OUR PRESENT POSITION.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 769, 14 March 1870, Page 3

OUR PRESENT POSITION.

[Evening Post, Bth March.] What is now the present position or circumstances of Te Kooti and sucli forces as the Colonial Government may have in tlie field operating against him is very difficult to determine. The accounts by v.'ay of Auckland are confused and contradictory, and only this much can be gleaned from them—that the attitude of the King natives is still doubtful, and Mr M'Lean, conscious of having failed in his first negociations with them, is about making a second attempt, strengthened by the assistance of the Governor and Mr Fox; that Te Kooti is still at large, and sufficiently formidable to keep the settlements arouud Tauranga and the neighboring part of the East Coast in constant apprehension; that no well defined or systematic plan of operations against him is being carried out, and that the Government, wearied of feeding and paying the mixed force of Europeans and natives which they have kept on foot so long without adequate result, have resolved to abrogate the system; of daily pay and rations, and pay the Maoris by the piece—five thousand pounds when they catch Te Kooti. But this is a drain on the Colonial Exchequer not likely to be felt for some time. Kooti's death or capture seems to have become one of those unattainable objects, like the philosopher's stone or the perpetual motion, which the old sages wasted their lives in dreaming about; or like a bunch of carrots hung on. a pole between the ears of a donkey, to successive Ministries. Col. M'Donnell seems either to have relinquished or to have been ed from his command, and has gone to Auckland, accompanied by his Brigade Major Brummond Hay—rather rich, a Brigade Major for a force of 100 European scouts and a taua of Maoris.) Colonel Fraser, who held a separate command on the East Coast,, and was lately placed under arrest by Colonel M'Donnell, has also gone to Auckland to demand an inquiry into the circumstances of the arrest. What these circumstances are, we are not in a position to state with certainty, but according to the Auckland Herald they are sufficiently disgraceful to all concerned in them. We hear nothing of Kemp or Topia—most likely they will next turn up at their own places; we are relying on the Rosario for the protection of Tauranga : and, apparently, our forces being now withdrawn, the interior is abandoned to Te Kooti. The " demilitarized " being yet in the chrysalis state, cannot be reckoned; their exploits are still prospective; they are the force of the future. Such seems to be the present position of affairs—not a very encouraging one, it must be allowed. Happily, there have been no deeds of horror to chronicle—no murdering of settlers or destruction of their property, but we must not shut our eyes to the fact that such things are possible, and the uncertainty hanging over our heads is most detrimental to our interests. Perhaps w r e will be told again by the organs of the Government that we are " rejoicing over the misfortunes of the country " in thus pointing attention to what can only be called the failure of the measures from which so much was hoped to secure its permanent pacification; but we point their failure out only with the desire that they may be amended. We will never succeed while w r e lean upon the Maori race, and ask them to do our work for us, either on wages or by contract; our means are too small to pay a European force sufficiently strong to trample out the rebellion at once — to do all fighting while we busy ourselves about other avocations. Sooner or later we will find that we must do our own work; that we, the European colonists, must oppose ourselves to the savages who obstruct us in the same manner as our fathers have done in other lands, not doubting for a moment of obtaining the same success.