CORRESPONDENCE GUARD OF HONOR.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 93, 27 February 1863, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE

GUARD OF HONOR.

To the Editor of the Hawke's Hay T\ir,es. Sir, —We learn, through the “usual official

channel” that some of the Hawke’s Bay Settlers have been bothering the General Government about the happy state of affairs at present existing in this favored land. They appear to have succeeded so far as to have obtained a sort of promise. Possibly it is only a promise by implication, for Mr. Domett could not pledge his master, and he alone has power to say yea or nay to any request of such an important nature, and further, he does not care to publish anything in plain unmistakeable English to one of Victoria's subjects ; hence the probability that the promise will be kept or not as suits the string-puller. Under it Hawke’s Bay is to have the services of “ fifty armed police,” when it suits the Government to raise such a force. I trust the official organ will enlighten us as to the advantage we are to derive frotn this force. It cannot be to keep the peace between her Majesty’s subjects, for that subject is generally left to the discretion of the local (provincial) authorities. It cannot be intended to attempt to coerce the Maori, for that would be tantamount to a declaration of war, and our “ peace at any price” government are hardly likely to take that step, after both Governor and Ministers have over and over again assured the Maori that they will not make war on them, and have endorsed their words by acts, recognizing by passive consent in some cases and by active assistance in others, the right of the Maori race, not only to independence, but to partly rule the whites who have ventured to settle within the districts overshadowed by the mana of King Potatau 11. The only other “active service” to which I can imagine this armed force can be put would be to coerce unwilling and refractory pakehas into due obedience and submission to the decrees emanating from the court of Ngaruawahia or its local representatives at Pawhakaairo and Tauenuiorangi. But for this service it is quite unnecessary to incur the expense of the contemplated force, as the Maori lords can at any time enforce their decisions in the good “ old-fashioned method,” particularly when backed by the moral force of Government sympathy, and woe to the foolish pakeha who dares to dispute their authority. The way old Shirley was treated may servo as a warning on that head.

However, as there is no likelihood of this force being required for active service, it may serve as an additional moral force argument in the hands of that paragon of wisdom and justice, the Civil Commissioner; it might escort him and his so very discreet relative to and from the Maori Run and the Ambassadorial offices in Napier ; it might take the further useful task of helping to bring the wethers down to Port for shipment, and furnish grooms and cooks for the distinguished family, and in the intervals between guard-mounting might bo useful as gardeners and errand-boys. Such tasks as these would relieve the tedium of sentry duty between your office and that of the Jlerald, and prevent ennui. It would of course follow that the Commanding Officer, who would of necessity be a member of the talented family referred to, could strut about in a goldlaced uniform between “ Gill’s” and the offices of ‘“Victoria's Ministers,” and any little stimulants imbibed at either place could still be settled under the Contingencies head attached to the department. Should any more Maori runs be contracted for by any member of the family, it would give eclat to the treaty, to have it addressed to the whole stafi‘ of the departmement, interpreters, aides-de-camp, and equerries, general and troopers, orderlies and grooms. Whether the advantages to bo thus derived from the force (contemplated) is a fair equivalent to the expense to be incurred, is a question that I need not answer, hue rather leave it to the judgment fof the settlers of Hawke’s Bay, out of whoso pockets the cash will have to be extracted to meet the costs, whether as pay, perquisites, or emoluments. Yours, &c., A SAXON.

Feb. 16, 1863