THE BISHOP OF NELSON AND THE HAUHAUS.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 102, 14 December 1868, Page 299

THE BISHOP OF NELSON AND THE HAUHAUS.

In the course of. a, speech made by the Bishop of Nelson at the great public meeting, lield afc Nelsoh, for expressing sympathy with the settlers at Poverty Bay, hm Lordship said, as reported in the Nelsph. 1 Examiner, Nov. 17- .

In giving utterance to - their sympathy, it should, however, be the desire of r all-to restrain their excited feelings.! What whs passing , in '• the present - day among them wasnotvery dissimilar ito.whathadtaken place in times gone by,for the Athenians in - old ; times :fiad^'Had, similar .disasters overtake -thenc£ which had now overtaken us, but with this’ difference Vin the result that ' they,''always- desired - to - ostraoise. or dxecutesomebne -in order' tb .'vent their . rage for*the"titae ; beings.--UWe must be guarded against such feelingSV - '■ We must do all in justice, niust not confound ohetribtfwithariotherf theinnocent unite in ‘ cdndemning the wanton: aots of the.insurgehts. it naust be dornd inmind tVat there :Wdrei inany natives:; wild', took Therewere might -be &ous&adß,of,

|^W t «ei^,;:ye|?|^a;i|ad^n6 5 share wliat* horrible events which they so mueh'de* plbred.-’.yjft muit'^lsp' lie borne 1 ini ' mind thoat whilst' showed hostility towards settlers to closely examinbi dealings • .with the natives in order jro. see that : justice was done .to them. He,(the -Bishop) had just arrived from Auckland,. where he had been credibly-,informed that the .money re* the Government for the nativea who - possessed theAuchland gold-fields had; not been paid over- to them; If that was true, it was indeed a great, grievance. • [Hear, hear.] =' He did* not care which Government,.was in fault, but the evilshould- be remediedjbefo.re the natives weret'lamed. : * If'the Europeans broke faith jwith; the .natives rafter ; tbeir. manner, they] must not'jbe snrprisbd if the natives. broken faith* after th'eir manner. . ; In' the-'following ; issue of the Ex-; aminer appears the following strictures on the above from the Superintendent of Nelson

Sir,—ln his Lordshipb speech at the public meeting held to express to the-set* T tiers of the'North Island the sympathy -of the people Of this province with thesuffer* ing caused by the atrocities lately commit* ted by a party natives in Poverty Bay, the Bishop' of Nelabn,while very properly warning the meeting against* falling into* the injustice of including the Maori people -generally intjieir * condemnation, ad* duped, as a partial-justification," o* at all events as somp palliation, of the barbarous murder and mutilation of a number of helpless womeut and children, the fact, or rather what his Lordship. assumed to be a fact, that a. breach,-of faith had heen committed by. the Government of this colony by the non-payment to certain natives iri the Thames district of. moneys received for the miners’ rights; As I am well acquainted, with the. cir? cumstances to which the Bishop referred, I should, have been glad, to give public contradiction to Lordship’s statement at the time,' but, .as chairman ofthe meet? ing I thought it inconsistent with that - position to do so. • ; . ...

The only facts are these: Owing to the confusion of authority consequent upon the breaking out of a new., and important gold-field, and to the stringent regulation® adopted to secure the due application of public funds, some delay’ occurred in the payment to the native- owners of the Thames gold-field of the sums received-for miners’rights which it was agreed should be paid to them for -permission -tor mina upon their land. I don’t remember ex? actly what the extent of- this delay may have been but I think it was somewhere about two - months.- At any rate the money had been 1 paid long- before’ these atrocities were committed ' at Poverty Bay (some, two hundred away), and it is in the highest degree' improbable ■ that the wretches concerned ,in them, who were 'in no way. interested in .the matter, had ever heard of it.

My, object in writing this letter is to give the most unqualified denial" to’ the statement of the - of Nelson that t-lie Government of this colony has'been guilty of a breach of faith with the native's, and to express my ; surprise and '■ regret that hb Lordship should have allowed himself -to make so serious and" so mis* ohievous an,, accusation without having taken the-precaution* to,.;make full and searching inquiry into its. truth. - * I hope you will .append thb communi* cation to the report of the proceedings afi the meeting in - your summary for, the Ehglbbmail;.. " ; / ’ 3;* • I am, &e., 1 . OSWAXD CtTBTIS. Nelson, Nov. 17. .