NEW ZEALAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 140, 18 September 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Sydney Morning Herald , July 22.) We can imagine the deep impression which will be made upon the Government of England by the tidings recently transmitted, and continued by our issue of yesterday. All that has been foretold by this journal since the close of the last war lias been realised in the most painful and threatening manner. All we can hope is that the facts communicated will destroy every illusion at home. It was a fatal folly that deemed the movement of the natives simply an act of justifiable opposition to encroachments upon their rights. Unfortunately for them as well as for England, the inculcation of notions of impossible independence has produced all the mischief. Hence every attempt at conciliation has proved a failure. The natives have indeed received with apparent acquiescence all the tenders of friendship, but all long with scarcely concealed determination to persevere in their policy, and to make even these offers subservient to it. Hence they have been long gathering ammunition and preparing for war while using dubious.language or even the language of peace. This has been known to the settlers who have come in contact with them. Warnings have been uttered from many quarters. We have received intimations from persons of various conditions in life and party associations, all concurring in one conclusion—namely, that war was determined upon and that at best it could only bo deferred. It may be some advantage in the presence of the civilized world to be able to show we have not rushed into conflict —that there has been a powerful party leaning towards the natives—that every argument has been employed in their favor, and every influence has been exercised to persuade them to quiet and friendship. We know how hastily the philanthropists of England sometimes conclude that every thing done by the colonists must bo the result of covetousness, and everything suffered by the natives a part of those oppressions by which they are doomed to extinction. It will be, therefore some advantage if the English Press and people too, learn that for these surmises there is but slender cause. No doubt there are men who have used strong language, and some who have been guilty of base actions, among the settlers ; but will it bo difficult to point to any example of colonization where provocation by the colonists has been more patiently endured or benefits more freely conferred. The Government of England will probably feel some mortification to discern that all the projects of reconcilement, and all the efforts of the Governor chosen to carry them out, have so signally failed. At least half a million of money has been expended since the hollow peace which left everything unsettled and the natives with all the advantages of victory. It is possible, however, that the time may not have been lost, and that in a more effective preparation for conflict we may have to congratulate ourselves that these efforts at conciliation have left undiminished our military strength and the prospect of ultimate success. It is highly probable that the seat of war may not be New Plymouth or Taranaki—that there the preservation of the town and surrounding country will bo confided chiefly to the inhabitants, whose valour and energy have been so largely taxed and so constantly displayed. It is not in Taranaki that this question can bo settled. Waikato is the heart of the rebellion, and h in upon

territory the force of the blow must fall, if it is to be effective. We believe that General Cameron has taken steps which will facilitate success. We have learned from military men of no mean knowledge, that the very worst place where the question can be contested of British ascendancy is in the district of Taranaki. There, no serious blow can be inflicted upon the natives who have nothing to do but to retire from bush to bush where it is impossible to follow them. Even success at Taranaki could have but little effect upon the Waikato. On the other hand, by seizing a vast plain at the confluence of the Waipa and Waikato, in the heart of the northern island, they would seize the rebellion by the throat, instead of treading on its tail, which is all that could be done at Taranaki.

It will be seen that the great mass of the natives are supported in the present movement, and that it assumes national proportions. There can be no doubt that they are fully confident in their own power, and they have made great preparations for the war. We fear that they find assistance from a party of the traders, if not secret aid from alien Europeans. We cannot doubt, from what we have heard, that gunpowder has been sent from this city to sell to the Maoris, and to be used against the British. We warn all the persons of their legal and moral responsibility. Those who knowingly enter on such transaction deserves to bo hanged, and, if convicted, they will be hanged. It is quite possible that New Zealand will require both our sympathy and help, and that she will feel the effects of this war in more than one part of the island. The Maoris are expected to attack the settlements simultaneously, that they may keep the whole country in alarm, and divide the military forces. We cannot doubt that the young men of the colonies would respond to a demand for their aid, or that a thousand might, with proper encouragement, be enlisted in a week in New South Wales and Victoria. The government of New Zealand must show more good faith than in the last proclamation which offered invitations to the young men of Otago, and merely scut them on s fboVs errand.* The cost and trouble of this rebellion must be

extremely mortifying to England, as well as to the colonies, but it must be fairly and fully encountered. The object to be attained is immense. It is impossible to estimate the value of New Zealand, not merely as a settlement, but as a post, or the disastrous effects which would result if at any time a foreign power at war with England could turn upon the settlement the ambition and vengeance of a semi-civilised people. Now, in times of peace, their reduction is possible without any overwhelming sacrifice, and we have no doubt that when once they feel themselves subdued, they will be amenable to better influences, and saved from that extermination which must be inevitable should the colonists find in them an ally of some great and formidable enemy.