NATIVE MEETING

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 4, 25 July 1861, Page 3

NATIVE MEETING

* AT W AHAPARATA

The new mill at Wahaparata helcncing to the Natives of this district, is now, we believe. considered by them finished as per contract, or at least nearly so. Accordingly on Friday last, an assemblage of about 300 Natives and Europeans met, to celebrate the opening of the mill. No great meeting of Natives occurs without some great aim in view, and so the mill meeting had for its chief object the eliciting of the opinions of the Natives ox Ahuriri on the subject of the ‘war. On Saturday and Monday the various deputations from different parts of the province had opportunities of hearing discussed and “peaking on this matter. It is said that the Natives have unanimously agreed to break off their alliance with the Waikatos at once should they insist on war with the Queen’s troops, the more so as they believe that the Maori King, so-called, is himself opposed to war and is a tool in the hands of the Waikatos. But whether or not, the. Maories of this province do not mean to support either him or the Waikatos.—Communicated. The following report of the speeches lias kindly been furnished to us by a gentleman who was present:— Renata said ; The opening of the mill is the occasion of our meeting here to-day. The mill tells us that we are to eat in one house and to live as one people and continue as heretofore to live at peace. Each race * (English and Maori) used to form and utter these sentiments apart by itself, hut now this mill has been the means of bringing us together, and we now for the first time say them all together, and we meet to dine and ' drink together. Although there is a discussion going on in Waikato that may cause a division between the two races, we shall not allow that to influence us. The mill sifts the Jlour into firsts, seconds, and bran ; hut l all conies from one source, the wheat. So although we are two different races, we both come from the same source, and that reliection should keep us from quarrelling. I I wish the Europeans not to imagine that the I King was set up to bring fighting between ins, or to oppose his sovereignty to that of fHer Majesty, whose health we have just | drank—no such thing. Where are my guns, / my powder,- my caps, my load, that you should fancy' I set up my King to tight ? j say it is a false accusation. I set' up my King on account of the stealing of my lauds. I have not said this before, hut now I say it openly and publicly. The King was set" up to prevent the stealing of land. I have nothing to say about lands openly sold in the light of day and in presence of the whole tribe, it is about land sold in secret that I ksueak. On this account I set up my King, Pfccause of the pain in my heart, and to txy to put an end to the stealing. The Gover- : nor may have been unaware of, and not to I blame for the stealing of the lands, hut how- >' ever this may he, they were stolen, and on this account I set up my King. Do I know how to make guns, powder, and caps, that I should., wish to fight ? What have Ito gain by fighting ? I only want to defend myself and my lands. I don’t want to set up my King in opposition to the Queen. The Governor accuses me of it because he does not dike to confess that he has stolen my land, and therefore says I am opposing the Queen. , The treaty of Waitangi was a very good trea- : ty if it had been kept. It was made by certain tribes in the North and it would have suited all of us very well if the land had been fairly bought. But now that Treaty is upset, because of the new system of purchasing. Ifr has been said,that the Treaty was macle 1 to save the Maori from the aggression of “‘Foreign Nations, hut why has it not been ’kept to save men’s lives now ? We want protection from our protectors. The Governor

and W. King have had a fight and men have been killed. When the quarrel began it should have been enquired into, and that would have been a good sort of quarrelling as it would then have been seen who was in fault. Instead of this they went to war in a hurry and so broke the Treaty. The Maori held himself back a long time and tried to get an enquiry, and when the Governor would not grant one we appealed to the i Queen. Had the Queen granted our request HU would have been well, and I should have * hied up the Queen through the length and of the Country. 'Well, Win.'Thompson then went down, and he stopped the war. was not stopped by enquiry or in any ■ other way but by W. Thompson going to jWaitara. My European friends, there is no

desire on our part to put down the Queen or to set up any King in opposition to her. The Governor should not be in a hurry to fight, let him rather fight me with words—\vitii enquiry, but not v/itli guns, pov/'lcr, and ball. But if he will attack us with those weapons, why I can’t help it; —l suppose I must only defend myself as best I may.

Te Wiiukana Toa To a, and Tf, Waica KaxvA, followed to the same effect.

Ka it ait i ana said : Former speakers have exhausted the chief topic, but I wish to say a few words. Mr. Cooper said he wished success to the mill, and long life and prosperity to its builders, and that it might lie a means of cementing the union of the two races. Mr. Ferguson drank our healths, and his speech was full of good wishes also. These feelings of yours are no more than what we have ourselves. Now I wish to say one word about suspicious feelings; you should not he so suspicious about us. The Governor tells us not to listen to lying representations ; hut which are lies, and which are true ? We can’t refuse to listen to what is told us by the Pakelias whom we respect. We are told to put away the King, hut we cannot say to you that we shall put away the King. If Tamihana says he is to he put down we shall agree. At first I was afraid of you, hut I was little then; now I am grown to man’s estate I know better and can take care of myself. As to justice, it is lost in your language; we go to your Courts hut we cannot understand the laws, nor the evidence, nor the decision of the Court, so that we really have no justice on account of your unintelligible language. Now as to Waikato, —leave it to encounter its own dificulties. If an open enquiry had been granted into the cause of the Waitara quan-el and other grievances, I would agree to put down the King. I am told the Treaty was made to keep out French and Americans from New Zealand; but I find it has been broken by the English, whilst those nations never came near us. We want our King as a means of keeping order amongst ourselves, and putting an end to crimes which your Courts do not punish. We wish you to publish an account of this meeting, and that we cannot say we will put down our King. It will he for Waikato who set him up to say that word, hut if they tight for him, we shall not support them in that. Leave the King alone, give us justice in your courts, and cease war, and he will fail of himself, but do not ask us to put him down. He has no ships of war, no big guns, nor anything of that kind to make a real King of him. He has no mana to go to other lands to light as a King against your Queen, as other nations do. Mend your account of this meeting to Auckland, and we will send ours to Waikato. In conclusion, as wo are all here together I wish to have a price fixed for the work of the mill, that it may be dearly understood how much a bushel is to be paid for grinding wheat. My mill cost me AI4OO, and I am much gratified by hearing it approved of by my European friends. A discussion then arose as to the sum to he charged, which was fixed at Is. Gd. per bushel, and the proceedings terminated.