THE NEW ZEALAND DIFFICULTY.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 91, 28 September 1868, Page 233

THE NEW ZEALAND DIFFICULTY.

(From the Sydney Empire.)

Within the last few days we have published several instalments of New Zealand intelligence,- showing without doubt that the troubles of that unfortunate colony are as yet very far from being over. A contemporary at Otago recently, arid not without cause, took a portion of the Syd ney press to task for a,want of correct information with regard to New'Zealand affairs; but, without becoming amenable to. this charge, we can find only too much in the late’ papers to give excuse for regret and serious apprehension. The “ native difficulty?’ appears to be interminable Whether Sir George Bowen will succeed where Sir George Groy failed is still au undecided question j but it must be confessed that the ■ new Governor. appears less inclined to indulge the Maori fondness for figurative language than was his predecessor, and that he has latterly taken.a very

decided course - in his negotiations with some of the chiefs.. Our issue of Saturday , last contained;an account of 'an :interview whichhis Excellenej had with one of them, nanied^^Tnu^fiffwnV^^s^dTrght'TopTrnxf: at .Wellington in the capacity of a kind of hostage for hi 9 tribe, on which occasion he was profuse in his professions of loyalty, and affection for Pakeha. The Governor, however, gave him to understand that he placed no great faith in such protestations. He accepted them, and hoped that they might prove sincere; but at the "same time he told the chief that he was at liber* ty to go about his business at once, and join his hostile oountrymen against the Europeans if he pleased. “ I want no natives,” said the Governor, “to assist in putting down the rebellion. With a Eu jropean force I will exterminate murderers. If you wish to join those men you may do so; but, if you take my advice you and your tribe will remain strictly neutral.” If this line of policy is adhered, to, it, will be far more likely to have a beneficial effect than the employment of native auxiliaries in the field, of ..which Sir George Bowen’s Queensland experience may have taught him the impolicy, to say the least of it. While it wojzld be comparatively easy to enforce neutrality, or to punish the violation of it, there can never be any certainty that bands of armed Maoris will be faithful to the Europeans as against each other. It would, hardly; indeed, be reasonable to expect such a thing. . The “native allies” as they are called—or in other words, the “ friendly natives,” are strongly suspected of supplying their hostile countrymen with ammunition, from the stores served out to-them selves to fight, for the settlers. After some of the late skirmishes the dead bodies of Maoris who had been engaged with the colonial forces have been found with Government cartridge boxes, filled with Government cartridges; and in many instances they were found to be armed with the. Government rifle. If must be hopeless, to put a . stop to this treachery of the so-called allies while: they continue to be supplied with arms in aj recklesamanner. No doubt; some of the chiefs, in the indulgence of old tribal hostilities, have fought heartily on the side of the Europeans, : 'or; rather , against some tribes with yho'm;;they were. at. ancient feud; but the impression'is now strong in New.;Zealand that- this kind of. assistance is not to ;be depended upon for any lengthened period, ivThere is a sympathy amongstthcnatives whioli.-has A tendency to draw fchenv* together - iii the■ common

.Muse. ' During the late visit of the Governor; to the eastern provinces he had abundant evidence, pi the,growing relucof the. Maoris to'identify themselves with a \var ; upon their own race. If it .weye practicable to disarm'all .who profess neutrality,. one fertile source of mischief would be destroyed; but it is not practicable, as we believe that Sir Duncan Cameron found on attempting it. With open foes to deal with on one hand, and treacherous allies on the other, the Go vcrnment appear to have taken ,a sensible course in declining the questionable aid of the latter. If New Zealand is to be Retained as a British colony, it must be conquered; and this is a work that lias not yet been completed.

- So far as experience has at present gone, the ridiculous experiment of Maori Parliamentary representation does not appear to have afforded any strong, evidences of success. If there be any one characteristic more than another that peculiarly distinguishes the people ,of the Anglo Saxon race, it is their aptitude for representative government; and if it were required, that we should point out any people whose in stinct and tendencies presented the most marked contrast to those of that race, we might safely select the Maoris. Their vagaries in the. Legislature are simply laughable, and calculated to bring the whole of the proceedings into ridicule. , Mere personal addresses in their own inflated style, form the substance of their Parliamentary speeches..: One.of them, after a .long “rigmarole “ which the interpreter pronounced to be a series of repetitions, gravely-informed the House that he had ;beeen a cannibal before the white men came to the country. This intimation was accompanied by a complaint on the part of another Maori member, that his cattle had been impounded, in retaliation for which he thought of constructing a pound himself, and impounding the settlers’stock. ;J:he absurdity of such exhibitions as these jEjll' be perceived'’when we'mention that 1 |the subject intended to be debated was' a rumor that prevailed to the effect that ■ the.. .Government , ’ .organic, J changes in the institutions of the colony —a question on which; it is to be presumed, the native chiefs threw very little addi : tional light. These Maori, members re- ' ceive one pound a day for their services as 1 representatives, and it will probably acknowledged that the remuneration is ample ; though, perhaps, the votes recorded may not all be of so damaging a character as some in our own Assembly. There ap- 1 pears to have been heretofore a great want vigour and firmness in dealing with his i people, . accompanied by a tendency to encourage tbem in flowery oratory, which rfla’y have a great deal of meaning or none ‘ at all. In this manner Sir George Grey i dealt with the Kaffirs at the Cape, and has ■ also dealt with the New Zealanders; but it must be pretty evident that the proper way to impress a people with correct views of British powers and determination is to show it in the .British style. Lord Ellenborough, in India, amused the native Princes with a pompous ceremonial in which “the gates of Somnauth” cut a conspicuous, figure; and he was laughed at for his pains, throughout India as well as civilised Europe. Sir Robert Napier, on the other hand, scaled Magdala, in much the same way as Wolfe scaled the heights of Quebec, and Wellington stormed the fortresses of the Peninsula. There is a practical eloquence about such acts as these, which makes them easily understood anywhere, and by any people; and it is only by similar acts of vigor that the settlers of. New Zealand . can be saved from the consequences of .the formidable rebellion now existing, encouraged, as it has been, by the gross cowardice of some who had been entrusted with important command.