THE COROMANDEL QUESTION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 55, 17 July 1862, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE COROMANDEL QUESTION.

(From the SoutUer.i- Cross, J une 21.) Yesterday evening we were apprised o"a circumstance in regard to the negociatious ibr the settlement of tbo Coromandel question of which wo were not previously aware, and as it is of some consequence wc feel constrained to make it public. It appears that on his .Excellency’s arrival here he informed his Ministers of the position of affairs, and asked their advice whether or not he should pay .CIO, <lO on the terms stated, without the consent of To Hiva. The Responsible Ministers replied that they could not take it upon themselves to advise any such bargain, inasmuch as the title would not bo good, and that therefore, (lie £IO,OOO might he thrown away. In consequence of this decision the money was not advanced out of the Colonial chest, and so far as the Esther his Excellency made a draft on the Commissariat chest or not we cannot positively say, but as he came up to Auckland spechequer of the Colony is concerned. Sir George Grey returned to Coromaudel penniless. Whecialiy for money, in compliance with the request of the natives, it is more than likely ho did not return empty-handed. To have done so would have been highly impolitic, whether or not his Excellency may feel justified in paying away the money. Now this suggests certain reflections, of collateral importance to this community, on whom, undoubtedly, the burden of colonial expenditure will fall in the long run. Did the Fox ministry’ refuse to advise fciir George Grey to conclude a bargain for purchasing or leasing Coromandel, without the consent of Te Hira, on the ground that as the imperial government had undertaken the entire responsibility of settling the native question, it was not the province of a colonial cabinet to interfere lest the colonists, whose interests they represent should bo compromised in the matter, and called

on to pay for Imperial experiments ? If that was the ground of the refusal we have no cause of quarrel. We have all along maintained that the native policy of Sir George Grey is the Imperial policy, with which we, as colonists, will have nothing to do, and for which we cannot he called upon to pay. But on the other hand, Sir George Grey is not bound to be guided by the decision of the Ministers on native affairs, unless some new compact has been entered into between his Excellency and the present Executive. That being so, we are still inclined to hope that the Governor will be enabled to make satisfactory arrangements with the Coromandel natives. The immense advantage of having a large European population at Coromandel, and a flourishing Exchequer, must be evident to his Excellency ; and the public of Auckland are united in support of the Governor in the matter he has now on hands. How far the claim of a man who renounces his allegiance to the Queen (if he ever professed it), and invokes the protection of another tribe, and a rival sovereignty, established in the heart of an English colon}', is for his Excellency to decide, more especially as he has the consent of the rest of the native owners. On this point we will offer no opinion ; we only express the hope that Sir George Grey may return with the tidings that all obstructions to our using Coromandel as a gold-field have been removed, in which event we promise him, in the name of our fellow-citizens, a fighting reception.