The Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER WEDNESDAY, 19th APRIL., 1865.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 254, 19 April 1865, Page 2

The Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER WEDNESDAY, 19th APRIL., 1865.

It is onei'sign of the times, that we find our contemporary taking the' identical view of the state and prospects of this province in the matter of ..the natives that we have done from the first. Our readers well know our uniform position has been' precisely that now taken jip..by, .the. Herald, and .which , is simply this—that the interest the natives of Hawke’s Bay have in the way of rents and leases Id maintaining peace id the province has been greatly overrated* and would only. Operate to. a very small extent. 2nd. That

the tribal feuds have a more powerful influence, and even these are not to be depended upon in a case such as this now occurring, when they are only too ready to overlook these local jealousies;-and form in a general crusade against the intruding pakelia;."* 'srd. That the partial civilization of some of them is of no moment whatever, and is set aside as soon as external hands' are removed, ’’ and they -find themselves in freedom amongst their own people. There is, however, one point that seems to be overlooked by our contemporary, though it has ere now been alluded to and admitted, and that is, the small degree of influence that the chiefs-now possess over the body of the natives ; so that, giving every allowance to all these for sincerity in their professions—to the per. sonal interest they have in their continuing to receive the proceeds of their land—and to the tribal feuds that may now cause antagonism between the main body and Hapuku, who favors the hau-liau, —we perfectly agree that it is but a reed, on which, if a man lean, it will pierce through his hand.

But we have good reason to go much further than our contemporary, and deny that the chiefs themselves who have “ committed themselves in writing to declarations of peace and order,” and have been most noisy with their professions of loyalty, &c., in their meetings before the pakehas, are one degree more to be trusted than those more honest fellows who have the boldness to declare that they are our foes. We are told that a point has . been made by the General Government of the rents they receive as a material “ guarantee of the peace of this province.” This is true, and it is true that on this account, the General Government has neglected to provide for the defence of the province as it otherwise would have done. But to what is this owing if not to the constantly reiterated declarations of our contemporary that such was the case. It has not only made this assertion to assure the people of the province of their security, but has used it as an argument for the defence of the conduct of the illegal holders of native land, in that they- were an. important agency in protecting Hawke’s Bay from the horrors of war, by making it the interest of the natives to preserve the peace. Few however, we believe, have been led astray by this sophism, and we are glad to observe that our contemporary can see these things in their true light at last.

.But our readers may believe when the Herald goes so far as to ’admit that our hopes of peace are riot to rest on the interest the natives' have in maintaining it, but mainly on the jealousies existing between two parties, and that even this is but a reed on which to depend—a reed, too, that is ready to break at any time, coupled with the admission that the country is temptingly open in several directions to the invasion of the rebels, who are being gradually but surely driven away from their present quarters in this direction, and here they must, come, AS THEY HATE NO WHERE ELSE TO GO to, —when we say the Herald admits and proclaims all this, we may rest assured that the danger of the province is imminent indeed, and that much more to the point could -be said by the same parties, particularly as to the favor with which the hau-hau are regarded by the very parties who have in sheer hypocrisy raised their voices and signed their hands to what is the merest humbug, if we may use so classical but expressive a term.

We commend a communication (to be found in another place) which we have received from an intelligent observer of these matters to the serious consideration of our readers and of all parties concerned in the question, and we warn the illegal squatters and all those who have been in the habit of bribing, petting, and indulging the Maori,. that they, with the missionaries, are likely to be amongst the first victims to the horrible superstition of the Hau Pai Matures.