Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1869.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 742, 9 December 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1869.

We have been scolded by our contemporary, and many imaginary writers in our columns have been held up to contumely because we cannot bow the knee implicitly to the ruling powers; nevertheless, we desire to be fair, and do not, as the Herald did last year, wish to treat public servants as pachyderms, whose hides are impervious to the shafts of criticism. For some weeks we have watched with increasing anxiety for some sign that Te Ivooti is beaten, weakened, or likely to be caught; and it is with veiy bitter disappointment that we read in the bulletins of our contemporary that not one of these things has come to pass. The late Government handed over the reins to their successors with this miscreant unearthed, weak, and to be easily overpowered on the Taupo plains. Now, there seems to be grounds for fearing tha b, in spite of all our military vigilance, he has regained the shelter of the Uriwera Mountains with a larger force than e\ er of bloodthirsty wretches. We are asked to rejoice that Mr M'.Lean has successfully treated with Waikato, that Rewi is to catch Te Kooti, Ithat Topia and the Upper Wanganuis have been armed and profess i _ ' themselves anxious to do the same thing; and, further, to thank Providence that the removal of the troops is to take place when things are not so desperate as they seemed " a few months ago under the Stafford regime? We fear we have not yet heard the last of Te Kooti and his murderous gang. We wish to think so, but if we happened to live at Wairoa, or Poverty Bay, or were in a secluded spot in the country, we should feel uncomfortable; perhaps at Haroto, being timid, we might sleep uneasily enough, in the unfinished stockade. We published lately an able article from the Wanganui Chronicle in which no unmixed satisfaction was expressed relative to the Waikato proceedings : and we observe in that most servile of Government organs, the Wellington Independent, anticipatory declarations that nothing would induce Mr Fox to commit the grave indis cretion of arming Topia Tauroa. Our local contemporary tells us this indiscretion is completed.

When the last order for the with drawal of the troops arrived, Mr Stafford told the country that it was not a question of expense, but of policy, which dictated that course. At that time Mr Fox (not Mr Stafford) reigned in Wellington, and the desperate position of the country arose from the fact that the with drawal of the Taupo expedition had left Te Kooti free access to the King. That Mr Fox believed disaster would follow that vis-ib we were not left in doubt; but at no time under Mr Stafford was the country threatened with any outbreak so serious as was then apprehended, Moreover, at

that time we had a large military European force, which is now turned, or being turned, into a body of derailitary detectives. We hope Mr M'Lean's aptitude at Maori negotiation —for which the country has paid so high a premium during his long apprenticeship—may suffice to avert further danger from the Colony. It hardly suffices to reassure us, but we are obliged to hope it may be successful There are JEtewi and Topia, it is true, to protect the settlers, but we fear their arms will not prove that complete safeguard to the Colony that they profess. We cannot, however, fail to note that the departure of the 18th Kegiment at this juncture will leave us in a worse position than it would have done in July last, that our European force is largely diminished, and that Waikato will be certain to attribute Mr M'Lean's advances to a pre-know-ledge that the troops were about to be recalled. These considerations are serious, and do much to weaken the confidence which the pacification of the West Coast by the late Government and the occupation of Taupo, had begun to create. It is to be regretted that at such a time an ill-advised parsimony has denied to Henare Tomoana and his late followeis of the Taupo force the pecuniary recompense without which we can hardly hope for their service on a future occasion j and we are sorry to learn that a deep-seated feeling of disgust is already felt at such treatment after the hardships and privations they endured during the three months they served without regular supplies of food, and in the depth of winter.