THE PRESENT CRISIS.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 89, 14 September 1868, Page 223

THE PRESENT CRISIS.

The renaoval of bur ismall force of

armed cbnctabuiary, from’ this; .district to the ,Coast, at a:, time jvheniit is - known; that; there • ’ is Jan armedbod^^^ escaped prisoners, ericamped at no

great distance from some of outlying settlements, shows, on the one hand, the concern with which the Government regards the attitude assumed by che West Coast rebels, and the effect our reverses there is calculated to produce on the wavering, and, on the other hand, the straits to which they are driven to find men to meet and subdue the cannibal insurgents. Such being the case, we would offer a suggestion which we feel is worthy of some consideration, as calculated to meet the circumstances of the case. In the several Provinces of the Middle Island there are well-equipped bodies of men who have been enrolled as Volunteers, who have had their drillings and have their respective staffs of officers. By the conditions of their enrolment, too, they are held liable to serve the Government in any part of the Colony where they may be required* and we think the time has at length come when these several corps should be called upon to do active service in this Island, where their help is at present so urgently required. Up to this time the Volunteer movement in the South has been but holiday pastime. Pleasure and display, dress uniforms and exhibitions of skill as marksmen with the rifle, are all very good and proper as preparation for actual service against the time when such may be required ; but if not to be used in such an emergency, most profitless and vain. We cannot doubt their willingness to respond to the call of duty, and almost wonder that their services have not as yet been voluntarily placed at the disposal of the Government.