Spirit of the Press.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 309, 25 September 1865, Page 1

Spirit of the Press.

THE PRESS V THE WELD MINISTRY. [From the New Zealander, September 19.] Oue remarks of yesterday did not half exhaust the vices and abominations of the Government Bill for the better regulation of newspapers. “ Whom the Deity desires to destroy He first makes mad,” is an old saying which seems likely to come true of the Weld Ministry. One knows not how sufficiently to admire the spiteful malignity of the Ministry against the press, which has so consistently shown up their little jobbery, a malignity so strong that it has blinded them to the idiotic imbecility of running a muck against the newspapers of the colony, and arraying against them a power which acting in unison could overthrow a dozen Weld Ministries. It is not to be wondered at that Mr Weld and his colleagues feel rather sore under the comments made upon their conduct by Auckland newspapers ; it is not surprising that when they have taken pains to smooth over some piece of clumsy jobbery, and have ensured its being set in a presentable light by some friendly journal, they should fret and chafe a little at finding a very different version of the affair published in some troublesome Auckland newspaper. It is not unlikely that moments sometimes occur when the Premier mutters an imprecation not loud but deep, and sighs for the power of an Eastern despot, and that the bowstring and the sack could await his orders and that they should be used for the benefit of certain printers, editors, and publishers. We could not have believed, however, that the Weld Ministry contained a member whose spite against a free press would show itself in such a stupid and vulgar piece of hostility as this. Let us examine a few of the provisions of this precious proposal. The publisher of every newspaper is to receive a certificate from the registrar, with whom he

is to file an affidavit specifying the particulars concerning the paper. The publisher is also to obtain sureties for £SOO before he commeces his business. The affidavit so filed is to be taken as sufficient evidence of all matters contained in it in the event of any proceedings being taken in a court of law. This is a highly ingenious mode of making a printer a publisher supply a certain quantity of provisional evidence against himself, to keep on hand and ready for use at a moment’s notice. Indeed, the whole bill is studiously adapted to facilitate actions for libel against newspapers in every possible way. The twentieth clause is a remarkable instance of this. In any legal proceeding, if the affidavit before mentioned, or a certified copy of it, is produced in evidence, and if a newspaper be produced having the same printer’s and publisher’s names as those mentioned in the affidavit, no further proof of the identity of paper will be required, and it will not be necessary to produce evidence that such paper was sold either directly or indirectly by the defendants; so that the law is absolutely to go out of its was to prevent the possibility of distinguishing a forgery from genuine document. There is one clause which directly concerns the distributors of appeals to the unconverted” in the shape of tracts, who must see that their documents contain the printer’s name, otherwise any vessel of wrath who may become the recipient of a tract is allowed to take upon himself the functions of a policeman, and deliver the offender to the tender mercies of a Justice of the Peace. Another stipulation is that every person who prints any document, must keep at least one copy with the name of the person who employed him to print it written or printed thereon. This is a highly judicious and provident clause. and we do not see why it should not be extended to all trades as well as printers. For instance, why should not a shoemaker be compelled to keep a duplicate'of every pair of shoes that he makes, and to chalk his customer’s name and address legibly on the soles ? The advantages of such regulation are obvious: it might be the means of identifying a murderer ; for just as the name of a newspaper is sufficient, without any proof that it ever issued from the defendant’s hands or premises, so, if the footprints \ on the scene of a murder corresponded with i\ the measure of any duplicate pair of boots

in the possession of any shoemaker, it would be clear that the party whose name and address were thereon inscribed, must be the murderer. This would simplify matters very much, and would make hanging as easy a thing as the Weld Ministry wish to make convictions for libel.

We really have not patience to recount the provisions of this abominable bill. The only feelings which it can excite are those of scorn and disgust, and a sort of incredulous wonder whether the whole thing is not a joke, and whether any Minister would dare to bring forward such a measure in the Parliament of a free nation. Surely the press of New Zealand will speak with one voice upon this subject, if upon no other: sun ly the Weld Ministry will be taught what that power really is which they are so anxious to curb. Let the press be true to itself, and this venemous attempt on the part of the part of the mischievous imbeciles who now misgovern the colony must prove fatal to them. Should this bill, however, by any accident become law, it will be time for all lovers of liberty to leave these shores, and seek a more advanced and liberal civilisation in countries where the remnants of the feudal system yet linger.

THE LATE PEACE PEO CL AM ATI OH. [From the Sout em Cross, September 18.] “ The Governor announces to the natives of New Zealand that the war which commenced at Oakura is at an end,” Such is the sum and substance of Sir George Grey’s last proclamation as well as its first sentence. It might be a question for the Maori logician to consider how far the statement was logically, or could be logically true, just as it may enter the mind of a European to consider how the Governor can end by a proclamation that which the Maoris began by a massacre. Perhaps, however, it is not of much consequence what the logical aspects of the thing may be. Sir George Grey has so long stuided the art of governing by proclamations that he may reasonably be supposed to know more than most people about the best form to put them in. He ought to know the Maoris better than we do, and if his experience of them leads him to believe that they will overlook the fact that he arrogates to himself the power to conclude with his peu a war which he has done little to conclude by any other means, we should be sorry to suggest to them the weakness of his case. The proclamation, it must be remembered, is meant frr the Maoris, so that criticisms upon it coming from European sources may not be entitled to a great deal of weight. For instance, we may think the style bombastical. and the matter contradictory and absurd; but who shall say that it is not suited to the capacity of that stupid race upon whom Sir George Grey’s arts of policy have never been—as every one knows ; —exerted in vain ? Not that Sir George Grey deserved the whole credit of this document; far from it. Mr Weld, in a memorandum of the Sad September; claims its credit for himself and his colleagues. In this among other things, he says, that he presents “ a proclamation of general amnesty and he proceeds to explain its object. “ The struggle on the West Coast and in Waikato is, for the present, at least, at an end ; and prompt and liberal action by Government may, it is hoped, prevent its revival. It is proper at such a moment to distinguish broadly between the conduct of the great body of those who have been in arms against us, and the revolting barbarities now continually practised by the Hau-hau fanatics.” This explains the thing. Nobody is fighting at Waikato, although a good many are talking of doing so ; a few stray men are being shot from day to day at Taranaki and Wanganui, which may be regarded as a very fair amount of peace, indeed, for those districts. As, too, we are just beginning a new campaign in afresh part of the country against a fresh enemy, the time had better be seized, while the expedition is still on its way, for proclaiming peace. Mr Weld thinks that now is the moment for prompt and liberal action on the part of the Government; and, in spite of the want of favor with which we are viewed by the Defence Minister, we quite agree with him. It would have been a pity to have delayed the proclamation until the war of Opotiki was fairly commenced, as it

would probably have been impossible to place a copy of the proclamation in the hands of Patara, Kereopa, and their friends. Hence the promptitude of the Government cannot be to much. As to the “ liberality” of the course pursued we have less means of knowing, but no doubt it will be found that a large quantity of extra copies of the Gazette were printed off and sent with the Opotiki expedition for gratuitous distribution amongst the natives they might encounter. For, although the Premier thinks it “ proper to distinguish broadly between the conduct of the great body of those who have been in arms against us, and the revolting barbarities continualy, practised by the Hau-hau fanatics,” it must not be supposed for an instant that the peace proclamation refers only to the great body and not to the Hau-hau fanatics. On the contrary, if we except the list of murders which are to be treaty as unpardoned offences, there is nearly as much of the proclamation addressed “ Hau-hau fanatics” as anyone else. For our own part we wholly fail to see how Mr Weld has carried out his idea of “ a broad distinction” between the mass of those who have been in arms and the Hau-hau fanatics, unless it be in this, that the first are told that they have been beaten——which, perhaps they won’t believe—and have lost a quantity of land—of which they are pretty well aware; while the second, by way of a “broad distinction,” we suppose, are told that if they will not protect sundry murderers no harm will happen to them, and none of their lands will be taken. After all, a native might surely say, there is something in being in a party into whose system “ revolting barbarities” enter largely. But, we quote Mr Weld once more—“ Ministers do not calculate on any single results from the amnesty alone.” We need not assure the Defence Minister that we give the Government all credit for their wisdom in this expectation. And we must ask pardon if we are obliged to confess ourselves somewhat puzzled at the gratifying words that follow. They think that, “ fob lowed by vigorous action on the eastern side of the island”—hanging the murderers, we presume, of Mr Volkner and Mr Fulloon and party—“ and the speedy and exact settlement of land questions in Waikato and the Wanganuui-Taranaki country, and by the earliest possible extension of the operations of Laud Courts they may entertain a confident hope that the orders and proclamation may prove a turning point in the history of the Maori rebellion.” Now we know all about it. Here is the proclamation, and here are the reasons of the Ministry and their hopes connected with it. It is seldom that the public gets so far behind the scenes, and surely no one can blame it if, once there, it uses its own judgment about what it sees there. This is not the first proclamation, by a great many, we have seen given to the world, and, so to speak, presented to the Maoris in rebellion. They have been told that if they did certain things they would be punished in a certain way; they have been told again that if they would only leave off fighting, and take an oath not to do it again, they wouldn’t be punished after all- And now they are told that the way which they began we have ended—not, as might be supposed, by conquering them—but by leaving off fighting and entreating them to do the same. We know how great an effect the two former classes of proclamation produced on the natives. We know how they were deterred from fighting by fear of our threats, and what numbers flocked back to their allegiance on promise of our pardon ! We have yet to see how many will be found to believe the statements of this strange rigmarole, which is a sort of imbecile hybrid between a news-letter, a threat, and a promise. We do not imagine the native will be profoundly impressed by the trustworthiness of a document which sets out by an assertion which the Maoris best know to be of very questionable truth. As a matter of fact our ideas of peace and war are strangely confused nowadays ; but still we do not see how the state of Wanganui and Taranaki can be called peaceful. To the boastful narrative of what we have done a native could easily oppose quite as imposing an array of exploits. To the statement that “no more land will be confiscated on account of the present war fsicj , v an acute native might

oppose the statement in the nest sentence about " seizing landsand might also wonder, not unnaturally, what a “present war” which is “at an end,” can be like. If asked our own opinion as to the “ results” of the proclamation we should unhesitatingly reply that we look for none. It is impossible to make the natives more contemptuous of our attempts at diplomacy, or this would certainly do it. It is impossible to make them think the Government weaker than they now think it, or this could not fail of effecting the purpose. It is impossible to make them more heartily disloyal than now, or we should conceive the peace proclamation the very thing to do this.

THE COLONIAL OFFICE. (Prom the Nelson Examiner.) No colonist who has read the works of the philosopher of Slickville, hut has felt the truth of the picture which that highly entertaining and yet most sagacious writer has drawn of the treatment which Great Britain accords to her Colonial Empire. The whole manner of dealing with her colonies is a hugh mistake, which we fear neither the Government nor the people of England will discover until consequences have arisen which it will be-in vain to regret, idle to combat. A member of the House of Commons, possessed of some ability in debate, but with no special qualification for the office, by a shuffling of the cards becomes Secretary of State for the Colonies, and suddenly finds himself a sort of dictator over countries more than double in extent the whole of Europe, and with interests most diverse. What would be a life-study to a man of the greatest ability, and then give him but an incomplete knowledge of his subject, a Colonial Minister on taking office claims intuitively, and no way hesitates to lecture Colonial Governors and Governments as if he had lived a hundred years, and devoted every hour of his like to the study of their affairs. Talk of the self-confidence of a statesman, ready at a moments notice to take charge of the channel fleet; why it is nothing to taking charge of Great Britain’s thirty-eight colonies. What makes our system of colonial rule so bad is the circumstance that the Colonial Minister, be his prejudices or his incapacity ever so great, is always master of the situation while in office. Wrong-headed, priggish, violently opinionated—be his faults of intellect or temper what they may, he rules supreme, and no one dares approach him with “ bated breath and whispered humbleness.” If a vulnerable point is found, well and good ; if not, where is the chauce of redress ? The colonies by universal consent, both in and out of Parliament, are regarded as troublesome appendages of the empire. Manufacturers and merchants, it is true, know their value as consumers of the’ products of the country, and it gratifies the pride of John Bull to be told occasionally that he is the subject of a realm “ on which the sun never sets.” But what care the people of England generally for the colonies ? Colonists are the pariahs of the empire. Some of them may return to England and spend the wealth they have acquired, but they attain no social position at home. They have no sons in the army commanding regiments ; they are not dignitaries on the Bench; there is no road by which they can reach the high places in the Church. As the colonies are not represented in Parliament, and can give no votes on a division, the Government does not care to hear anything about them, and is always nervous concerning horrid Kaffir and New Zealand wars. Mr Cardwell, or Lord Anybody, who holds the seal* of the Colonial Office for the time being, has therefore matters very much his own way. There is something perplexing, almost unnatural, in the manner in which England treats her colonies. A parent who sees his children grow up strong and successM in life is proud of his offspring. But England has to such feeling towards her colonial children. So long as her sons remain at home dependent upon parental care, they are part of the family, and entitled to aU the considerations which of right belong to them. But if, seeing the parental cupboard growing empty, and the old house becoming overcrowded, some of them have the enterprise to say, “I will leave my father’s house to my brothers and sisters*

and accept as my patrimony a portion of the estate which lies idle and unreclaimed across the sea”—from that moment there is a severance of ties, as regarded by those he leaves behind—the adventurer is no longer an Englishman, for be has become a colonist.

That we are drawing no imaginary picture of the relationship between Great Britain and her colonies, we have recently had painful evidence. We printed, a few days ago, a despatch from Mr Cardwell to Sir George Grey, dated the 22nd of May last, conveying an intimation that the Governor’s recommendation, backed by that of General Cameron, that the Victoria Cross should be bestowed mpon Major Heaphy for his gallant conduct in a skirmish at Waiari, could not be acceded to, because Major Heaphy was a colonist .

The particular service which Major Heaphy performed, and the circumstances which attended it, must be told. In a skirmish with the enemy in Waikato, in Feb., 1864, a body of the Auckland Militia were engaged, in company with a body of the 40th and 50th Regts., in the operations directed by General Cameron. During the engagement a party of the troops became separated from their officers and joined themselves v*ith the Militia under the command of Major Heaphy, and bore with him some of the hardest brunt of the fighting While thus engaged, a wounded soldier was seen lying in a pit, liable to be despatched by the Maoris, who were close at hand in some scrub. Major Heaphy offered to go and bring off the wounded soldier in the face of the enemy, and four men of the 40th volunteered to accompany him down into the hollow. Of these, two fell immediately, mortally wounded: and one, Patrick Cooney, now in Auckland, succeeded, with Major Heaphy, in reaching the man. Here they received another discharge from the Maoris. But the two of them were quite unable to get the man out of the hollow. They however covered him with their rifles, until a stretcher-party came to their assistance, when he was carried off; one man of that party, M’Doale of 40th, being killed while moving him. The case speaks for itself, and needs no words of ours to add force to it. Major Heaphy was serving her Majesty as efficiently as any man in the field, and if he did not hold his commission from his Soverign, he held it from her representative. But Lord de Grey is of opinion that the Queen’s decoration cannot properly be extended beyond the regular Army, and suggests that Major Heaphy might be compensated for the loss of the Victoria Cross to adorn his breast, by “ a substantial reward in land, or otherwise.” Lord de Grey might have spared the insult, if he did not chose to accede to the request. The policy of Lord de Grey is precisely that which Mr Slick describes to be the general conduct of England towards her colonies: —“Always make a nigger feel he is a nigger, or he’ll get sassy.” Major Heaphy is “ only an officer of Militia; aud, like Don Quixote’s tailor, works for nothing, and finds thread.” We must not conclude however without saying, that instances, we are told, have occurred where the Victoria Cross has been conferred on civilians for the performance of military duties. The persons on whom these distinctions were bestowed had influential friends—one a Director of the East India Company, which of course makes all the difference ; while Major Heaphy had no friends perhaps at home to back up the recommendations of Sir George Grey and General Cameron. Ho where—not in England itself—is the feeling of loyalty to the sovereign, and reverence for England and its institutions, more strongly and passionately felt than in the colonies. But the sentiments with which we regard our mother country must in time lose their intensity under the chilling influences to which they are subjected ; and distrust and jealously will spring up where there ought to be love and affection. The reproof contained in Mr Weld’s Memorandum on Mr Cardwell’s despatch, was most richly merited.