Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, MONDAY, APRIL 20, 1863.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 108, 20 April 1863, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, MONDAY, APRIL 20, 1863.

The subject of Immigration to this Province is one which has elicited from the Council many “ wise saws and modern instances,” but beyond a little vague and harmless theorising nothing tangible has come of it, nor do we think that, as matters stand at pre-

sent, anything satisfactory could come of it. It is all very well to sit down beneath the shadow of the Speaker, and wag one’s head and look volumes of profundity ; that is “a very simple affair. But unfortunately for this Province there has been a great deal too much of that sort of thing going on in our Councils, the monotony of which is but seldom broken by a more than usually verbose or talkative member getting on his legs ami letting off a few -old platitudes about the Wealth of Nations and the Creation of the World. The subject of introducing a population into this Province is one which is more than a theory, and requires something more than theorising. How is it to be done ? Ah, there’s the rub ! We are decidedly of Mr. Coleuso’s views upon this matter. To talk about assisted Immigration and holding out inducements of a pecuniary nature to persons to come here is mere nonsense ; for if we had plenty of good land for sale, and were to let the rest of the world know that such was the case, we should very soon find that the stream of population would set into Hawke’s Bay as readily and surely as it is now setting into Port Cooper or Port Chalmers. But without having land to give the Immigrants, and without having anything else to offer him of an encouraging nature, it is quite preposterous to suppose that, even granting the arrival of the mueh-wished-fof people, that they would stop here a day if they could help it. How is it that the Canterbury settlement is making such rapid strides forward ? Because they have plenty of land for sale, and by consequence plenty of money in circulation ; and that Province presents a most pleasing and agreeable contrast to any of our North Island Provinces in the active and busy appearance of everything connection with it. It is satisfactory to think that His Honor the Superintendent is keenly alive to the necessity which exists for the introduction of some sort of population into this Province, and has done as much as he can do at present to further that great object, viz., talk about it, —beyond which step we are not entitled to expect anything further. We make no doubt but that Mr. McLean will do his best to secure a piece of available land whereon to place a settlement; hut we are by no means sanguine as to the success of the scheme. Good lauds are scarce. There is very little really good laud in Hawke's Bay, and what little there is of value will be most tenaciously held by the Natives. Of this we may be perfectly sure, for by reference to any one of the maps of this Province it will be seen that the Natives, when selling land to the Government, took the precaution to retain to themselves all the best and most choice pieces, and this, too, in the very earliest days of their transactions with us in laud. It so much shrewdness and intelligence was manifested in the green leaf, what may we expect to find in the dry ? The fact is, that tlie Maories have been for the last twenty years undergoing such an elaborate tutelage upon the subject of the vast importance of his lands to us, and of the equally vast importance of those lands to himself, that there can be no doubt whatever hut he has profited by this teaching, and will now be found altogether indifferent to the voice of the charmer upon this important question, charm he never so wisely. We are not at all sanguine of the success of this Immigration scheme. The present aspect of the affairs of New Zealand is anything but satisfactory, and until the clouds in that direction clear away, we have very little hopes of any great success attending any scheme for colonisation on a fixed and staled principle, even supposing all the preliminaries are settled. What do we want a Cavalry Barrack for ? In answer to this question. His Honor says we want that barrack to give shelter to a certain number of armed men and horses, for the purpose of overawing the Natives, It is,- then, manifest at a glance that if we require to keep up a large armed force in the country, the state

of society and consequent security bi property and life is not satisfactory, and therefore we hold within ourselves the germ of future troubles and probable disaster. The present system of Native management will last as long as Sir George Grey remains in the country, but no longer, and ’ for a sufficient reason. When the tax-gatherer knocks at our doors every quarter day, and demands a tithe of all we possess as a contribution towards the maintainauce of a Government, we shall begin to bestir ourselves, and require that Government, which thus so unceremoniously makes a dip into our pockets, to give some satisfactory account of the little monies thus abstracted from our earnings; and if we are not very much mistaken, in those days the doings of Governments will undergo a much closer scrutiny than they get just now, and it will be almost impossible to give away large sums of money as presents ami bribes, and in fact to waste the resources of the country in feeding the insatiable maw of the Maori.