THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1881. THE GOVERNOR AND TE WHITI.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2142, 6 January 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1881. THE GOVERNOR AND TE WHITI.

The contents of the letter forwarded by the Governor through Captain Knollys to To Whiti is now public property. The text of it was given in our yesterday’s issue in the form of a memorandum from the Government to his Excellency. The Governor’s proposals for the arrangement for a meeting go in the direction of conciliation as far as, perhaps, is consistent with the dignity of his high office, and, as his suggestions have been scouted, he is little likely, as hinted at in a certain quarter, to go up to Parihaka on his coming tour and interview the prophet among his savage surroundings. The terrible example of Sir George Grey at Te Kopua must hang before the eyes of any magnate who is at all inclined to make himself cheap among the Natives. The late Premier, it will bo remembered, after waiting in vain for an invitation from Tawhiao, and after sidling up in the direction of the place, under pretence of turning a sod of the Waikato-Hamilton railway—having, by-the-way, previously turned another sod at the other end of the said railway—at last determined to go couie que coute. The barbaric and christie-minstrel-like splendour of the Maori potentate and the undignified attitude of the Sir George will long be remembered. Tawhiao was surrounded by gendarmes dressed in white, with painted faces, the chief soldiers having firemen’s helmets and scarlet waistcoats, and into this miscellaneous and variegated crowd sneaked the then Premier and the Native Minister, uninvited and nnwelcomed. So much for the position of a high official who sinks his position in the eyes of the Natives. The To Kopua precedent is not an encouraging one, and it is not likely that Sir Arthur Gordon will bo ill-advised enough to run any risks of this nature, oven if ho felt inclined to humour tho prophet to the utmost of his ability.

And now that the matter is before the public in black and white, it is time to turn to the extraordinary fabrications that appeared in our contemporaries of

Gloucester street, emanating, of course, 1 from the usual source in the Empire City. I The method in which “ our special correspondent” doctors up his little fables is, from a certain stand-point, admirable. No writer of fiction can draw more heavily on his imagination when there is the smallest peg on which to hang a story. Given a Governor whose role it has hitherto been to protect Native races, and in such hands the remainder follows. From this time forth until such time as a merciful Providence exhausts the patience of the “special’s,” employers, and the public at large, a series of ingeniously constructed fabrications may be expected pivottingon two central figures — a philanthropic Governor and a despotic Premier. The philanthropic one will, of course, bo backed up by the Home Government, and the Premier will always bo shielded by a debauched section of the press. As the Special’s canards dissolve, ono after the other, into thin air, now ones will be constructed with equal rapidity on the same basis. All these stories will be enlivened and coloured with personal anecdotes, and not the slightest shame will be evinced when it is proved to demonstration that the Governor and the Premier are acting perfectly in unison, and' that their united endeavours are directed towards closing the Native difficulty at the shortest possible notice. The Special’s manoeuvres regarding Captain Knollys’ mission are very amusing. The Governor’s aide-de-camp was, according to him, sent without the sanction or oven knowledge ef the Ministry, in consequence of special instructions given by the English Government to Sir Arthur Gordon, The authorities at Homo wore inferred to be in a state of rampant indignation at the treatment of the Maoris by the Hall Ministry. Although Exeter Hall has not stirred in the matter, and although the English press at largo has, in every particular, backed up our present Ministry, the Governor was stated as being authorised to act in this particular affair both arbitrarily and unconstitutionally. When the Special’s story was proved to be utterly false—-a consummation certain to be arrived at sooner or later—without a moment’s hesitation that worthy shifted his ground slightly and brought out another canard with the rapidity of a Haselmayer. “ I have it,” he says, “ on apparently good authority, that the Governor has been in communication with a well-known Pakeha-Maori residing in the Manawatu district, with a view to sending him on a mission to the Maori King, Tawhiao. The special object is not known, but, presumably, Sir Arthur Gordon is acting on instructions from the Imperial Government.” That this assertion bears on the face of it the impress of untruth, makes no matter. The “ Lyttelton Times ” has already swallowed so much from its “ Special ” that there is no apparent reason why it should not swallow a great deal more. It has a “ boundless stomach,” and it likes its viands to be highly flavoured. In fact, its digestion is perfect. Gentlemen with sound digestions and no conscience are proverbially stated to be long lived. If the saying applies to journals our contemporary should, by all rights, live to the age of a journalistic Methuselah,