THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, DEC. 11, 1862.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 76, 11 December 1862, Page 3

THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, DEC. 11, 1862.

Another month since the departure of the last mail for “ home” has passed away, and still, so far as we can learn, no steps have been taken by the Government to reduce the existing chaos of native matters to order —another month of the only portion of the year during which, we are told, anything like a successful inroad upon the enemy's territory can be made—it is already two months later in the season than it was last year at the time of the change of Governors —and midsummer is at hand. The tone of the rebellious Waikatos increases in insolence and arrogance. By awaiting their decision in the state of matters at Taranaki, a kind of acquiescence in their claim of a right to rule in Mew Zealand has been given ; yet they have foolishly forgotten all previous promises, and even ail the original demands made by them that the question should be decided by arbitration—even though the Governor had gone so far in the path of conciliation as to leave the appointment of arbitrators, and consequent decision of lire question, in effect, entirely in their hands. No, they are quite satisfied that things should remain at Taranaki as they are —the province in a state of desolation —the property of the settlers in the possession of the Maori, who did not take it in the war, nor hold it at its cessation, but stealthily and silently came and took possession during the time the owners were awaiting the good pleasure of the Government to replace them in their homes. We have said “no steps have been taken” during the past month towards the remedy of the grand disease of the Colony; but, perhaps, we are not quite correct in this. One step has been taken, which, though but trifling in itself, will perhaps lead to something like a result. The Governor has, throughout the existing truce, declared his intention to confine his road-making operations to “the territory of the Queen,” and not encroach on that of the King of Maoridora, and it seems that the Waikato river, the grand boundary between the two has been readied. The native rulers have also from the first declared their determination to keep the river closed against European vessels, but, this is the only point in which the concessions of the Governor have not met their wishes, up to this time. He lias refused to acknowledge their right to prevent traffic on the rivers of the has even proceeded so far as to purchase a small steamboat for the navigation of the Waikato —of course, quite as much for the benefit of the Maori as for that of the European inhabitant s of tlio district. However, the Great Princes and Lords of the Maori Nation in recent Piunanga assembled and in blankets of office clad, have decided that this shall not be allowed, and we well know that they sometimes mean to carry out a threat, as witness the commencement of the Taranaki troubles, when the survey of Taylor's land was prevented by a pack of old hags impeding the operations of the survey party (albeit these same old hags were backed by num-

hers of warriors in arms ready, to act in case they were resisted in their gentle work) and so we may with good reason conclude that the rebels in the North really mean to prevent the Avon from running on the waters of the Waikato. That the Governor will insist on the contrary, is almost certain, and if they yield the point, one step in their submission to his will will , have been made ; if not, they will perforce learn this to them most difficult lesson.

It often occurs that great things ai’e quietly permitted to. pass unnoticed, and a very small thing at last seems to be the cause of action—in illustration of the Eastern proverb that “it is the last feather that breaks the camel’s back.” So many and great have been the humiliations, insults, and acts of rebellion submitted to by the Governor, that most will he somewhat surprised if a small act should precipitate matters at the last, and doubtless many will be found among the apologists of the Maori, who will complain of the folly of entering upon a war with them upon grounds so slight, even as such as these were not wanting in the case of the late Governor and the Taranaki war—who, leaving the grand,questions at issue between the Governor and “Kingi Wiremu,” chose to regard (or rather pretended to do) the war as one fur the possession of some paltry 500 or GOO acres of waste land, and who managed to raise so great a cloud of dust as to blind the intellectual sight of the good folk at home as to the truth ; happily this will not be so easy to do at this time, as all the events that have occurred here are almost as well known at home as amongst us, and the Governor will not fear the justification of all disinterested parties in any extreme course he may feel compelled to pursue in his endeavors to restore the Colony to something of its former state of prosperity. W e scarcely need to refer again to the state to which “ things in general” have arrived in this province, where the will of the Maori is the sole law he thinks proper to recognize : and will abuse and rob the settler—break open jails and release prisoners —obstruct road-making parties in their work, by claiming the debris cast up by the sea or deposited by tlie bed of a river—do all and more than these things, not only without fear of punishment, but with the actual prospect of reward , which he fails not to obtain, in the case of the criminal offence by a feast at the public expense, and in the road obstruction case by receipt of a cash income of 2os. per week, during the period of road-making in the neighborhood, for the use of the shingle for this purpose.