THE NATIVE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 45, 8 May 1862, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE NATIVE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

To the Editor of the Hawke's Bay Times. Sir, —In the Herald of the 2Gth instant we are informed that “ Sir George Grey is sanguine of the early settlement of native difficulties, and of the future prosperity of the Northern Island”; and that “ he is also impressed with the conviction that Hawke's Bay has a promising future before it.” Permit me to observe that I think your contemporary has made a mistake in professing to give Sir George Grey’s opinions; his reticence on public questions is proverbial, and it is not likely that any of the Herald's staff would succeed in “ pumping’'' him, if they had the temerity to attempt the operation. Few or none of our countrymen meet the Queen’s representative on equal terms, so as to he able to obtain from him any information he is disinclined to give; they cannot, like the natives of the Waikato, force an answer from his unwilling lips. Such being the case, the public are misled when opinions on matters of state are paraded as those of the Governor. Take for instance the commencement of the Taranaki disturbance, many of us recollect that journals “ winch might reasonably he supposed to be well informed as to the views of ministers” told us “ that the Government intended to make the natives British subjects in earnestand that “ it had been pretty plainly intimated to the insurgents that they would have to pay the cost of the war whereas the Government, if they had any such intention, took good care to keep it secret, no evidence of it appearing among the mass of papers printed in the blue book. On the contrary, when Mr. Busby wrote a long letter to the Elders of the Maori people, showing them the advantages they had gained by the Treaty of Waitangi, how it had been faithfully kept by the Crown, and how the natives had erred in taking up arms against the Governor and

setting up a Maori King; the Government published the letter, but omitted a paragraph in which the writer showed logically 5 that “as the natives were in error,” after they were subdued they would be called on to “ pay the costs incurredand asked “ if they could say that was not just.” From this omission it appeared plainly that the Government dared not tell the natives such a wholesome truth as “ that they who cause the war ought to pay the expense,” although there can be little doubt that some of the leading men of Waikato expected such a course to be followed, and would readily have admitted the justice of it, if their followers had been “ sufficiently convinced of our power to enforce it, ’ and our determination to carry the point. The question of utu is above all other questions properly appreciated by the New Zealanders. M hat the future has in store for us we shall all learn in due time ; meanwhile, it is advantageous to us as a community to give publicity to our opinions; but let us avoid lathering them on Governor Grey or any other person high in office; for thefts, when not clearly and publicly stated, can only be guessed at, or gathered from their public conduct. I have in my former letter offered an opinion that war will be avoided for a time, the cle\er chiefs of Waikato knowing v eil that their chance of success in a struggle v ith the army now quartered on their borders would be very small; but suppose a M aikato native were to be killed in the streets of Auckland, without haviim ffiven any provocation (and such a thing has “happened once), the chiefs would be unable to restrain their people from seeking utu. Or to come nearer home, a cattle reiver may meet a swifter messenger than spear or arrow, and need I state the consequences that might follow? I'or we are apt to forget, when thinking of “ policy'” that an Englishman is justified in defending his property against violence and illegal seizure, and may use all necessary means to prevent felony, or to capture the offender. lam not aware that any runanya lias power to curtail our rights on this subject. There is but one thing likely to deter the natives from appealing to the riffe when they are aggrieved (or when they fancy they are), and that is the “ great force” in the island. The natives have learned somewhat during the past struggle ; the lesson they were taught at Huirangi they will not forget, and are not likely to re-enact theft jiart of it. But they learned more lessons than oho. They appealed to the strong arm, where justice and equity were against them ; they did not come off conquerors in theory, but they obtained the conqueror s share of plunder, and more than that, got off on their own terms; terms which could never be supposed to be applicable to the vanquished. Will not they be likely to repeat the experiment on a favourable occasion ? Have not the Government gone to men who have levied war on the Gueeu s troops, and offered them a price, not for yielding anything they are entitled to, but simply on condition that they allow us to live quietly on our own territory; leaving them at liberty to treat us anyhow they choose when they catch us on their King territory ? Will they not argue, “We have got so much money offered us since we went to war, shall not we get it increased if we resume the strife V And on the land part of the question they have got all that can be had, for the Government have distinctly told them that no laud shall he bought without the express sanction of the “ King and his advisers,” which means that where the natives have consented to the Kingship, so far the sentence is endorsed which said to colonization “ So far thou mayest come, but no further.” Yours, &c., 30th April, 181)2. A Saxox. .