Interprovincial Items.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 816, 25 August 1870, Page 3

Interprovincial Items.

According to the Wanganui Herald a general meeting of all the principal tribes in the island is proposed to be held on the Wanganui river in the month of December or January, to discuss the question of universal and lasting peace between the Maori and Pakeha. The King will be invited to attend the meeting, and Topia, under whose auspices it will take place, expresses liis belief that the King will be present. The meeting will be held at Ohinemutu, Topia's settlement. It Beems from the Crahamstown Evening Star that, besides the hardship which the wretched state of the roads between Shortland and Puriri entails, the men en-! gaged in' gum-digging have other serious drawbacks to contend against—one of the worst being a tax which the natives have imposed of half-a-crown a week for the right to dig gum. We are informed that the ground on which the gum-digging is going on is within the gold-fields' boundary, and that most of the men have miners' rights. Some of them have paid the weekly half-crown —the collector being a Maori Amazon, who deals rather roughly v ' with the unlucky wight who may not be in a position to pay. The diggers, so we are informed, are not unwilling to pay the demand if they are assured that it is lawful, and collected by the parties having a right to it. At the same time they feel it a severe tax upon their small earnings, and think they have a right to expect the Government to look after their interests. The Thames Advertiser has learned that the contract of two Thames gentlemen for constructing the telegraph line from Shortland to Tauranga, via Ohinemuri, has been accepted, and that the work is to .commence at once. It is more thin pro bable that before six months have passed we shall have telegraph communication opened up with the whole of the other provinces. The absurdities of the management of the Native Department are disclosed by the following correspondence, which is published in the Thames Advertiser: — [To the Editor of the Thames Advertiser.] Sir,—l enclose a letter from the Under-Secre-tary for Native Affairs, in answer to one I sent to Mr M'Lean some little time ago, a copy of which was published in your journal. I would just remark that if a European took half-a-dozen peaches from a tree in the native settlement it would probably cost him half-a-dozen pounds to clear himself,* while it appears that a Maori can strip a white man of all he possesses with impunity, or, at any rate, without incurring anything more than a simple caution not to do it again. I leave the public to judge between us.—J am, yours truly, W. E. Hakcoukt. Grahamstown, August 3,1870. [Enclosure referred to.] Native Office, Wellington, 22ud July, 1870. g; r> —[ am directed by Mr M'Lean to acknowledge the receipt pf your letter of the 15th inst., detailing your expedition from Whangamata in search of kauri gum, aud the treatment you received at the hands of the natives. The case shall be enquired into by the proper officer of the Government, and the natives eautione dagainst a recurrence of such acts. —1 have, &c, G. S. Cooper, Under-Secretary.

Mr W. E. Harcourt, Post Office, Sliortlaud. —lt is the same old story, so often illustratrated—one law for the Maori, another for the white man. From a late copy of the Thames Advertiser we learn that Mr Williams, scenic artist of the Thames Theatre Koyal, is at present engaged in painting a -Diorama of New Zealand Scenery, on a large scale. Some of the views are almost completed, and they are most creditable to the taste and skill of that gentleman. One of those is a view of the coast, including the town ,of Taranaki and Mount Egmont, and other interesting places in its locality. A series of Thames views, including the famous Shotover and other interesting and notable places, will be introduced, and another comprising a view of Grahamstown with one of the large t batteries in full working order will be displayed. In the House of Representatives on the 5 th August, the bill respecting the sale of spirits in native districts being under consideration, Mete Kingi made the following speech. We quote from the authorised report:—l approve of this Act relating to the Maori. I have made several speeches in this Assembly, asking the Government i and the Assembly to pass Acts relating to the Maori—not only this one, but many .others besides. Do not keep the laws for yourselves only,—the Europeans,—let the matter be in such a position that if I com mit a crime, I may know what law I am transgressing. You should publish the laws that' all the Maori may see them. Never mind even if they do not obey them, that is their fault; you will have done your duty in telling them. I approve of the Bill about epirtuous liquors. Cut of my tribe, the Wanganui, twenty chiefs have died from the effects of drinking. They did not die by the visitation of God ; it was grog that killed them. What I saj now is only on my own account. I leave it to my tribe to say whether they consent to it or not. I speak for myself only. Laws have already been passed relating to the Maori, in former years, which they have not obeyed. The Europeans introduced Christianity among the Maori, and we were told not to commit adultery, and not to sin, but they were led into temptation—the women were there and they did not obey the laws. Afterwards, magis trates were appointed to uphold the law. After that the law was laid down by Go* vernor Grey, in respect to spirituous liquors. He wished to prevent the Maori from drinking. Afterwards, they were tempted by spirits being introduced, and

they partook. The laws haye been laid down relating to Europeans and Maori —; that is, to prevent the Maori from entering into public houses and drink-; ing. This law will be effective with some people, but others will be found who will not obey it. The G-overnraent should inform all the Magistrates, and ail the people, of the provisions of the laws, and carry them out. This law relating to spirituous liquors is very clear in my opinion. It will benefit the Maori. I wish you to pay particular attention toj what I said to you about twenty chiefs of my tribe in Wanganui, who died from drink. That is all I have to say. " Found Drowned " is the melancholy heading to the following paragraph from the Thames Advertiser of August 8: " The fears entertained for the safety of the young man John Winder, who was reported as missing some days since, have proved but too well founded, for yesterday his body was found in the Thames River, off Kopu, about five miles above Shortland. It appears, from what can be gathered from the statements made, that Winder had been engaged gum-digging with his brother up the Kauwaeranga Creek, and feeling ill, expressed a desire to return to Shortland. This he accordingly did, in company with two packers, but on reaching the Maori settlement he parted company with them, and when last heard of he was between the Kirikiri and the Parawai settlements, apparently proceeding towards the former. This was on Wednesday week last, and since then nothing was heard of him, although diligent search was made by the police and the friends of the missing man. Yesterday afternoon some natives who were proceeding up the river in a boat peroeived something lying in the stream, and alter ascertaining that it was a body, at once conveyed it to the police station at Shortland, where it was identified as that of John Winder. From the manner and spot in which deceased was found, it would appear that he was drowned while attempting to cross the Kirikiri creek, which was much flooded at the time from the rain that had recently fallen, and that the body afterwards floated out into the Thames. Decomposition had set in, but had not proceeded so far as to prevent identification." For the three months ending 30th June, 1870, the expenditure in connection with the Home Commissioners is estimated at £2,086 13s. 4d. The following is from the Wellington Independent, August 16 :—"Dr Hector delivered his second lecture on Natural History on Saturday evening at the Colonial Museum. His Excellency was present throughout tbe lecture. The attendance was, we think, the largest during the session. Of course it would be impossible to reproduce the lecture with anything like the interest with which Dr Hector invested it by means of skeletons, fossils, and drawings ; but odd scraps of general information which were interspersed were very interesting. As is pretty generally known, the learned lecturer pointed out the predominance of varieties of fish in the New Zealand fauna; but the varieties, it appears, are much more numerous than is generally supposed, numbering close on 140 kinds, specimens of which might be gathered in the course of a year. He thinks, too, that the most valuable kinds are those which do not frequent the bays and inlets, but, being gregarious like the most prized varieties of fish in Europe, will be found on banks, and should therefore be sought for in a more systematic manner than that at present employed. He does not know the exact description of fish that visited the shores of Cook's Strait in such numbers a few years ago, but thinks they may have been herring. The fish found at present in the harbor, and commonly known as herring, he says is mullet. While on the subject of fish, he incidentally mentioned that herring were not pickled until an ingenious Dutchman thought of it sometime in the 14th century. Though not honored for it at the time, he was rewarded by a grateful posterity 200 years after his death, when Charles the Fifth ate a herring at the birth-place of the celebrated pickler. The lecture was exceedingly interesting and instructive, aud Dr Hector concluded his second stage by leaving his hearers at the system which decides the relative superiority of organisation in the vertebrata by the facial angle, which he will more fully go into in his next lecture. Next Saturday, the Wellington Philosophical Society will hold a meeting, when several interesting papers will be read."