhu, said his main impression had been that Sir Gh Grey was to accept the portfolio of Native Minister, as well as acting as Premier, and he might say there was no one more fitted to administer the Native departmenfc. He was undecided, however, when the Hon. Mr Sheehan went to Parihaka and demanded the surrender of Hiroki, the murderer, coming back afterwards looking rather foolish. He was satisfied that Sir Gh Grey would do nothing like that. The war, which now seemed inevitable, and which he believed would be the last Maori war, might be traced to that Parihaka meeting; for there could be no doubt that the effect of it was to give Te Whiti an inflated idea of his own importance. He (the spaaker) had gone to the Native melting at Te Kopua in order to see and hear for himself, and he wat obliged to admit that it had a very depressing effect upon him. He could assure the Government that they ought to place a person on the frontier to give them reliable information, and to act with fidelity. True, Mr Grace had been recently sent there. He was a good Native scholar, but then his timo was taken up in giving orders upon the different storekeepers for goods of all kinds, and he thought, if the vouchers could be got, they would find that the Native meeting was a frightfully expensive affair. He believed Sir G. Grey did quite right in breaking it up, for there was no option. The King Natives would not go back to him. They never recognised him from the time he came until he went away, but treated him with contempt, especially the more fanatic Hauhaus. They seemed impressed with the belief that Sir G. Grey was the cause of all their troubles, and of the injustice of which they complained. He had spoken to old Manuhiri, (who used to live at the Mangarei, and when he asked the old chief the cause of his animosity towards the Government, Manuhiri pulled out from his breast a copy of a Government Gazette of 1863, which contained the notification by Sir G. Grey ordering the Natives to leave Mangarei. Te Wahanui was one of the finest specimens of a Maori chief he had ever seen, and at the meeting he Bpoke with great feeling though in a subdued tone. He said Sir G. Grey was their friend and the Queen their mother : but who parted them ? Te Ngakau also blamed Sir G. Grey, and the feeling seemed general. Wahauri had applied to Sir G. Grey one of the most insulting epithets to the Maori language—" He kuriinu toto," "blood drinking dog." His hearers knew that accusation was not true, that the Premier had sought to prevent bloodshed between the two races, and endeavored to conciliate the Maoris. The wisest step taken by Government was in bringing with them the Ngapuhi chiefs, whose loyal expressions had the effect of moderating the utterances of the Hauhaus. He (Mr Hobbs) was pleased to find a good feeling existed between the settlers on the frontier and the Natives. He believed the day was not_ remote when the latter would abandon their isolation. He had a long and interesting conversation with Eewi at the Northern Club with rospect to that chief's interview with the Government, and it was with the greatest surprise that he had seen the conversation between Eewi and the Governor reported almost verbatim in the "Star "on the same evening. He did not know where tha information was derived, but he could vouch for its correctness. Rewi said he was like a bush pig, and that Majors Mair and Jackson had taken him and had brought him to the Governor. The speaker went on at some length to defend Major Mair and Major Jackson from the accusation of attempting to thwart the Government. He was atrongly impressed with the sobriety and decorum preserved amongst the Hauhaus, and especially so when ho contrasted it with the drunkenness and what not that was going on all the time at Alexandra. It was his firm conviction that no man should hold the portfolio of Native Minister, or in fact hold any important office in the Native Department, whose political, social, and moral character wera not such a* to be a worthy example to the Natives. Mr Hobbs then went on to deal with the question of Native lands, and in doing so expressed the opinion thkt the Government was acting wrongly in determining to be the sole purchasers. The Natives should not be made the subject of exceptional legislation in this matter, but should be placed on the same level as European land holders. Of course the contingency of their becoming pauperß might be guarded against by making a certain portion of the reserves inalienable. This was the feeling of the Natives themaelves, and it was the sore point with nil of them. It was on the promise of the Native Minister not to interfere with private purchasers but to assist them, that his support bad been secured, for he had strongly condemned the action of the late Government in doing what was considered necessary to obtain a landed estate for this island. He di?a»resd with the practice of proclaiming blocks of land, for it inflicted peculiar hardships upon the settlers. A case in point was the narrative of a Tauranga settler. Facilities should he given to honest and respectable men for the acquisition of land, for free trade in these matters was his belief.