THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE TROOPS.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 14, 8 April 1867, Page 81

THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE TROOPS.

, A.practical illustration of .the intentions of .the Home .Government in respect /of the ; protection - it-means to afford to her children.from the assaults of savage/ races, • is ; afforded- us in Hawke’s Bay .. by the removal of the small; garrison; that has hitherto been Ideated/amongst it has been . sthai small detacbment which has been

4..steJidhedLat/Gbre; Brdwnd: Barracks * in the ‘Lord Ashley * .-for Auckland; forjh : of - *> Wednesday last; y* and- we now. report’ whiejh^^was*isfetioned*atSe fidpg/their /comrad^^ ‘ left" I ‘man’ 'of ifieT/lhjperial army; L^And'^wa.lhave

jeason;to/belieye/tha^i? 3 with, our Province, so will it be with the. wholes tJoimylatm J&rly aat^e.’;!///. ;f. // ■ _

■ •iThis- ist forcing /the,policy of/gelf? reliance'oh/ : tho ! ; f CJolouy with ‘-S ven : gdahee yjtnjl thetmother jepuntry may ouf word. Perhaps -so’; but it may well be doubted party ever seriouslyrl; supposedh that" they would be So literally understood, afid their doctrine so" practically applied as jis .being, done; We rather think that one and all that though we might decline to pay 1 an unjust and extortionate sum ,for ; ; the location r ,bf/an ; Impenai force amongst iis; still that that force would .not be i .but. they have lived to discover their mistake, and; find that , the threat so long since made by Britain, of “,No pay, no troops,’’ is to be carried out to the letter.

We shall not now enter upon a discussion on the question of the value of the services of the Imperial forces, nor of our own ability to defend ourselves against the lawless race by Which we are surrounded, and from time to time threatened. If we have to do it, it will doubtless be done, though* it necessarily, must tax our energies to the utmost limit. . ! _ Perhaps, however, the ordeal through whrch ; we;have to pass will not be altogether' without its. benefits to us in indirectly working a reform in the management of affairs. It* is not too much to say that as a people we are taxed not , only up to but beyond the limit of endurance; for have we not, every ohe : of ,us—man, woman, and child—to phy per head .each a .sum of six pounds sterling for .‘government, including;theinterest'.of the war debt, and the support of an army of more than fifteen hundred official, servants. To do more than this is out ofthe question-—neither is it needed. By dispensing; with some two-thirds ol these official servants, who can doubt that we should be well able—with our elastic resources, of which our statesmen are so proud to boast—to work out all the principles of true self reliance.

We speak advisedly when we-say that it is not the war: loan that now cripples the energies of the Colony; it is not the defence of our settlements from the inroads of the rebels. The incubus of the Colony is Officialdom. While bearing that burden, of a certainty we are powerless for progress, prosperity, or protection from the rebel Maori. The necessity for selfdefence will, we trust, force a reform, and a reduction of the ex travagant cost of Government.