NATIVE AFFAIRS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 833, 5 October 1870, Page 2

NATIVE AFFAIRS.

[F&OM THE EVENING POST, SEPTEMBER 19.] Strangers arriving in New Zealand, as well as neighbors who take the trouble to look into our affairs, frequently express doubts as to the actual existence of such an individual as Te Kooti. By them he is looked upon as a myth—a fantastical embodiment of the principle of and not a real man of flesh and blood; and, truth to tell, it is only natural that they should so think. The various occasions on which he has been surrounded, cut off from supplies, wounded, killed, and even buried, are past computation, and yet we find him still alive, and potent for mischief. A short time ago he made a futile attack on a native settlement at Tologa Bay, and, the parties assailed being Ngatiporous, the ire of Ropata was aroused. The wrath of that heroic major was described in the Hawke's Bay papers as " awful," and it found vent in the assembling of a taua of his tribe, with whom he plunged, into the bush on Kootr's tracks, loudly avowing his determination to return no more until he had run the brigand to earth and tried conclusions with him. The taua disappeared from the ken of civilized men, but high hopes were entertained that this fiery mass of Ngatiporou valor would roll straight on through the forest and waste until it burst in destruction on the rebel band ; Government papers published bulletins—" No word of Ropata " : men waited with bated breath to hear the result, picturing to themselves some fierce struggle in the wild defile or lonely mountaiu side—Greek meeting Greek —and anticipated seeing the arch cannibal's head on a polecat

hearing of his capture—but how sadly were all these expectations disappointed. Ropata emerged from the bush, after a fruitless march ; nothing has been said of bis having seen the trace of Te Kooti's departing footsteps; the " awful" wrath Las evaporated, and things are just where they were—the outlawed Te Kooti master of the situation, and the efforts of our allies to conquer him utterly in vain. No flourish of trumpets announced the return of Ropata; a quiet paragraph in the Hawke's Bay Herald told us that he was back, and willing to undertake another expedition in the spring. Of course he is, no one would doubt it. He has read the Bible, and learned that " no man goeth a warfare on his own charges." The contract system of putting down rebellion —no cure, no pay —sounds well; but we have found out already that it is quite as expensive as the same process pursued on daily wages. On the West Coast, which, at all events, was conquered and pacified by the Colonial forces—at great expense and with many blunders, no doubt—and where the disaffected natives might, by firm and judicious measures, have been kept iu complete subjection, the old plan of ruling by personal influence and bribes has been tried, and, as usual, has proved a failure. Such men as Kereopa and Kepa have been pardoned, Topia has been admitted into favour, and armed, and the consequences are that only a very determined stand on the part of the settlers themselves prevented the return of the broken rebels to the Waitotara; any fancied slight received by Topia may turn that sulky savage against us, and, thanks to Mr Fox, well armed and provided with supplies, while Tito Kowaru, who was chased by Colonel Whitmore through the swamps of Te Ngairi in miserable plight, only hoping to save his life, is now able to come out of his retreat with an armed following as insolent as ever. The Pariaka meeting may result in nothing serious —the Government did all that they could on the spur of the moment —but that meeting, and many other things, show that the natives are gathering strength from our weakness; and the question is, how long the people of New Zealand will submit to this state of affairs, allow such individuals as Te Kooti and Tito Kowaru to exist, to pay Bopata and his confreres for chasing them, well knowing that they never intend to catch them, and to keep such men as Parris and Booth obtaining information which is always erroneous, and never by any chance being able by timely warning to avert a catastrophe. We have had example after example of the manner in which our so-called allies fight for us —" line upon line, and precept upon precept"—but it seems these are still insufficient. Bye and bye we will learn that we shall never have permanent peace until we conquer it for ourselves, by our own means, and with our own hands; until we totally abandon the idea of relying on "friendly" Maoris, and acknowledge that as a race we must quell the savage obstructors of our colonization and compel the nominally friendly portion of the aborigines to stand aside and leave us to deal with the openly hostile. When the native office with its dependent train of bloodsuckers is swept away we shall have tranquility, and not before.

At Grreytown, Wairarapa, on the 21st ult., a tent of the Independent order of Ilechabites was opened by the Rev. J. Cawdell.