THE LATEST OPPOSITION CANARD.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2137, 30 December 1880, Page 3

THE LATEST OPPOSITION CANARD.

[By Tbub&eaph:.] [PKOH TUB OWN OOBEBSPONDEHT OP THE “PEESB.”j WELLINGTON, December 29. In reference to the journey of Captain Knollys, A.D.O, by the Stella, to Opunake last week, I have authority for stating the facts of the case to be these Following out the recommendation of the West Coast Commission, his Excellency the Governor, _ at ;the request and on the express advice of Ministers, consented to dispatch his A D.O. to Fariha'ka with the chief Hone Pihama, the latter conveying a letter from the Governor to To Wbiti, and Mr Hurathouse accompanying them as interpreter. The contents of the letter have not yet transpired, but will be inown in a few days, as also the result of the mission. Captain Knollys and Mr Hursthouse are on their way back to Wellington overland. They ware delayed at Opunake on their way up to receive some supplementary instructions which it was thought advisable to dispatch. I am positively assured that his Excellency and his responsible advisers are in perfect accord on this matter. The step was taken entirely at the suggestion of Ministers themselves, also, as I have said, on the recommendation of the West Coast Commission. This answers the absurd rumors of certain journals, which have inferred, and in some cases have broadly stated, that Oaptam Knollys was expressly despatched to Parihaka by Sir A. Gordon, in pursuance of certain private instructions received by him from the Imperial authorities in his • capacity as High Commissioner of Polynesia, which was alleged to be so elastic as to involve a sort of special ■protectorate over the Maori race. It was further insisted that his Excellency took this step in direct antagonism to the advice and wishes of his Ministers, with whom he had a “ most unpleasant scene, Ministers only yielding a) last with a very bad grace.” One paper says—“ The mission has been undertaken over the head of the Colonial Government, if not indeed in the face of an actual protest. On this latter poir t we may apeak with some certainty. The Stella was placed at the disposal of Captain Knollys, who was to have gone direct to Parihaka, but then wehear he was stayed by telegram. The purport of hie visit was to deliver a letter to Ta Whiti, which was translated in the Native Office. Ministers protested against his interference, but without avail we are told, and then gave their friends

to understand that Oapt. Knollys v eat OU hi* mission with their full concurrence. 1 <l ao ® B this imaginative paragraph in order to make my preceding explanation clear. It has also been alleged that the Governor has received special instructions from Govern* ment relative to the Maori prisoners, but this story is as fictitious as the other. Lastly, a now report is circulated that to suit Sir A. Gordon’s Fiji arrangements Parliament will meet earlier than usual, which is as untrue as the rest. Parliament will not meet earlier than it did last year, but probably somewhat later.