THE NEW POLICY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 26, 26 December 1861, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE NEW POLICY.

(From the Southern Cross, Dec. 17.) A great experiment is being tried in New Zealand, and great results are anticipated. In our last issue we gave a sketch of the native policy of Sir George Grey, pointing out, as we did so, what might prove to be the weak points in the same. We treated the subject from a native rather than a European point- of view, but we have a further duty to the Islands of New Zealand—composed as their population is nut only of aboriginals who have yet to learn the duties of British subjects, but also of loyal British subjects of British origin, who have already proved themselves—and that is to consider how New Zealand, and the province of Auckland in particular, is likely to be affected by the new policy. Much has been said and written at home. Our Christian brethren in the mother country have chosen to speak of the present difficulties in New Zealand as resulting from the greed of the colonists, and the natives have been constantly depicted as the unfortunates whom we are seeking to exterminate for our own ends. We believe that when the governorship of New Zealand was conferred for a second time upon Sir George Grey, the people of England looked upon it simply as a measure of justice to the Maories—justice to the Europeans was never thought of. There was to be a great success. The success was to be of the kind appreciated in certain coteries at home, where colonists are looked upon as would-be robbers, and aboriginals as victims. William Thompson was a more interesting personage in England, at the time, than any of us can ever hope to become. Was he not one ■who sought to justify bloodshed by scriptural quotations, whilst we were merely peaceful settlers who only desired to make the barren places fertile and to live in peace with his race ? He hesitated before engaging in war—the English people regarded his conduct as magnanimous : we obeyed the orders of her Majesty's representative when he called upon us in the name of the Queen, and are stigmatised as bloodthirsty. f Under these circumstances we must not J expect that anj r thing short of perfect success will be received by the British public as a satisfactory result of Sir George Grey's mission, and at the same time it is forced upon us that the mission will not be regarded as successful unless the colonists are well snubbed, and made to understand that their position and interests are perfectly subordinate to those of the natives. Let there only be no bloodshed, no accounts of disastrous bushfights, no demands for more reinforcements, no drafts on the imperial purse, and the native race may die out grasping its useless million of acres to the last moment of its existence, whilst a European population stands by powerless to move, except in contravention of the law, and landless, because Exeter Hall has said that the land is not for man, nor for the support of man, but solely for the support of those whom it delighteth Exeter Hall to honor—that the flan-nel-waistcoats of human life are for the little blacks rather than the denizens of such a commonplace cold country as England. This is the success anticipated at homo. The natives are to be cajoled ; the Europeans kept in their place. How soon the former die out is no matter at home ; the great authorities there care as little for them as they do for Australian or did for Van Pieman s-laud blacks, but their attention having been called to the matter they feel themselves obliged to notice it and are much horrified, and endeavor to make out a case : and indeed i would almost induce one to believe that they * would have been just as indignant and anxious for peace had the war been successful and remunerative. The future prospects of the settlers in the Northern Island are not under these circumstances likely to be regarded in England as a matter to be taken into consideration at present. We are supposed to be standing round the bed where the Maori patient lies and to be watching the effect of the medicines which the head of the Colonial faculty is exhibiting. We are supposed by the British Public to be so deeply interested in the result, as to have no thoughts left for our own affairs. They imagine that it is o ;e of those supreme moments in our life as a colony, when everyone is engrossed by one and the same idea,

and individual interests are lost sight of'. They are mistaken, however. The state of the hay just now causes greater anxiety to many than the state of the Waikato, and men are as business-like in their habits, though they put an appearance at Militia drill, as if they were living within sound of Row Bell. The fact is, we must jog along, though Parliament debate and governors are changed, though experiments are being made to disco-

ver how best to preserve the race that sojourned in these Islands before we came here —still, we are here, and must remain here (and unless the present generation makes pro-, vision for the rising one, the latter will do so for itself, notwithstanding policies, British government, or anything else.) Our immigrants are pressing forward,' and year by year the European element is becoming more more and more preponderating. The native must speedily join us, or he will be lost. Whatever he may be able to do in bis runangas, a separate social existence is impossible for him; the race can only survive by being socially merged in our own. And this it is which we should wish to see done. With tlie duties which he owes to his own race, no European can support those wiio would leave New Zealand to the New Zealanders, whilst no Christian on the other hand can wish to see a race of human beings exterminated. Our duty then clearly is to endeavor to save it, and highly as we think of Sir George Grey’s general policy, in our opinion much more remains- to be done, and it is to be done mainly by the colonists of New Zealand themselves.

In our last issue we alluded to a passage in Sir George Grey’s proclamation, from which we wore led to infer that the individualization of natives’ titles is in his Excellency’s opinion a great object to be striven for. It certainly is. Only by the introduction of some measure to this effect can the native race be preserved, and at the same time justice be done to Europeans. Both would' benefit equally by it. Those who imagine that the interests of the two races are antagonistic are the enemies of both, while those who speak of the natives as children to bo protected,jund yet would merely give them in reference to laud the negative protection which they at present enjoy, prove themselves but poor guardians. Free trade alone can save the native race, and this the settlers must insist upon, let them cry out in England never so loudly. Magistrates and runangas will do much, but the plough will do more : the sight of a comfortable farm-house gives a better social lesson to a Maori than many sermons, and if Europeans are allowed not merely to trade but to found homesteads in districts where the Government hitherto has been able to effect nothing, though private individuals have done much, a great change will soon be observable in the J moral and political aspect of the country. With the introduction of a new political system, it were well if something could be done simultaneously in this particular. If the Maories are equal to the making and administering of laws, they ought to be equal to the making of bargains. How is it to be expected that a native shall assess damages in reference to real property, unless he knows what real property is ; how is he to understand the exact meaning of the words security and interest, —unless he enjoys the privilege of learning it practically amongst or Auckland lawyers by mortgaging a few acres. In short, how can any men act as legislators and magistrates, so long as they are deprived of the ordinary rights of citizens. The present attempt to organize the uativos may succeed : wc trust that it will. Should such bo the case, the opportunity must not be lost. Let the emancipation of native lands be regarded merely as pa;t of the measure of justice which the Queen of England is dealing out to her native subjects, aud it will be accepted as such, and the importance of the political privileges already granted will be enhanced in the eyes of the natives incalculably, when they find them accompanied by a boon, the value of which every man amongst them can appreciate.