THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1881. NATIVE AFFAIRS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2284, 28 July 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, JULY 28, 1881. NATIVE AFFAIRS.

The Report from Officers in Native Districts, just laid on the table of the House of Representatives, will serve tc supplement the news received respecting the delhering up of arms by Tawhiao, Mannhiri, and Wahanui, at Alexandra, and their generally loyal demeanour in their tour through the European settlements. "Whether such delivery is an abdication of sovereignty on the part of the Maori King or a mere declara-

tion that there shall "bo no more fighting" appears a moot point, but take it in either sense it must be most gratifying to the Government to learn that their policy—a policy eo diametrically opposed to the meddling and muddling policy of the previous Government —has turned out so satis-

factorily. The mind of the House of Representatives must indeed have been somewhat prepared for pleasant tidings in this direction by the report we hare alluded to above, showing, as the various official statements contained therein do, that an exceptional period of tranquillity as regards Native matters at present exists. From Mangonui, north of Auckland, Mr. Kelly writes that loyal and obedient submission to our laws has, in general, been the characteristic feature of the Te Rarawa tribe. During the past year there have only been two occurences calling for any notice. The one was a disturbance amongst three hapus arising out of a dispute about land. This at one time threatened to become serious, and Mr. Kelly was summoned, if possible, to settle the difference. He managed to do so by the very simple remark, " What a way to be spending Christmas ! " The Natives were struck with the contrast between their own attitude and the associations of the season, and retired to their roast-beef and plum-pudding (or whatever may be the Native substitute for these delicacies) in a totally pacific frame of mind. The other occurrence was an attempt, as long ago as Juno of 18S0, on the part of the Natives of the northern portion of the district to inaugurate a new system of self-government, to be carried into effact by twelve men appointed at each of the principal settlements, who were to have power to hear and determine all cases of either a, civil or criminal nature, and no cases were to be taken into European courts of justice. " The chief cause of the disloyalties," Mr. Kelly reports, " arose from a strong prejudice on the part of the Natives to the dog and sheep taxes, actively being enforced within the district about the time, several Natives having been fined five shillings each and costs." Mr. Kelly, however, with the assistance of a few 6taunch Native friends, succeeded in stamping the movement out. From the other districts north of Auckland the reports are, on the whole, very satisfactory, two small Hau-hau colonies at Whangarei being the only bodies of Natives who have given any permanent trouble. For the Auckland-Waikato District, Major Mair states that " Maori matters sefiaa happily to have got into an easy groove." In May last, the annual meeting of the Waikato tribes, which lapsed in ISBO, was held. The assemblage was not so great as upon former occasions, for there wore very few people from the north of Auckland, and the more thoughtful Natives appear to be "beginning to tire of these affairs, which they say have no definite result beyond an enormous waste of food, and a succeeding season of semi-starvation."" However, the meetings are kept up principally with a view of bolstering up the importance of the Maori King. At the late meeting a general expression of opinion was given that land-selling should cease, and most of the chiefs present signed an agreement to make over all their lands to Tawhiao. Major Mair, however, does not think that this means the locking up of what is called the King country, " but rather that, as soon as

Tawhiao feels that he has the absolute control of the estate of his people, he will throw it open for lease lo Europeans for long periods." Major Mair also alludes to the occupation of the Hora-Hora block, in the King country, as being an event cf considerable importance, and as showing that the Native difficulty is gradually wearing away. This block was passed through the Land Court some thirteen or fourteen years ago, but in August last Messrs. McLean and Bailey, with the aid of a few unarmed constables, succeeded in taking peaceable possession. From the Thames, Mr. Wilkinson reports that the Natives in his district are well affected towards the Europeans, with tho exception of the Ngatihako tribe, who reside on the banks of the Waihou and Piako rivers. These people in the olden times were the owners of nearly all the land in the Ohinemuri district, but were dispossessed by other Natives long before the arrival of Europeans. But, although defeated, they were not entirely dispossessed of their territory, andj besides, they intermarried with their conquerors. They havo consequently taken up a social position to which they are not entitled, and they lay claim to land which cannot be substantiated. These claims are

in general successfully "opposed in Native Lands' Courts; and hence they have assumed a morose, and apparently unfriendly, attitude to everybody, and especially the Pakeha. Tbey shot at and wounded one of the party engaged in surveying the Pukebaugi block in 1579, and have since threatened Europeans who were sent to remove snags out of the Waibou river. They appear, however, to be amongst themselves a quiet and, according to tbeir own adopted laws, a

law-abiding people, and lately, when, as will bo remembered, one of their relatives was murdered near the township of Te Aroba the day after the races tbere in February last, and a Russian named Prokofii was arrested on suspicion, tried, and acquitted, these same Ngatihakos behaved extremely well. From Tauranga southward along the East Coast the reports are universally satisfactory. With the condition of the Natives on the west coast of the North Island the public is already well acquainted through the reports of the West Coast Commission and through the thorough ventilation of Native affairs in that quarter. It will thus bo seen that

the social and political horizon, as far as tho Natives are concerned, is almost This sa'isf' o ory state has been brought about in tho main by the firm and conciliatory policy pursued by

tho present Government. The Natives have not been courted and filled with an overweening sense of their own importance. Tho law has btea

vindicated where necessary, but there has been no theatrical display, and iha Maori has not been governed by tinsel and blankets. Before concluding we would wish to draw attention to one unsatisfactory point in the reports of the Native officers, namely, that referring to the education of the rising Maori generation. Nearly overy[officer complains that it is in a most unsatisfactory state. In many districts there are no schools ; in others intense apathy exists on the subject. It is to be trusted that in this respect the Natives will mend. If they are to fight out successfully their part in the national progress, they will need all the education they can get. It may be, perhaps, too much to expect that a people just emerging from barbarism should be thoroughly permeated with the absolute necessity of education, but it should be an instruction to the officers in the various districts to foster to the greatest possible extent educational institutions in the localities over which they have supervision.