THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, OCT. 23, 1862.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 69, 23 October 1862, Page 2

THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, OCT. 23, 1862.

Language must be confessed to he altogether inadequate to express the feelings of every true British subject on the receipt of the lale important intelligence from the West Coast, especially as results so very different were fondly expected to flow from the long-looked-for visit - of his Excellency to that neighborhood. What next will the advocates of the now well-tried “ face to face policy” recommend ? Further concessions—more neo-ora-tions—we presume, to end as ingloriously for us and as triumphal for the Maori as all has hitherto done. This policy may well suit certain individuals, who regard nothing more than present ease, present gain—who for their own self-interest would willingly sacrifice all that seems beyond the narrow limits of their own affairs, forgetful that in the ruin of the Colony at large they themselves must fall with the rest. But how will the news of late Colonial

events be received in the Mother Country ? When our fellow-countrymen hear that we have been devoting nearly the whole of the late session to the protection of aboriginal interests, and have liberally—most liberally placed funds at the disposal of the Govern - ment for their benefit—granting them un-heard-of favors —condoning their late and present rebellious position—offering for their acceptance a system of government to be carried out in the fullest manner by and mongst themselves—accompanied too, by an endless list of salaries to be paid from the revenue of the Colony, while, we say, this is being done for them by the New Zealand Legislature, they keep a great portion of the Colony closed against the settler, holding out the threat of fire-arms against any that may be so presumptions as to step beyond the boundary their lordsliijis please to mark, even though such should be her Majesty's .Representative himself. In our last issue we gave an account of the Governor’s meeting with the natives of Otaki and of Wanganui, so far as had at that time come to hand. We are now enabled to lay further particulars before our readers, confirmatory of our expressed conviction of the utter failure of his Excellency’s mission in producing any good effect on the aspect of the native question, while the rebels themselves are, by that very failure, confirmed in their position, and in their conviction of our weakness and inability to cope with them. It was bad enough, after sending the authoritative message to the body of rebels assembled at Tainui : “ Send me the Maori king flag, cut down, the flagstaff; discontinue your present king work, and let all the king’s people come into the town that I may see you and talk to you, for I will not go to Taiuui.” and receiving their ungracious reply:— ‘•Ale refuse; we will never give the Maori king flag to the Governor; \vc will never cut down the flagstaff; we will never discontinue our work ; ami we will not go into town to meet the Governor. If he will not come here, let him remain ; we are satisfied.”to negotiate with them for a compromise as to meeting at au intermediate spot, especially as no good effect resulted from the meeting, but it was infinitely worse at Wanganui, where the commands of the High and Mighty Chief Amarama addressed to Sir George Grey, that he should not ascend the river were so promptly obeyed by his Excellency’s leaving the district overland for Wellington without having accomplished his purpose. We suspect that this latter fact will at all events he quite sufficient to open the eyes of friends at home to the actual state of affairs with us. W e opine that the idea of a representative of her Imperial Majesty being reduced to virtual submission and subjection to a semi-savage chief, and this in a British possession and settlement, will enforce the conviction that “ something must be done, and that quickly,” especially when taken in connection with other and recent occurrences—the seizure of a mail steamer, wrecked on the coast, at no great distance from a garrisoned town, the inqiossibility of communicating with the shipwrecked crew and passengers except by Maori sufferance—the absolute depeadance of the said crew and passengers upon the caprice of the Maoris for their liberty—perhaps their lives. W r e fancy these matters will not he quite so easily overlooked by the English as some others have been, hut that the whole subject will be atleugthbrought under discussion, and several questions of the utmost importance to British interests asked and answered. As—Can such a state of things he permitted to continue? Shall a most important portion of her Majesty's territory in this Colony be closed against her Majesty’s subjects ? Shall the danger that has befallen the mails and passengers of the Lord Wovslcjj he liable to again occur under similar circumstances, and mails and passengers be placed in the uncontrolled and uncontrollable power of a semi-barbarous people and their whims and caprices ? And above all, shall the Governor of a Colony like New Zealand again have to submit to humiliation such as that at Wanganui, and be com-

pelted to unresistingly obey the command of a second or third-rate chief of a people in arms against their Queen’s authority. A crisis, long foreseen, seems now to be fast approaching—the conceding, yielding policy cannot much further go, unless, indeed, we give up to the native race all we have in this Northern Island, and allow the work of the last twenty-five years to go for nought, which is just what the rebellious natives wish. Unless we are prepared for this, or the alternative of a state of serfdom to our Maori lords, the present course of events and dealings with them must speedily end. A period has arrived in which action for good is that which is needed. To blame those who have permitted things to proceed so far would be a thankless and unprofitable task, especially as we must suppose they had some faint hope, if not expectation, of good resulting from the concession course ; this hope must now be confessed to be entirely destroyed, and nothing more remains as inducement for the further development of the late ruinous system.