The Weekly Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1868. POVERTY BAY AFFAIRS.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 2, Issue 103, 21 December 1868, Page 307

The Weekly Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1868. POVERTY BAY AFFAIRS.

A desire to place before our readers the most reliable information from Poverty Bay induced us to send a reporter to that who,-having the advantage of being an eye-wit-ness of many of the occurrences I he might have to V chronicle, would * be enabled to supply us with informawe might fphy dej?endi His communications have already appeared; in pur columns, ' and, having since returned, he? has given us 3 a fuller statement" of 1m obsCr-

vations and impressions. >i > \ | 3 :^nthoutf wishing to ihsmuate tbat lhLeLCoirresph^il®?^9f other journals are chargeable withimaking

serve that it is almost uhpdssible . to peruse their> communications and hot be 'cohvinced'that they "are inen; ojf3 strong?, ans f ; further, that they are>totally - unable' to con.ceal ihat infirmity ; but harp upon one

and the same string until it becomes ehdpftheirproductions;, ■— >■:? -y,;-* _ r A'; X-,: contemporary seems to have : for his moYnag: spirit a-batred of :tho Superinteiidenf of this Province,: founded, perhaps,. on: the“sqmewhat recent at-tempt-of .that. gentleman to. effect the annexation- of , the Poverty, Bay district to : the Province of Hawke’s

Bay; 'We need hot now stay to inquire what would have been the re-: suit of. that scheme if. it had been : accomplished—whether tb e loss of: that district, ivith its attendant cares, responsibitities, and costs, would: have, been cause of much regret to Auckland, ,r or its, annexation, with the same accompaniments, cause of gratulatiob to Hawke’s Bay; It is sufficient to know that it was. not accomplished.;' ; but, nevertheless, great odium, on. account of the attempt, has since attached to Mr McLean in the neighboring Province. When, therefore, we find a. vein of personal feeling running through a letter, we cannot expect to find an impartial statement contained in it, nor to obtain a correct impression therefrom concerning affairs with which that person has much to do. So neither, on the other hand, can we hope to learn the truth from the pen of one who leans decidedly in the opposite direction, to whom the Superintendent of Hawke’s Bay seems- to be a paragon of wisdom and infallibility; and who embraces every opportunity, in season and out of season, to abuse another gentleman, well known to be antagonistic to him in politics. As before, we have no need now to discuss an extraneous question—the wisdom or folly. .of the General (Government in placing the control of the campaign in file Poverty Bay; district in the hands of Colonel Whitmore. We hold;.strong opinions on tins point; but we say that it must be quite impossible to obtain correct ideas of the same from* a correspondent whose principal stock-in-trade consists of hatred of him, and whose letters are almost entirely composed of abusive epithets hurled at his de- , voted head.

There are several things, then, of c which we wish to convey to our rea- s ders a more correct impressiou than 1 is to be obtained from the corres-t pondence referred; to. These are f mainly the standing of . Colonel s Whit aiore with the forces, and the action of the Native Contingent, a With respect to the first, there is c no question that the gallant colonel c labors under a certain amount of unpopularity with a class of the 1 men He is a great disciplinarian, i and in this fact is to be : found the c root of most of that unpopularity, f One of his first acts on his arrival at f Poverty Bay was to check drunken- £ ness and consequent vice by the ex- c ercise , ofi the power conferred on him y of stopping the ordinary traffic iii 1 intoxicating drinks. This alone, as < our readers will see at a glance, 7 was £ quite enough to excite tbe ill-will of < some who were in consequence: de-1 prived of ! ithe means of gratifying a . ruling' passion : other vices, which i ■ we ;n»Bd; ,iibt. further * were also checked, which added ; to the ranks - of - the malcontents. ; • Besides this must be remembered; ; that - those aroiind them, who, when they > hear ,muoli..abusedbestowed;?upon, a l believe. that/ it applies, i and join in- the the chbrus. So much b 1 Colpnel?. Whitmore was> maAe3 the 3[scape-gbat for.every, evil, even, we

are told, in one to thb galling of a man’l'feetj j a pair. tiiig boots during-a march. -- “ Look at my said -lie, that’s all' f” The i3, ' hpwever, very different as regards' tliose who know the value of strict discipline in the field,: and we. are :glad to say that there , are many who know how to. appreciate the good qualities of the Colonel:. :

The same; reason is sufficient; to account for the little use he has made of the native contingent. It is i nbjb . hard. to see that to ensure unity; of action the whole of the forces should be fully under the control of the commander; and itis equally well known that it is impossible to have that . control over the natives. The Ngaciporou and a few meri under- Henare Tomoana .were almost the only ones who vrere of real service; they : fought well, and certainly deserve every credit. It must have been, however as our correspondent remarked at the time, profoundly irritating” for Colonel Whitmore, on his way to the Front with reinforcements, to find that they had abandoned the siege for want of ammunition at a time when fresh supplies were on their way to them, and within a few miles of their position ; thus deserting the only pass by which the enemy could escape. As for the remainder of the friendly nativea, they showed a great capacity for looting horses, and were always good for a muster for rations or ammunition—which latter they more frequently wasted than fired at the rebels The arms and ammunition, too, recovered by them-, they regarded as loot, and as far as we have heard no attempt has been made to regain them. It is to he hoped that their employment at Poverty Bay may not. give rise to land difficulties which we ,may find almost impossible to settle.