NEW PLYMOUTH.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 568, 14 April 1858, Page 3

NEW PLYMOUTH.

THE I.ATK rEOCLAMATICN A XULLITY. It is observed that, the Maories in alliance uo-ainst Ihaia and Nikorima are on all hands iniViii.vin"- His Excellency the Governor's Proclam;it?o«r prohibiting armed assemblies within our districts. Some few of them deferred at once to His Excellency's authority, s:id left their arms at the encampments before coming into town, but *h? majority of the natives never move without, guns and tomahawks either concealed under their garments (v pv">f th;,t the proclamiition -^understood) or, as i^ nsviaHy ihe

| case, earned openly. It cannot be denied that the natives are, vr\''- <mi solitary exception persisting n, doing what 111, Excellency in Council determined putting .«• stop to, and that they have only ceased fighting upon our territory because llmia has removed to Waitara We attribute thin unchanged state of the natives soitiy to r,)ose whose duty it was to see the proclamation promptly and rigidly enforced. [ Instead of this a few natives were permitted to contravene the law, and the presence of armed natives in our districts is now just as offensive and dangerous as it was when the Provincial Council appealed to the Governor for redress and protection. I Our local readers are probably aware that, with a view to check so unseemly a state of things, some settlors acting for the districts which sustained the principal share of the native aggressions laid :an information in the Resident Magistrate's Court against several parties of natives for carrying fire-arms against the tenor of the proclamation, and that this proceeding was not taken until the menacing aspect of the natives left no other alternative. The information was virtually dismissed, the Resident Magistrate having arrived at an opinion which, if acted upon, would place the settlement at the mercy of savages m the worst sense of the word. It is, we .submit, no requirement of the proclamation that the natives should proceed to a breach of the peace, or parade in columns or bodies. An " as-embly" of natives must be taken to be one according to their own fashion, otherwise the proclamation is a great s'iam, and might be eluded by any number of men engaged in an unlawful enterprise provided they moved about in scattered bodies of ones and t.vos. It is the inteat we have to consider in this case. Arming within the prohibited districts, aud sallying forth to war upon tribes without, equally infringe the neutrality of the* soil which is really the substantial point at issue, and, "so long as thes2 are permitted, the settlement is liable at any time to reprisals from the other side. And it nay be well to observe in this place thai Ihair-i, until very recently, concluded from our inaction that we were countenancing the murderous projects of his enemies. The Colonial Secretary's despatch to his Honor the Superintendent entirely supports the view generally taken of the Governor's Proclaclamation. The despatch was written with the full knowledge that Ihaia had retreated to Waitara, yet the Colonial Secretary writas of the altered aspect of the native quarrel " it was impossible not to recognise that accidental causes might implicate settlers either individually or collectively in the native feud." The. peculiar circumstances of the native quarrel not only require that the Governor's proclamation shall be strictly enforced, but are such as would justify an armed intervention to put it down. It has recently transpired that Katatore's own tribe planned his murder, and that Ihaia was a mere instrument in their hands! These treacherous wretches are now associated for the destruction of Ihaia ostensible' for the murder, but in reality to get rid of a "claimant to. the Ikamoana land which these same natives gave to Ihaia for saving- ilieir isvtro at the■■EfiitfarW. Kingi has a personal interest in Ihaia's death, because it would free him from a troublesome advocate for the sale of the Waitara district. So the cause that was said to be undertaken in the name of justice really owes its origin to the vilest influences. The intention of these miscreauts is to hem in Ihaia with pas or stockades, and, after sufficiently weakening him by starvation, to enter and despatch the occupants. Amongst these are the helpless women and children of the tribe, and the aged, the sick, and wounded. These and everything tangible belonging to the tribe are to be rooted out and destroyed, lest—as they say in their superstition—the evil spring forth again at some future time ! In this spirit they have already destroyed valuable agricultural implements—working oxen, live stock, and other property, and on Wednesday last they burnt down Ihaia's two storeyed wooden house on the banks of the river, the favourite resort of' excursionists to Waitara. We shall be exceedingly slow to believe that the tranquillity of the settlement is to be at the mercy of these armed savages whose natural tendency for evil is best seen by their treatment of each other. The Provincial Ooun- I eil, which was adjourned during harvest, will resume its sittings next week and will afford an opportunity for obtaining information on points of public interest connected with the proclamation, which, according to the Resident Magistrate's decision upon informations, by no means meets one of the main grievances disclosed in the Council's memorial to His Excellency.—TaraticJci Herald, March 6.