THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1879.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1679, 8 July 1879, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1879.

It seems almost hopeless to expect that the Government will, in the present Native crisis, act with any degree of firmness or vigour. And yet, to any ordinary mind, it would appear decidedly strange that Sir George Grey is unable to cope with the exigencies of the emergency, for, according to his own account, he has had upwards of half a century in which to develop his plans. Exactly similar circumstances having occurred in Kent under his personal observation some time during the early part of this century, it is obvious that the present state of affairs has not taken him unawares, and that his actions are the matured result of more tban fifty years of mental application. We feel bound to say that this lengthened incubation has resulted in the hatching of an administrative chicken both fearfully and wonderfully effete. In fact the chicken can hardly be said to be' endowed with any visible iife whatsoever. The settlers in the disturbed districts, and the settlers alone, have taken the Native question in hand: they have found it absolutely necessary to totally ignore the existence of the Government. What Armed Constabulary are to be found at the front have, to all intents and purposes, been ordered there through the action of these settlors, and with regard to the seizure of the " polical ploughmen," such an idea would, apparently, never have entered the heads of the Ministry if they had been left to work out the problem on their own lines. An interesting question might be raised as to what line the Government would have taken if no outside pressure had been brought to bear on them. As far as can be seen the "political ploughmen" might have ploughed the whole of the confiscated lands in Taranaki, and still Sir George Grey would have advised patiencoj bands of them might have hunted peaceable individuals through European townships and still this same patience would have been inculcated; where or when the limit of forbearance would have been reached it is impossibe to guess. • Who knows whether the Ministry might not have concluded by acknowledging the divino inspiration of Te Whiti, and shaping their course according to the prophet'sSJdicta ? Even at the present time, when affairs are commencing to take a more hopeful aspect through the exertions of the settlers themselves, the influence of the Government is not in a progressive direction. Instead of making the most of the present depression among the ranks of the Maoris, instead of firmly demanding the seizure of Hiroki, and proceeding with the surveys of the confiscated lands, they are still urging forbearance and <are absolutely reducing the survey staff at Taranaki and sending the surveyors to Nelson, considering that the present state of Native affairs renders it unadvisablo to keep them working in tho district. Cannot the Government see that now is the time to strike; that now or never we must assert the paramount authority of the laws that it will be worse than folly, it will be a crime, to wasto the preparations wo have made, and the sacrifices the settlers have undergone ? 'A telegram to be found in another column will show what support one section of our volunteers aro recoiving at the hands of tho Govern-

ment, and.-.this instance will illustrate numerous others. The Normanby volunteers are so utterly disgusted at the neglect shown towards them by .the Government, that many of them are already leaving, and, unless some change in their treatment is made, their corps will shortly cease to exist. No wonder that the settlers at Hawera passed a resolution on Saturday last tendering their hearty thanks to the public and Press of New Zealand for the moral support given to them daring their late action against Native agressors. A severer condemnation of Government than such a resolution it is impossible to conceive. The Hawera settlers evidently do nGt value highly the result of half a century's concentrated thought on the part of Sir George Grey.