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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 64, 18 September 1862, Page 5 (Supplement)

Maori king is kept up by a feeling of distrust and ‘ Opposition to the English Government; but it is ' the existence of this distrust, not its manifestation • in the form of the Maori king, that is dangerous. Even if the Maori king had never been thought of, the moment that a question arose which brought the interests of one race into prominent antagonism with those of the other, some sort of organization must have been invented to give unity to the Maori side : it is hardly possible that anything could have been invented weaker than the king. As it was, Hie king, being already in existence,"was seized upon for the purpose, and lias grown to his present dimensions and formid- ■ able aspect subsequently to, and 1 believe in consequence of, the Taranaki war. This danger is a formidable one, but would not be removed by the destruction of the.king, though his being voluu- • tarily abandoned by the Maoris would be a sign ' that it ceased to exist. To secure safety, we must .cure the disease, not stop its symptoms ; we must remove the distrust, not Malutaera. To • attempt to restore peace and fellowship to the two races, by putting down the king by force, would be as absurd as the conduct of the captain who , broke his weather-glass that ho might escape the storm. But there is a danger, which is a very much more serious and permanent source of peril to the colony than that one the symptom whereof is the ■ Maori king ;it is the utter lawlessness and anarchy of the native population of New Zealand if the reports which appear in the public papers, the statements which have reached me from various . private sources, or the evidence of my own eyes and ears when in other districts, contain any amount of truth, this lawlessness is not peculiar to the Upper Waikato district. The great mischief of all is not that the 'natives choose to be governed by a king instead of by us, but that they are not in any real sense governed at all. As long as individual Maoris can do that which is right in their own eyes, and break the laws of God and man with impunity, so long will peace and prosperity in native districts be an bifity.The great remedy then for the evils of the land is Government; but 1 mean vigorous Government; I mean authority which is able to protect life ami property by enforcin'! obedience to the law. We do not want additional laws, there is the very madness of law-making infesting the country ; we do not want Magi-trales, (hey c\i-t in abundance. It is the last link between the sovereign and the subject, it is the police which is defective. If there existed a power which could take up and punish offenders against the sixth and eighth of the Ten Commandments, the sores of the land would he healed. Vv ho will dare to organise and use such a power? The rutuvni/an dare not ; the Maori ting dares not; the European Magistrate dares not; the paid assessors and constables dare not. Is there any one who dares ? I know as well as anybody that this question is beset with difficulty and danger, but there can be no peace in the colony till it has been fairly met and fully solved. It is not possible, at the close of a report which has been designated throughout as a bare statement of facts, to discuss a question which must involve many general arguments and opinions; even if I felt competent to oiler arguments and . opinions on such a subject. As a subordinate officer of Government, my part is fulfilled when the true native question has been pointed out. It is, however, within my province to point out how far the organisation already existing under the Maori king is available for the purpose of establishing law and order. I confess that when first sent into the district ignorant of almost all the facts which have been above detailed, I entertained the hope and expectation that a reconciliation ami alliance might bo effected between the English Government and the leaders of the king party, ami that all the king’s officers might be employed in the organisation and government of the district. It appears to me that the fulfilment of this hope was from the first impossible, for two reasons:— 1. Because the king subsists entirely upon the feeling of opposition to our Government. It is possible that the king movement originally may have been a movement for law and order ; it has altogether lost that character now. Nothing keeps the alliance together but a feeling of common danger, and, as soon as this feeling has passed, which must happen before we regain the confidence of the natives, the influence of the king and his ruuanga will melt away. 2. Because the king and his council have not the slightest power to enforce obedience to the law. As a scheme for creating a government, the king movement has failed long ago. But though alliance with the king is impossible, and, if possible, useless, still the removal of the king would bring ns very little on our way towards the end of native difficulties.. The king’s system is an obstacle to good government, so lav as it fills the place of a better: but wore the for- ■ mer extinct, the latter would still have to be constructed. J. E. Gokst. Otawhao, June 5, 18G2.