A MEMORIAL TO THE ASSEMBLY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 203, 2 December 1864, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MEMORIAL TO THE ASSEMBLY.

(From the Wellington Independent .) The cry from the top of the lofty Omaha, “ Ka kino the Governor, the Governor is an old woman,” has been echoed throughout the Colony. This sentiment is not expressed hastily or without due consideration. When Sir George Grey arrived here he was warmly welcomed, and men of all parties agreed that his plans for settling the native difficulty should have a fair trial. Hot only was he to be left unfettered in pursuing his , experiments, but the colonists were anxious to give him every aid in their power, and voted large sums of money to bring the new institutions into existence. Failure attended his efforts to settle 'thc'fliffie'tdty by peaceful means, but still the colo-

iiistsndid-not complain. They simply stood by waiting to seo what he would do nest. Then came a policy of war, of which he expressed approval, and a' ministry was placed in office to carry it out. Sir George Grey began to play false. Ho pretended to support this war policy in the colony, while he really wrote against it to England. lie spoke fair to his advisers' faces, and slandered them behind their backs. Ho said confiscation was a just and necessary measure here, while he told Air. Cardwell cession was the proper scheme. In short, his chief object was ro deceive the colony, and, his own plans of cajolery having failed, to make tho policy of force fair also. He could not settle the difficulty, and with a petty spite he prevented abler men succeeding where he had failed. In this, we regret to say, he has been sue eessful. Tiio colonists know it, and therefore unite in execrating his conduct. They curse the day on which he came to Now Zealand, and they wish to send him away as soon as possible. They not only think him dishonest in the last degree, but they consider some of his latest acts as affording strong evidence of mental imbecility. But whether considered as a knave or a fool, the colonists have had enough of him, and are ready to adopt any means to secure his removal from a country which he has brought to the vergeof ruin. This feeling is daily finding vent. Every journal in New Zealand of any influence lias expressed it, and now the Wanganui settlers have embodied it in a memorial, a copy of which we subjoin. The people in that district know something about the native question, of which they have had much unpleasant experience. When, therefore, they sav that Sir George’s policy has encouraged the rebellion, protracted the war, incurred a vast expense without attaining the desired objects, raised feelings in the native mind of contempt for the Queen’s authority, and left the legacy to the colony of a fierce struggle yet to be waged between the races, tho opinion must be considered sound, and based, to some extent on practical knowledge. We would suggest that similar memorials should bo addressed to the Assembly from every province in this island. It is necessary that the public sentiment ol disgust at the proceedings of-Sir George Grey should be uumistakeably expressed, and that the members ot the Assembly should be made to understand it clearly. These purposes are served bv the subjoined memorial, which, we need scarcely add, has our warm approval:— “To the Honorable House of Representatives the bumble memorial of the imdeKsh'ned inhabitants of Wanganui and adjacent districts states, —

That vour Memorialists regret that they are compelled to express themselves in a tone which they feel tho most urgent necessity alone can warrant.

That the Memorialists believe that the policy pursued by his Excellency with respect to the natives has been calculated to infuse into their minds feelings of disrespect towards her Majesty and her Government-ami lias been most derogatory to the dignity of tho British nation.

That it has been fraught with the most injurious results to the natives —its main tendency being to create in their minds a false impression of their own power, and to strengthen the spirit of rebellion.

That to the inhabit ants ofthis colony it lias been productive ot the most disastrous consequences. That it has resulted in the protraction of the war to a lengthened period, which, had a different policy been pursued, would have been of much shorter duration.

That it has been still more injurious to the colonists fro nr the lavish and imbecile expenditure of vast monies appropriated to the natives to retrain from the commission of acts hostile to her Majesty and injurious to her Majesty’s subjects —a system which, in the breasts of the natives, only engenders contempt. That the evils arising from such a system will not only bo telt by the present generation, but will be entailed on their posterity, and if continued, will lead to one lamentable, but inevitable conclusion, viz., the extermination of the native race.

Your memorialists respectfully urge that your honroable House will be pleased to draw her Majesty’s attention to the opinions of your memorialists as herein expressed.

That you, as our representatives, will be pleased to exercise all legal power of which you may be possessed, to restrain his Excellency from the continuance of the commission of acts alike injurious to both races, and will urge upon her Majesty the imperative necessity of the speedy recall of dir George G rey, and the appointment of another Governor, who, while maintaining the dignity of the Crown, will be an instrument of preservation to the natives, and a protection to the colonists. Aud your memorialists, &e.”