THE GLOBE. MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1880.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1831, 5 January 1880, Page 2

THE GLOBE. MONDAY, JANUARY 5, 1880.

When s really powerful sensation is promised to come off at an early date it is always well that the prophet should be sure of his facts. It is impossible not to moralize in this strain on looking back to the article which appeared in the columns of the “Lyttelton Times” just a week ago. In that strange effusion war between the European and the Maori was declared imminent. A thousand men under the command of Colonel Roberts, Y. 0., and accompanied by the Native Minister, were to take possession, before many days were out, of various points of the plains. “ Should active resistance be offered,” said our contemporary, “the operations will be of a particularly lively character; should the resistance bo merely passive the troops will be employed in rapidly pushing forward a military road towards Parihaka, prepared at any moment to throw down the pick and shovel and seize the rifle.” This and a great deal more in the same strain followed, and the Canterbury public was led to believe that the “ Lyttelton Times,” having obtained special information of a specially valuable character, was, in the interests of its readers, informing them that a crisis was at hand. A telegram, headed “War to the knife,” or “ Roberts’ on the war path, ” would hardly have created a greater sensation. It was so difficult to believe that our contemporary could have built such a fabric on the perfervid letters of a correspondent only. And yet such, apparently, was the fact. There does not appear to have been any solid basis for the assertion that the Government had intended to hurry on the ordinary march of events or to make such a ceup as would alone have justified the assertions contained in the article alluded to. That certain Armed Constabulary will employ their spare time in making roads, and that it is just possible that the Natives, being in a somewhat touchy condition, might come into collision with them, is the utmost that could he safely suggested in a warlike direction with reference to the Waimate Plains difficulty, but to broadly state that Colonel Roberts, Y.C., is to march with a thousand men on Parihaka is, we believe, a stretch of imagination which can only he thoroughly gratifying to the inventor of the canard and to the class of individual that gulps down all sensational items with avidity, regardless of their quality as long as they are fully flavored.

The sources, however, from which our contemporary apparently derives its Native information will perhaps render the presence of great sensationalism in its leading columns the less surprising. “ Our special correspondent ” among the Natives is, apparently, an individual whose tastes for the marvellous are not easily satisfied. Ho yearns after the Sensational, Like the courier of St. Petersburg, as depicted at the circus, he is ever metaphorically trying to ride four or six horses at once, as the case may be. Although no doubt meaning well, his heated brain builds up gigantic structures on the most shadowy foundations. For instance, the “ Lyttelton Times” adduces as an instance of the critical state of the times, the fact that Rewi had given a friendly bint to its “Special Correspondent” to abandon a projected trip through the King Country, it having been apparently persuaded that such a hint was of deadly significance to the European race at large. Now, without in any way trying to fathom the reasons] which induced Rewi to object to the presence of the representative of our contemporary, wo might fairly suggest that the said representative can hardly be said to typify the race whom ho enlightens and amuses. Of course readers at large would have been edified by the account of such a trip. Papers on “Rewi at Homo,” “ Tho King and his country,” and such like, would have warmed up the ordinarily stagnant flow of the current newspaper literature. A graphic description of Rewi among his household gods, with

plenty of local coloring, and a striking parallel or two, would have been pleasant reading. For instance, “ The grand old man, with his powerful and expressive features, seated on the ground, surrounded by his braves, reminded me of nothing so much as of the old Caffre chief Kokifusco, whom I well remember at the palaver held between his tribe and General Snooks during the Cape war of ’53.” A few comprehensive touches such as those, would no doubt have been delightful. But Bewi may bo of somewhat tho same opinion as Charles Dickons. Said the latter, “The very prevalent habit of kidnapping live ladies and gentlemen, forcing them into cabinets, and labelling and ticketing them, whether they will or no, for the gratification of tho idle and the curious, is not to my taste.” Rowi probably did not wish to have in the midst of his people a vivacious special correspondent with a photographic apparatus of strong magnifying power. But to assert that the hint given by tho chief contains germs of terrible import to tho settlers at large, is to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Mr. Bryce will no doubt be able to cope with tho present difficulty without bringing matters to an open rupture. A Commission, it is generally understood, will bo immediately appointed to inquire into the claims of the Natives. “Our standing army ” will make roads, but if there be a rupture it will bo caused by the Natives, and not by any strategical movement on the part of Colonel Roberts, Y.C., and his flying column.