SIR G. GREY'S POLICY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 32, 6 February 1862, Page 7

SIR G. GREY'S POLICY.

(From the Nielson JExamin&fs Monthly Summary, Jan. 11.) With the announcement made in our last Summary of the policy which Sir George Grey intended to pursue in the administration of native affairs, and in the suppression of native disturbances, all the immediate interest and excitement of this important question seemed at once to fade and die away. It was equivalent to an official intimation that the subject was to be indefinately adjourned and postponed; that the moderate demands made upon the insurgent Maories by his predecessor were not to be insisted upon; and that on condition of their refraining from committing any further outrages, or offering any fresh provocations, no inquiry should be made into past transactions. This policy is not very dignified, and does not appear to offer any veiy solid foundation or certain guarantee for future tranquility, but it gives peace for the present. Instead of sending for more pensioners from England, Sir George Grey finds 50,000 natives willing to become their substitutes on reasonable terms and we have very little doubt that for a moderate increase of pay, say for the sura now given as head money to her Majesty’s troops and for the charges of the Militia, the natives would engage to take the whole Military Defence of these Islands upon themselves, and do their work satisfactorily. There is, indeed, much to be said in favor of such an arrangement. They have already proved themselves to be excellent soldiers; the trust would gratify their pride, would be congenial to their habits, and admirably suit their temperament and disposition. They do not like steady continuous hard work, but are fond of display ; they have a talent for organization; and they are very quick at appreciating any inducements held out to them which will promote their own interests. The tribes to the North, since Heke’s war, have remained quiet, and are generally looked upon as well-disposed and have, therefore, been chosen to begin with; but as it would be hard on them, and would have a bad effect if they did not participate to the full in all the advantages which the other natives have gained by their rebellion, we should have proposed to commence by giving them a bonus equivalent in value to the plunder carried off from New Plymouth by the Waikatos and Southern tribes. The losses of our own countrymen at Taranaki, we perceive Sir George Grey proposes to make good by a subscription in England; but after the odious colors in which we have been painted, and been generally held up to public reprobation as selfish, grasping, and unjust, greedy only for gain, and uninfluenced by any higher or nobler principle, we fear the appeal will meet with but a very weak and inadequate rejoinder. The way has been so carefully and diligently prepared for it, that we should feel disposed to advocate a different course as much more likely to produce beneficial results. As charity begins at home, let us undertake the task of healing the wounds and restoring the fortunes of our own countrymen, for whom we frankly confess we feel the greatest amount of interest; and let the whole collective sympathy, philanthropy, benevolence, and religious zeal of Great Britian be appealed to on behalf of the Maori race. The expense of the new arrangements for enabling the natives to govern themselves has been put forth in the preliminary prospectus, as about £50,000 a-year. We know how fallacious all these estimates often are, and how they grow upon us when we enter into details, and therefore we do not think we overstate the amount required when we put it down at double that sum. Let then Sir George Grey, aided by all that eloquence and ability which we know he could command for such a service, appeal to the British public for an annual subsidy of £IOO,OOO or whatever other sum he may judge necessary to carry out his designs. Surely the sum which he does not scruple to ask from us, at the rate of £1 head for every man woman and child of European race, might be raised without difficulty from a population of thirty millions, the most wealthy and munificent in the world. But if not, with what show of justice can he ask it of us, a mere handful in comparison ? In the one case he would have a host of eager and zealous coadjutors and councillors, urged by the strongest considerations and highest motives to give their warmest cooperation, and devote their highest energies to. the work; in the other, the great bond of union between those who give the funds and those who distribute thorn would be wanting. There would be little common sympathy; there would be no mutual confidence, no satisfactory conviction that the object in view could be attained. There would be perpetual complaints that so little was done for so large an expenditure on the one side, and corresponding char-

ges of want of support, indifference, lukewarmness or positive opposition on the other. For it must be borne in mind that a large majority of educated men|here do not believe in the possibility of governing barbarous or half-civilized tribes upon missionary principles. They hold that the influence of their doctrines is not collective but personal; all powerful upon the individual whofullyreceives them as laws for his heart and guides for his conduct in life, but, on the great mass, practically inoperative, unless in-so-much as they are supported by physical force, or commend themselves to their natural sense of right, their feelings, and their interests. It is so all over the world; it is so even among ourselves ; we are unable to believe that the Maori race is to prove the one great and shining exception to the general rule. We may be accused of dwelling too much on one aspect of the case, on the dark shades of the picture ; whilst we object to others that they color it too strongly with the bright hues of their own wishes and anticipations; but our appeal is to history and to facts, and in neither do we see sufficient warranty or encouragement to forego our convictions. We refer to many instances where the attempt has been made and has failed; we shall believe in the possibility of its succeeding with others when we can show better proofs of its efficacy among ourselves. Whilst we look, therefore, at what Sir George Grey is doing with a certain amount of interest, we know that he is engaged in prosecuting designs which are not ours ; and which, whatever their ultimate results may be, or their eventual bearing upon our own condition, are primarily designed to cany out the views of the Home Government and meet their wishes. We may add that they are not either the views or the wishes of the colonists, judging from the sentiments expressed in the House of Representatives at the close of last session. There Mr. Fox declared his adherence to the native policy of his predecessors, and his intention to prosecute hostilities with increased vigor ;* we all feel that this is all taken out of his hands, and that he has really no independent voice or influence in the matter; being obliged to confine himself to the routine details of office, or to fostering provincial self-Government by rejecting Education Bills at Otago.