THE “NOBLE MAORIS” AND THE CLERGY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume V, Issue 263, 10 May 1865, Page 3

THE “NOBLE MAORIS” AND THE CLERGY.

- To the. Edi tor of the New’Zealand Herald. Sib, — There are men among us who are not yet curfed of their philo-Maori proclivities, even by thei Volkner affair; who are not ashamed to say according to native custom it was not murder, but; simply utu for Te Ranga, and the victory of the Arawas.” No doubt an attempt will be made by men high in office here, and of great political. . and ecclesiastical influence in the mother country, so to gloss over the horrible tragedy at Opotikias to prevent the British public-realising the true de tails of that transaction, and the real character, of the race in whose behalf their' sympathies have been so shamefully traded upon. It is not my present purpose to refer to that sad event, but simply to recount some incidents which like the straw thrown up betokening the direction of the wind, may show the current - of events. Some one wiser than his fellows hold that truth was to be found at the bottom of a well; whether that be so or not, certain unpleasant truths, which could not be extracted from the Church Missionary party hitherto, have at last come out in the proceedings of the- Compensation Court. We have been assured, that for the past four years, the natives have refrained to a commendable extent from committing wilful damage to the property of Europeans, and that, the particulars of of any specially notorious case would' shoV that the natives had been more sinned against than sin ni ng. Whatever might be the attitude of these misguided men towards the - Government, the place of worship, the school, and the Minister, were tapu. I was therefore not a little surprised to notice in the proceedings of the .'Compensation Court the following paragraph: Orphan Heine at Taurarua. Claim, £621,. DrJ Furchas was in trust for the institution. There were fifty head of rattle at Orakau in July, , when.it became necessary to abandon them; they were placed in the hands of the' Natives, mho appropriated them to their own use. With regard to the validity of the claim, I have nothing to say. That is a matter for the decision of the proper authority. But it does, appear passing strange that those who are averse to the infliction of punishment on the Maoris for evil doing, should feel so little hesitancy in recounting the wrongs they have endured at the hands of their beloved proteges, and should seek compensation from “ the land-grasping, and covetous colonists.” Exeter Hall would be startled from its propriety, did it know that the Church Mission had claimed from the Colonial Gocernment £631, in one single case, for injuries committed by the ..Natives, and in that„casa_lhe-destruction .of property devoted to the service of an institution having for its objects the maintenance and education of orphans of the Maori race! Who would have thought that “Nature’s gentlemen,” generous to a fault, and the disciple of a chivalry which might have shamed the Uncas and Chingachook of Fenhimofe Cooper, would have'been gnilty of such “ goings on!” In the Report of the Auckland Auxiliary of theBible Society, recently published, there appears a most remarkable sentence. In reply to the query, “ Has the Gospel failed in its mission in New Zealand?” there among a series’ of others, this reply, “The comparatively small amount of violent outrage during a four year years’ war says, No!”

The hon. secretary of that society is also, 1 believe, the chief of the Wesleyan Mission in the Northern District, and though not solely responsible for that report, no doubt drafted it, as is usual in such cases, and approves substantially of its contents. The rev. gentleman, I am aware, stands on a somewhat different footing to many, of his ecclesiastical confreres, inasmuch as I have never yet heard anyone accuse him of throwing obstacles in the path of Government in dealing with the Native Question. His “ History of the King Movement,’’'is' Kiafr * and' impartial marrativoof of the causes and events which led to that remarkable organization among the Native people. Few men have had better opportunities of knowing the real state of things. I 'was, therefore, ; the more astonished to see the cloven hoof of Philo-Maorism peeping' slyly out in the sentence quoted' above. It would be difficult to guess what the Committee of the Auckland Bible Society would consider “ a large amount of violent outrage,” .if that which has occurred during the past four years may be regarded as “comparatively small.” This is said tby men who know that Taranaki has been pracout .of the list of diminishing population eking out a miserable existence in tilling-their -shanty gardens under thS guns of the blockhouses; that no more of Wanganui is held than is covered by the bodies of the troops, or within range of the Armstroigs; that from Gape Colville to the East Cape the country is being'abattdoned’ttt thc curseof Maori-barbar" ism. That at Tauranga and in the Waikato, where hostilities have entirely ceased, the 'slien<W £ar : risons at their posts stand to their arms before daybreak, and observe as great vigilance against attack as if they were doing trensh duty before Sebastopol. Bet any matt read down the list of T'Hffimls 1 exempted, from the benefit of the amnesty offered in October last to the natives, leaving out altogether the still larger roll of those equally guilty in the eye of the law, whom, for reasons best known to his Excellency alone, he has allowed to go scot free to say nothing of thos&wbo have had " belligerent rights” accorded to them, ancTEave m regie, shot our soldiers ,bj,thpt acoreC«tiSi»gfc riri, Orakau, Gate Pa, &c., and then say whether the statement in the report is correct. 1 make bold to say tbat taking the respective numbers in

the .field, and the area over which life and pro-, perty were hazarded, greater loss of life and property has been ineured in the Northern Island Iran in India during the- mutiny. ■ If the amount ofviolent outrage is comparatively small,, even -wdien-tbat-termis applied to the whole extent of territory affected by rebellion, then the amount of injury sustained by the Wesleyan Mission, judging by probabilities, must be something inappreciable. “To the law and to the testimony; What saith the' Compensation Court?—

Waipa Mission Station.—The Bev. Thomas Buddie, Superintendent of the Wesleyan Mission in Northern Dist rict of New Zealand, claimed £39917s for losses at the Waipa Mission-house and Station.

Comment is needless. From the records of that same Compensation Court I could bring many a heart-rending case to the memories, if hot the hearts, of the gentlemen composing the Bible Society Committee. ' Of a father claiming for the loss of a beloved son who fell beneath the rifle of the Maori assassin ; of another claiming for a eon who was the stay and support of his aged parents ; of another for a child sent into drivelling idiotcy for life through the murderous blows of the Maori tomahawkand another with heart choking utterance and bitter tears tolling the Commissioner ■how his two children had been mangled and mutilated, as if in the shambles, and of the family affliction that subsequently succeeded, through the parents being broken down, in body and spirit, by their loss. I might mention more, sir, but I despair of either my memory or my researches culling from that-record of “lamentation, mourning, and woe,” such a list as would in the minds of these gentlemen, constitute “ a large amount of violent out rage." ; 1 can only say that the humanity evinced by those who, well fortified with local knowledge, tan pass the votes, (and give it forth in the community, where so many heartstricken and sorrowing-survivors of Maori outrage reside), is, to say the least of it, “ eompartively ■small.” Yours, &0., An, Auckland Colonist: