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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 758, 3 February 1870, Page 4

TflE FOX MINISTRY, fFiflJi the W#irai#.# Meyauyy, 19tb Jajpiuw.l $F jbb? saying that by the fruits produced we are to judge the value of as well as that of trees, the we shall "place upon the present Government will be very low indeed. Seven, months have now .elapsed since the 'ate Ministry resigned, and Messrs Fox and M'Lean .assumed the reins of Government. Qtye position in wjjich the Colony then was, may have been bad, but we jhave no hesitation in saying that the present position is worse. Then we jhad an army organised to fight the rebels, with the fine weather season jbefore them, iu which it was anticipated the capture of the ringleaders and the dispersion of their bands would have been attained. With ]the of the present Ministry diplomacy has been substituted for arms, and an efficient constabulary for the well-organised, well trained forces of Colonel Whitmore. The injudicious manner of arming natives, in whom no one had confidence, has again been resorted to by Mr M'Lean and with results similar to tho> e beforce experienced. The diplomatic (efforts so loudly praised by the sup porters of the present Ministry are now, we are informed, at fault] the Waikato natives, "it is belisved, are playing a double game wiili the Government." What els£ could be expected either froja previous experience, or from the knowledge we possess of tjja native character? The sugar n d blanket policy has again De <s\ tried, and again been found Wanting j the praises of Mr M'Lean have been snug until we have almost been sick of hearing them; and now we see the results, in Te Kooti recruited ax leisure that has been afforded him, with his magazine and pommissai-iat replenished, at the head of a reinforced ariuv flushed >\ itli the memory of former victories, and the knowledge that the pakehas are not so competent to cope with them as they were six months ago This is the result that the proceedings of the present Ministry have produced. Possessing every advantage, with unlimited means, with a trained force occupying the heart of the country, ready to pursue abeaten and dispirited enemy; the Government surely should have been able to shew us something more that had been done for the money they have expended than for us to hear that Te Kooti still—still living—still ready to commit atrocities, nnd better than evt:r prepared to do so—that the murder ers 1 of Mr Whitely still live within sight of the town of Few Plymouth —that the comrades of Titokowaru walk unmolested the streets of Wanganui—and that the King natives have cheated the celebrated Mr M'Lean, with all his boasted knov ledge of the Maori character. We have hitherto dwelt only on the effects of the native policy of the Government; but if we look to other results by them, we see still less cause to congratulate the country on its change of Ministers. Ts there no blame to be attached to Mr Fox for the present position in which the Colony stands with regard to Great Britain % We say emphati pally that it is solely to be attributed to him. When the House resolved that it was desirable to send Commissioners home to treat with the Home Government, why did not they go at once ] Why was Mr Dillon Bell allowed to dally in the streets of Melbourne, and Dr Feather ston to wait in Wellington, until all advantages to be gained by their going at all was lost. We say deliberately, that had the same vessel taken the Commissioners that took Governor Bowen's flowery letters, no such Despatch as that lately written by Earl Granville would ever have been sent. The present Ministry have proved themselves wholly incompetent to cope with the native difficulty, and their policy might now, with great judiciousness, be reversed. Let us see an end put to this sugar and blanket policy, and the idea of treating diplomatically with natixes be Abolished. Let the demilitarised ponstabulary be remilitarised at once and again be officered by soldiers, and not, as at present, by detective nqlipemen; let the present svstem

.of pitting arras irjito the hands. of the natives, which we fear are mora often used against us than in our fevor, be done away with, and a different policy be substituted. Let us fall back again on the .self-reliant policy, and then we shall be able to show England that we need not her assistance, to quell the rebellion, which she appears inclined to assist. We may not be able do it with the present men in office, but there aie others far more competent and quite as willing to perform the duties of establishing peace in this island, which it appears the present Ministry are totally unable to do.