IMPERIAL INTERFERENCE IN A NEW SHAPE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 289, 17 July 1865, Page 1

IMPERIAL INTERFERENCE IN A NEW SHAPE.

[From the Wellington Independent, July 6.J

Imperial interference was never more unfortunately exercised, than in the proceedings which recently took place for the surrender of the Wereroa pah. When the Colony resolved to do without the Imperial troops and its offer was accepted, it was hoped that if we were not helped, we would at least not be hampered, in the future. This it appears is not the case. The troops are to go, so the despatches say, and the Colony is to manage as best it can, but our very first effort at independent action is nevertheless rendered abortive by the exercise of that interference which it was thought had been got rid of for ever. How the Wereroa pah was not surrendered will never be exactly known, and though we have endeavoured to ascertain the truth, yet from the conflicting character of the several statements, it is impossible to say positively what were the actual circumstances which led to a result at once so ludicrous and provoking. It is, however, made perfectly clear, that if the Forest Rangers, the Wanganui cavalry, and the Native Contingent, had been left to wmrk in their own way, and the Imperial troops had been on shipboard a thousand miles at sea, the pah, long ere this, would have been in our hands. There was a sufficient force able and willing to take it by assault, if the garrison refused to surrender. If they had surrendered unconditionally, the difficulty would have been at an end, whilej if they had not, a dashing and successful assault would have accomplished the end iu view, with this additional advantage that a powerful blow would have been struck at the rebellion. As the case stands, what has been done ? Major Yon Tempskey receives permission to attack and take this stronghold, and our native allies under Captain McDonald are told that their desire to do us service will at last be gratified. Day after day passes and nothing is done, while the loyal natives become more and more discontented. They do not understand the bealities of the circumlocution system, or why vacillation and delay should be displayed, rather than action, prompt and determined. They say:— “ You want to take that pa. It is good ; we will take it for you, and afterwards we cun talk.” But the talk nevertheless went on, as indeed it has for months. Then there was more negociation, and at last the garrison, it is said, agreed to surrender and Major Hookes sent his celebrated despatch “ that the Wereroa was un fait accompli .” Why after this the garrison didn’t submit, nobody seems exactly to know. The military authorities now came prominently on the scene, and endeavored to complete the work which the colonial forces had so far accomplished. Then arose a series of complications defying explanation. The natives, who it is alleged, either had, or were about to surrender to Capt. M’Donald, drew back and refused if the military authorities interfered, who thereupon asserted a right of control over the Colonial Forces and Native Contingent, the result being that the latter were ordered back to Kaiwhike, Major s Von Tempsky and Capt. M’Donald threw up their commissions, and the capitulation of Wereroa, instead of being un fait accompli , is apparently as far off as ever. We do not guarantee the strict accuracy' of the above facts, but they are at all event** sufficiently correct to prove that the existence ' of a twofold and conflicting authority at the ! scene of action has been productive of tha

%orst consequences. It was necessary that sfehs pa should either be surrendered or taken, because it was impossible t® bring the rebel* lion to a close, so long as it was occupied by the enemy, and it was still more necessary, that the first independent action taken by the colonists in the war, should have been vigorous and successful. We wanted to convince the rebels that single handed we could heat them, and we desired to show our native allies, that operation in the future would be no mere child’s play, but the work of men, in which they could in their own fashion play an important part. Through fatuity and jealousy—through we know not what other motive—the military authorities have interfered, and the result is exactly the opposite of what we desired to bring about. The rebels are encouraged to persevere in resisting a power divided against itself, while the loyal natives are angry because their services have not been employed, and disgusted at a system which fails in negotiation and declines action. There must be an end put to this, though how* it is to be brought about we are at a loss to say. When the Colonial Assembly said “we will do without the Imperial troops, if we are made free of Imperial interference,” and when the Imperial Parliament accepted the offer, then we thought the beginning of that end had come. But in practice we are still suffering under the old evils. The troops yet remain in the colony, impotent for good and powerful for evil. When the Wanganui war was conducted solely under Imperial control, then the troops were only useless. They did nothing except make a grand military demonstration in the famous West Coast march, and the colony looked quietly oc their proceedings, as something with which it had nothing to do. Now the case is very difierent, because the colony has been told to suppress the rebellion itself, so when the military authorities interfere, as they did the other day, they are very much worse than useless. If the colonists are to act with any chance of success, they must be unfettered, and that we are certain they never will be so long as an Imperial force remains in the colony. We look with hope to the approaching meeting of the Assem ly, as affording some prospect that a definite scheme for the internal defence of the colony will be adopted. Already Mr Weld has sufficiently indicated the nature uf the proposals which will be submitted to Pal lia ment for its sancbut in any case it will be necessary to consider first, whether the troops are to leave the colony ? and, if so, when are they to go ?