Hawke's Bay Times. Nillius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1869. THE REBELLION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 645, 7 January 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nillius addictus jur are in verba magistri. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1869. THE REBELLION.

Eemaekably slow progress seems to be the order of the clay, both on the East and West Coasts, in the work of subjugating the rebellious natives. The great bulk of that large party of friendly natives, which were, some weeks ago, shipped to Wairoa, have returned to Napier, and are unable to report anything, good or bad, accomplished. It seems that the far greater portion of the time they have been away they have spent in waiting at Clyde, being prevented, as we understand, from proceeding in search of the rebels by some evil j prognostications of one of their own J " prophets ; " and now they seem to have felt that harvest operations necessitated their return, After this is over, we suppose the same role will be re-enacted, as has been I so many times done already. At Poverty Bay we believe the rebels are hard passed, being short of all necessaries We understand that they have made two attempts at escape from their position at Ngatepe, but have on each occasion been driven back. It seems to have been on one of these occasions that Captain Brown fell a sacrifice, and some others of our force were wounded. Colonel Whitmore's operations are slowly but steadily progressing—the nature of the work {secluding all appearance of dash or rapid movement. Such is, in detail, all that we have been able to gather of the news brought in by the Ahuriri on Sunday last. We had hopes that the report of Captain Brown's death

might prove false—the whole of the reports being of a vague character, — but find little reason to doubt its correctness.

Neither is the news from the West Coast of any more promising nature. Colonel Lyons has been brought from Auckland and placed in command, and on the occasion of a recent attack of the rebel position at Nukumarn, we suffered the loss of a sergeant named Maxwell. An accurate knowledge of the strength and capabilities of the rebels tseenis to have been obtained, and some loss inflicted on them by our men, but that was all—our forces bringing away with them a number of horses, &c. Subsequent to this it seems that Colonel Lyons gave great umbrage to the Wanganui cavalry and other European forces by sending the Kupapas (friendly natives) in advance of the Colonial forces. A quarrel was the result, —the cavalry refusing to proceed unless the Kupapas were sent to the rear. This not being done, the men returned home, and the intended expedition fell to! the ground. We learn that the officers in command of the cavalry— Captain Finnimore and Lieut. Bryce —have been both placed under arrest, and the men struck off pay. Our telegram of yesterday, which appears elsewhere, describes the feeling of disaffection as acquiring more intensity. The Colonial forces on the West Coast have never had confidence in the Native Contingent. They believe them to be in communication with the lebels. They say I that they are too cowardly to fight, land in action are of more harm than good. The men justify their officers in their refusal to follow the Kupapas; and Colonel Lyons has already lost that prestige and confidence that men should hold in their commander. It is very sad that it should be so.

Meantime the cost of this delay to the Colony is something terrible to contemplate. Day by day the expense is going on, and the rebels seem as far from being conquered as ever. What that expense is we acknowledge we have no idea; but it must be something enormous. Shipments and transhipments of men and arms ; sending troops of friendly natives off, and bringing them back, again, and yet again; rations and pay; and so lit tile to show for all, seems enough fco strike dismay into the mind of any ordinary settler. A remedy has been proposed to meet the present state of things by Mr Ciacroft Wilson, a gentleman of experience in the art of quelling a rebellion, having taken an active position in the operations against the mutinous Indians some ten years ago. This scheme is to bring an army of Ghoorkas to New Zealand. He made such a proposal in the Ge-j neral Assembly seven years since; and we fancy it would have been well for the Colony had it been done. We cannot, at the end of an article, enter into the merits of his scheme, but intend to bring it before our readers at an early opportunity.

' The Civil Service.—A Gazette Ireceived by last mail contains the amended Regulations for the examination of Candidates under the Civil Service Act, 1866. Candidates are required to give certificates of age (which must not be under 17 nor over 22), health, and character. The compulsory subjects are English and arithmetic, including decimal aud vulgar fractions; and the optional ones Latin, French, Euclid, Algebra, English History, Political Economy, Geography, and Maori. Two of these subjects, at least, must be .selected and passed in. The examinations will not be competitive as between the candidates, but every candidate will be required to pass a certain standard of proficiency, which will be fixed by the Central Board, who alone will decide whether he has passed or not. A general list of those who have passed will be kept by the Central Board, and copies furnished to each Responsible Minister, who will at his discretion, whenever vacancies occur, select such as he may think fit, with a view to appointing the most qualified for particular vacancies, and to apportioning such selection as equitably as practicable among the several Provinces. The Local Board at Na pier, we see, consists of J. M. Tabuteau, Esq., H. B. Sealy, Esq., and the Inspector of Schools (Major Green.)

Port School Examination, — This school was examined on the 24th December by the Rev. G. Mo rice, in the presence of Mr J. Anderson, Mrs "Wilson, the Misses Williams, and many of the friends of the children. The following is a list of the prizes :—First class —General good conduct and attendance, Margery Symonds; Reading and arithmetic, Margery Symonds, Writing, Maria Symonds ; Geography, Eliza J. Topping. Second class—Good conduct and attendance, Sarah Symonds; Reading, William Denholm; Wiiting, Isabella Munro; Arithmetic, Agnes Trask. Third class—General good conduct and at* tendance, James Vautier ; Reading, Robert Munro; Writing, Mary Palmer. Fourth class—Reading, Robert Munro and Herbert Mabbett. At the close of the examination the children were regaled with cake and fruits in abundance, followed by all sorts of games, in wh ; ch their teacher took a prominent part. Later in the evening they all separated for their homes, much pleased with the entertainment, and wishing that Christmas would come more than once a-year. The school will re-open on Monday next, 11th January.

The Wanganui Friendly Natives.—We received yesterday the following item by telegraph : " There is no news from Wanganui by coach last night, except that an angry feeling between settlers and friendly natives appears to be increasing." '< Coal.—By reference to our shipping columns, it will be seen two vessels may be shortly expected to arrive from the Bay of Islands. These will, we learn, both bring cargoes of coal. I The Telegraph to the Spit is now in working order, and only | awaits the arrival of a clerk from the South, by the Phoebe on Sunday next, to be opened.

The English Mail via Suez may be expected to arrive by the Phoebe on Sunday next.

Tallow.—lt will be seen from our advertising columns that a market for this article exists in Otago.

Lieut.-Colonel Lambert arrived overland from Wairoa on Tuesday morning last.

A Proposal xo Chush the Eebellion. —We find it stated in the New Zealand Advertiser that a gentleman in Sydney, lately a lieutenant in H.M.'s Bth Eegt, has proposed to the New Zealand Government to raise, for the purpose of quelling the native insurrection, a force of 630 Australian blacks, officered and accompanied by 120 whites, principally good bushmen, and 1,200 dogs. We take the following from the New Zealand Advertiser, Dec 31:—The loyal natives in the Wairarapa are eaid to have received letters from the Manawatu chiefs, urging them to go at once and join the expedition against Titokowaru, who, the letter says, has announced his intention to advance on Wanganui on the Ist January, and continue the war "Ake, uke."

| THE NEW BRITISH PARLIAMENT. JJ | (From the Home News, Nov. 2.) ■ The Parliamentary election* under thon new Eeform Act have not yet commenced. H The old Parliament is not dissolved; but! its dissolution will probably be announced B in the next Gazette, and long before thai departure of the next mail for New Zea- 1 | land via Panama the new constituencies B will have discharged their duties. By tha S same mail we shall also be enabled tog announce the date when the reformed m legislature will assemble. So far as can [| be seen at present the new Parliaments will consist of very similar elements to tha M old. No conspicuous change is apparent & in the general character of the candidates p for admission to what is considered as the "|! best club in the kingdom. It is true that ff here and there there are candidates from r - 1 the working classes, and certain speculative organs of public opinion have rather' [ warmly supported the principle of a direct J representation of this particular order by $ some of the best of its members. But it 'ss is remarkable that, either from indifference £ or familiarity, the working classes them- *; selves show imperfect appreciation of the "ji value of the privilege. They cannot be" brought to vote for one of themselves. ' But the most remarkable event of all hns occurred in one of the new metropolitan *. boroughs. The advanced Liberals have, ever since the exploits in Hyde-park, and, ? - indeed, at an earlier epoch in the Reform! agitation, made it an article of faith that * working men should be admitted to seats in Parliament. Yet, by a curious inconsistency, on the very first occasion when there was an opportunity for a conspicuous vindication of the principle, these* advanced Liberals as conspicuously aban-. doned it. For the borough in questionthere were two Liberal candidates, Sir Bfenry Hoare, who is a Radical and a baronet, and Mr Odger, who is a Radical and a working man. It was agreed, in order not to divide the Liberal party on, , the polling, to submit to three advannced Liberals, members of Parliament, question which of the two candidates; : ' should retire. The umpires were Mr T. [ 'Hughes, M.P., Mr Stansfield, M.P., Mr? , P. A. Taylor, M.P.—all of whom have >* - risen to a Parliamentary position more or! - less by their adulation of the working man. Here was an opportunity for the public recognition of a virtuous principle by i;ho shining lights of patriotic Radicalism. But without assigning any reasons for it,' the decree of the umpires was in favor— ! not of the working man, but of the baronet! The dignity of labor, concerning which the whole of the three umpires have most eloquently discoursed over and over again was nowhere in competition with a title supported by wealth. The history of this case will satisfy distaut observers that the now Parliament will be composed of exactly the same class of members as the OW4 And if confirmation were wanted of this? view, reference might be made to tha Staffordshire borough of Stokion-Treur. 1 Here also there is a working man candidate. He may or may not have a chanca of success. But his opponent is a Liberal [of ample means. The working man candidate ventured to solicit subscription*; - from Liberal M P.'a and others to enables ' him to carry on the contest. There is no > objection to this on principle, and iu this y . case it was a necessity. But one of the most Liberal of papers, the Daily News, de« 1 nounced both the man and the subscript L tion; and thus in different ways the representatives of labor are shoved out of all chance of election to the " great club" by their own professed friend. For these reasons, if for no other, we conclude that the new Parliament will not differ from the old in men, whatever it may do in measures.