BISHOP SUTER AND MR ROLLESTON.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2414, 30 December 1881, Page 4

BISHOP SUTER AND MR ROLLESTON.

Tho following letter to tho editor appeared in the " Nelson Mail ” of the 19th inst.:

Sir, —An election boniest and various affairs adjourned in consequence have made me almost forget a duty I owo to Mr Bolleston and his colleagues and to tho public generally, in reference to tho suspicions circulated by Bishop Suter ns to the motives of tho Government in tho late proceedings at Parihaka. I have already given my testimony on the subject at an election meeting, but it was ono of which no report has reached any newspaper, and I feel sure you will not think that a further contribution to the discussion, though late, is wholly out of timo. I have not to hand a copy of telegrams and letters that have been pub lishod, but (hero can bo no dispute as to tho nature of tho suspicions which Bishop Sutor has thought right- to express. They amount to this, that tho Parihaka policy was either in substance or in timo of execution dictated by tho desire to win favour in the late elec lions.

Tho facta which I have to etato are simple, and no one but myself or Mr Bolleston, who is subjected to the charge, can apeak to f.hsm. Within a tow hours of tho resignation of Mr Bryce, who desired to carry out the movement nt Parihaka in tho curly part of the year, Mr Bolleston did mo the honor ns an old friend and associate in tho Native Office to ask my opinion on the question which divided tho Cabinet. My answer was very distinctly to tho effect that 't would be premature to take tho action proposed by Mr Bryce until further timo had been allowed to To Whiti and his followers to consider tho arrangements proposed hr tho West Coast Commissioners, Sir W. Eox, and Sir P. D. Bell, and then being carried into effect under the direction of tho former gentleman. I based my opinion on the success which attended similar arrangements made thirteen or fourteen yeare ago for a large section of tho Ngatiruanui tribe south-oast word of Parihaka, who had accepted reserves in their district, and have occupied or leased them since, living peaceably with their European neighbors on tho adjoining open land on tho coast between Waitotara and Waingongoro. I had no very sanguine hopes of so good a result in the cose of To Whiti and his followers, owing to tho long delay and equivocal action which had intervened since the date of tho confiscation, and to tho peculiar prophetic claims of Te Whiti and tho infatuated faith of his adherents ; but it seemed to mo that that very delay and action required further delay in order to put tho Government and colony perfectly in the right, and fully to justify the messurea which Mr Bryce proposed. Mr Bolleston concurred in the view, and dietinetly stated to me that he differed from Mr Bryce only on the question of time. Those facts, for which I can vouch, sufficiently show that tho policy itself was not adopted with a view to influencing the elections. But the time chosen, it may he still suspected, was chosen with this sinister aim. Let me recall to your readers and to Bishop Suter that between Mr Bryce’s resignation and resumption of office a period intervened when the Parihaka people abstained from obstruction, and during which tho men detained under the special Act passed for meeting tho West Coast difficulty were brought home and dismissed after a mild imprisonment and kindly treatment. A little later obstruction was resumed ; but the time for the meeting of tho Assembly was fast approaching, and it would have been unwise, not to say inexcusable, to take a course which might lead to a serious struggle at a time when the Cabinet needed all its time and attention for general affairs. Tho session ended, and Te Whiti’s addresses to bis followers assumed a new and threatening tone. No time was lost thereupon in bringing matters to a crisis. A dissolution was not to be thought of at such a moment. It might be necessary to call the Assembly suddenly together for a special session to meet an emergency. The dissolution was delayed till the favorable issue was known, and no longer, and could not have been long deferred had the policy miscarried. It tho base motive imputed to tho Government had really operated, they would have hurried on the elections directly Parliament rose ; for, whatever Bishop Suter’e opinion of tho probabilities of the case may be, tho consensus of all who have had close experience of tho Natives is clear that tho position at Parihaka was precarious up to tho very crisis. An outbreak might easily have occurred, and elections whilst a Maori war was raging would have been probably unfavorable to the Government.

Most of us, I think, are glad to see Bishops and ministers ot religion taking a part in our polities, but, like other citizens, when they do so they should bring their special advantages and qualifications to the public service. Surely, one of tho qualifications of a Christian Bishop ohould be that charity which “ is not eaaily provoked—thinketh no evil.” How far tho random dissemination of suspicions which can never ha proved is consistent with that virtue, let your readers judge. I hope not a few of them will accept my testimony and reasons rather than the ignoble surmises of any one, however distinguished his position, and will scout as a public wrong the practice of depreciating our public men on slight or no information, For Mr Bolleston —no man in the country is fitter to be trusted than he in such a matter as this. Highly educated, exactly informed as to every detail of the history of Maori affairs —a man of stern conscientiousness, if Now Zealand contains one—he is as certain to deal justly and considerately in tho future rb ho is incapable of the offence imputed to him in the past. I am, &c., J. O. Richmond.