THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 15, 15 April 1867, Page 85

THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

[London Standard.J The New Zealand war may hencefortli be considered as a chronic malady, which,. as it has continued to defy all diagnosis, seems determined to baffle all regular modes of treatment. We must accept it ', as part of the 4 price which England has to pay for the easy possession of two of the finest islands iu the world. By withdrawing the' Imperial troops from tho island/we have, indeed, rendered it im- : possible that there should ever be again ' another great organised campaign such as that which General Cameron conducted in the Waikato country ; but we have not prevented, and cannot prevent, the quarrel of the two races dragging itself along and! : breaking out now aud then, and here and there, so long as there are two races to ' quarrel at all. It is out of the fertile subject—land—that all iuture Maori quarrels will arise ; and it is impossible to see any end to them so long as there are any Maoris left in New Zealand. The passion of land proprietorship burns as fiercely in the bosom of thefNew >Zealand savage as of the Irish Celt. He may have a thousand ' times more land than he can possibly turn to use, but he will not; part with an acreif he can help it. The Maoris, numbering • barely 50,000 of all ages and sexes, who r! are yearly-diminishing, hold, even after the late confiscation, perhaps three-fourths of the soil of the island. The English settlement is nearly double 'in numbers, and is increasing. How can it be supposed. that the two races cau continue' in amity; if the inferior persists in excluding its masters from extending their borders ? We should never forget, when we would accuse ourselves of any harshness toward# the Maoris, that New Zealand Wus the first, new country ever occupied by a Euro* ; pean race in which the native right to the absolute property,of the soil was, Irom the first, acknowledged, aud respected. Up tothe date of the last Waikato war not a- • single, acre had been acquired by the British Government in the northern island of New Zealand, except- by-purchase from, the natives, and with tfieir consent. Nor can it uilect the argument that the original price wa3;in some cases very low Wuatever it. was, it was the market price. If since then the lands have become more valuable, it is simply and solely because of the British occupation. , t At first the Maoris wore only too eager to dispose of their iiripro* fitaole valleys—the complaint against the, . Government, in ; those days! being that it did not! buy landsj quicK enough. Now, . the policy which we are, sorry to say has • beeu applauded arid j ustified by some of., theirEuglish sympathisers,is to prevent any land whatever being, sold to the British Goverriment, in order to. check the developriieritoftheEuropearicoloriy. Of course , this is a policy which. cannot joe. pursued without perpetual quarrels between the. two races, and equally, of coursej.tlie. ex« * tension, of the British race is. iiot to impeded. The best, if nod the only, qpk sura nee of ultimate peace in New Zealafidv is furnished by the. census returns latemg published, which prove that, : in ‘ ail impediments, theßritish population of trie\is\arid.. is eteadly!,advancing -aud til® Maori/ rapidly decreasing;, , v Of the ulti« 5 ; riiai'e solution of trie probicm it is natuf* , which has taken charge. " “ r " v :