THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1881. AFFAIRS AT PARIHAKA.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2379, 17 November 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1881. AFFAIRS AT PARIHAKA.

The small section of the public and the Press that are opposed to the Government Native programme have had a somewhat hard time of it of late. They have been somewhat in the same position as Dr. Gumming has been with regard to another and a more serious matter. A few years ago Dr. Camming—we do not know if he is still at work on tho prophetic interpretation line, indeed if he is alive at all—was always showing, by the clearest possible proofs drawn from the Scriptures, that the end of the world would take place at some very early date, and he went about England lecturing on this stirring subject, using such a sleepy delivery and exhausted manner that those of his audiences who did not fall off into total slumber were profoundly impressed with the idea that the lecturer’s vital energies must have been consumed by the contemplation of the tremendous mysteries about which he was discoursing. But, unfortunately, tho “ tips ” —if we may, without irreverence, so call them—of Dr. Gumming “were for such very early dates that the public were almost immediately enabled to discover that his theories were all moonshine, and the unfortunate Doctor was forced, from time to time, to shift on for a short period the day on which it was infallible that he himself and his occupation would be prematurely put an end to. In like manner the hostile critics of the Government have been from day to day prophecying that affairs at Parihaka are hopelessly muddled, but the day when the fiasco was to take place has coma and passed and everything has gone off most satisfactorily, and then the Opposition has shifted its ground and declared that the very next operation would he the one over which tho Government would fail, and so these critics have proceeded from time to time, always shifting on the date of the real breakdown of the policy, until those of the public who have not gone to sleap over tho dreary newspaper articles—articles which Dr. Camming in his most lugubrious moments might be proud of—written in support of these theories, are in a spirit to be greatly amused at the shifts to which these prophets of evil are reduced. The frightful loss of life that was to taka place at the storming of Parihaka was the first item discoursed on; but, thanks to the precautions used, the pah was surrounded and captured, tho only casualties being that three of the stoutest volunteers were affected by the heat. Parihaka having been taken, the Opposition declared that tho Government were in a worse fix than over, for they could do nothing unless they took the whole of the 2500 Natives prisoners. But the Government has of course done nothing of tho sort. It has merely seized those leading men who are principally responsible for the late events, and it is now engaged in sending off to their various tribes those Maoris who have nothing to do with Parihaka, but have been merely attracted there by what may fairly bo called the To Whiti superstition. Of course now days of wrath for the Government will shortly be discovered by tho Opposition, but, after two such notable failures in tho prophecying lino, it is hardly likely that the public will take much notice of what is said on the subject. It is declared, for instance, that tho Natives at tho pah will have no food to live on, and so on. But it may bo safely assumed that the Government which has carried tho affair so far to a successful issue will see that tho Parihaka Maoris are amply provided with all they may need. If their cultivations have suffered on tha

one hand, on the other tho numbers in the pah will have decreased ; but in any ease the Opposition had better at once commence getting together materials for a new fiasco, for most certainly there will be found to be still less in this than even in the two previous ones. The fact of matter is that the Government plans have been matured with tho greatest care, and with a view to mooting almost every ■ possible eventuality. Government being in possession of sufficient power and resources to carry their ideas into execution, have worked out tho problem with an accuracy and a thoroughness which has taken the Opposition completely by surprise. Tho latter have been picturing difficulties as the solution of which had already been worked out by the former. Indeed, no greater compli-

ment to the Government could possibly have been passed than the lugubrious prophecies of their opponents. When Hannibal started to cross the Alps, no doubt the opposition scribes in Carthago wrote scathing articles on papyrns as to the folly of the scheme. When ho had arrived safely on the other side wo may bo very sure the scribes were not one whit the better pleased.