Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1870.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 761, 14 February 1870, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1870.

A telegram appears in a recent issue of the Hawke's Bay Herald referring to the resignation of the office of Resident Minister at Auckland by Dr. Pollen, as follows : Dr Pollen lias resigned the Government agency at Auckland, Mr Fox having censured his conduct in preventing Colonel Mode from marching his forces to join M'Donnell to surround TeKooti when the latter made the appointment to meet Firth. On the same subject the Wellington Independent has the following:— It seems that on receiving notice from Mr Firth •that he had made an appoiutment' to meet Te Kooti at Thompson's monument, Dr Pollen prevented the movement of a contingent from Cambridge to assist M'Donnell until the result of the meeting should be made known. It is rumoured that the Piemier, on being informed of the proceeding, very properly animadverted very strongly upon the folly of holding parley with such a scoundrel through such a medium of communication. It is said that on the receipt of the memorandum Dr Pollen forthwith sent in his resignation. We recently brought the subject of the meeting of Mr Firth with Te Kooti before out- readers. It will be remembered that it had the full sanction of the Government, MiFilth having notified Te Kooti's request for the interview to the Native Mimster s and received the following reply ; I am much obliged for your attention and information. I shall be glad to hear further from you. —lt appears evident that Dr Pollen was aware of the sanction given by the Native Minister to the proceedings of Mr Firth, for the next telegram asking for definite instructions was handed over to him, and the reply sent to Firth bears Dr Pollen's signature : If Te Kooti will surrender unconditionally, I will guarantee his safe conduct to Auckland as a prisoner. In view of the sanction —not. to pay encouragement —given by the Government to Mr Firth, it seems hard to understand the subsequent organisation of a force to effect the capture of Te Kooti, the most obvious inference being that he (Kooti) was to be enticed to Thompson's monument, there to be caught like a rat in a trap. It seems impossible, under any other supposition, to account for the censure upon Dr. Pollen. Of course as a gentleman he could not with one hand offer a safe conduct to Kooti, and with the other despatch a force to surround and captu re hi m. If Mr Fox had any one to blame for the countenance given to Firth's proceedings, that person was the Nativ? and Defence Minister, who was the party responsible for it, and not Dr Pollen, who occupied but, a secondary position. Our readers have already been made acquainted with our- views respecting this interview. The obvious course of the Defence Minister on the receipt of Firth's first message was to inform him that he must bear the whole responsibility of his communication with Te Kooti—a rebel whom the Government were resolved to capture when and where they could—instead of thanking him for what he had done., and so giving him his sanction ; in such case the Go vernment could have sent their forces to Thompson's monument, and possibly effected the capture of both partics, without laying themselves open to the charge of treachery, which would have been fully justified if it had been done under the circumstances. We have already noticed the case of Lieut. Beere, who effected the arrest of Mr Firth, of course supposing him to be ignorant of Firth having acted under Government sanction, and we have regarded the

suspension of that officer as a greatj hardship ; but now we have the Government placed in the singular dilemma of suspending one officer and censuring another for acts diametrically opposite—and we would like to see how such contra action can be accounted for.

The Defence Minister may think' that " the end justifies the means," and, being anxious to capture Kooti, not scruple to draw him into a snare; the Premier may regard an officer who refuses to lend himself to so dishonorable a scheme deserving of censure; but if Dr Pollen has saved the Colony from the perpetration of an act of treachery, though he may resign his office he will possess the consciousnes of having done right,