AUCKLAND

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 195, 7 October 1864, Page 3

AUCKLAND

RESIGNATION OF THE MINISTRY

Ykstehdat, the members of the Whitaker Ministry tendered their resignations to His Excellency, having found it impossible to cooperate with him in public affairs. This event will not take the colony by surprise. Sir George Grey, having fortified his position by the despatches recently received from Mr. Cardwell, has placed himself in direct opposition to the policy of last Assembly. Of course, the Assembly wilfbe called together as soon as practicable.— Weekly News Oct Ist.

RtJJioiiS, neither few nor uncertain, of great political changes, and most important political disagreements, have been rife during the past week, and yesterday it became known that the Ministry had tendered their resignation to the Governor. Nothing short of absolute necessity would have justified the Ministry in resigning to new and untried men that trust with which they were invested so unanimously by the Assembly ; but as necessi y has compelled their retirement from office, nothing but an immediate summons of the Assembly willfmeet the urgency of the case. Such men as the Governor could induce to take up the reins of Government which the Whitaker Ministry have dropped, could be no other than creatures of his Excellency, and, as such, the very last men whom the colony or the Assembly would bo willing to trust in an emergency like the present. The subject of the week has been once more the Maori ex-prisoners. These worthies have again caused excitement and anxiety by their movements, which are sufficiently doubtful to cause mistrust, and sufficiently novel to produce excitement. Of course they have not returned to Kawau, seeing that if they had meant to do so they probably would never have left that pleasant retreat. Embassies have been tried in vain ; they have been supplicated by sundry interpreters to think better of it and to come back, but whether they have thought better of it or not, they have ‘certainly not come back. The farthest they have gone is, wo understand, to accept of the flour which his Excellency had commissioned his emissary to provide them with.

At present the natives are living at Otamahua, a spotjveryjsuitable for their purpose, as it is inaccessible, and at the same time commands a fine view of the country, and may bo seen from a great distance. Set thus upon a hill, they hold an excellent position, from which they may spread disaffection through the neighbouring tribes. How far they have been successful in this it is very difficult to say, but certainly they have collected a good many sympathising friends from amongst the less settled young men of the surrounding tribes. The anxiety felt about them may very probably be misplaced, but certainly it is not a safe thingjto have two hundred escaped rebels let loose amongst a population not more than half loyal—perhaps we should say half friendly. They are not well fed, it would seem, which leads to some doubts as to the correctness of all that has been said of the immense sympathy they have ex-

cited, and although very obstinate, and above all very boastful, it seems probable that a well-organ-ized expedition might recapture them all at present, without much difficulty or bloodshed. The pa, of which a good deal has been said, seems to be of a very mild character, and mnch more imposing to the eye than to any other test that could be applied. Of course, the upshot of all this is very doubtful. The Governor may think it good to retake the prisoners if he sees that a rebellion in the North is imminent—if so, he will most likely wait until his first step brings on the rebellion. He may declare Otamahua to be the best place possible for the escaped prisoners, and institute an elaborate system of land transport to convey them their rations of bread and meat—iu which case the Maoris will probably stay where they are until they see how things are likely to go elsewhere. But in any case, the next step is likely to be a costly one, which is a pity, as the colony is nearly tired of paying for these costly amusements.

The troops are actually going to Taranaki at last. They are not gone, to bo sure, and Taranaki has had so many unpleasant illustrations of the possibility of slips, depriving them of unexpected draughts of good fortune, that we cannot venture to say that they will get there. It seems probable however, that something will be done at last, and all colonists will readily agree that it is time Recent news from both Taranaki and Wanganui, is of a character quiet sufficiently suggestive and threatening, and if the Governor is inclined to fight, it is pretty certain that the natives will not refuse his offer.

The 50th Regiment goes, it is said, to Wanganui, and with two such regiments as the 50th and 57th, a northward march towards Taranaki ought not, we should say, to be difficult. The rest of the troops that can be spared will probably go to Taranaki, and we may venture to hope that if General Cameron’s hands are not tied he may in a very few weeks’ compaign give the Ngatiruanui and and other Southern rebels a very salutary and instructive lesson. The country is s aid not to be difficult, and with the co-operation of active colonial troops, there can be no good reason whv the Maoris should not at last receive the long-merited chastisement of their various atrocities.

The steamer so long looked for to take up the traffic from Auckland northward along the East Coast is actually coming at last. Of course nothing short of seeing her in these harbours can now bo expected to convince the settlers in the north of her existence, but even this evidence we feel inclined to believe will actually be ere long afforded them. The trade is one which must be developed before it can bo expected to make any great show ; this, however, will soon be done to some extent when the steamer is once fairly at work, and the remarkable facilities for coaling which the line will soon afford ought to render the outlay comparatively a trilling matter, even if we do not suppose that the coal traffic itself might form a useful adjunct to the receipts of the steamer. From the Southern provinces the news is the reverse of exciting. A general stagnation seems to be the order of the day at nearly all of them, and that stagnation is attributed in great measure to the war.

Things are slowly recovering, however, in Southland and Otago, and it seems probable that the more vigorous life of these two provinces will enable them to recover something of their old position sooner than Canterbury, although that province has infinitely less apparent reason for her depression. The only subject much in vogue in the Cook’s Straits provinces is still the seat of Government question ; so much so, indeed, as to suggest the doubt what they will find to talk of when the Commissioners have decided and gone home again. The end of the investigation cannot be distant now, and the Commissioners must have had enough of it. They have repeated their experiences at least three times at Wellington, Marlborough, and Nelson, and must have got rather tired of it by this time. It will be some satisfaction to have the question decided at last, and every one will feel a pleasure in knowing which is the best place in Cook’s Straits for a capital, if ever the colony should want a capital there.