The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 233, 3 October 1870, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1870.

The native meeting recently held at Pariaka is said to have passed oif in a satisfactory mauner, no determined opposition of any kind having been offered to Mr. Parris, the Civil Commissioner, at ! the same time, we fail to see that auy good j has resulted from the korero. The local j newspaper tells us that the talk lasted for four days, but as it was a continued repetition of the same thin*, it ouly considers it necessary to give its readers a short sketch of what passed, and as the whole of the four day's talk has been condensed into something less thau a column, we may reasonably conclude that the speeches were not of any great importance. Te Whiti, the chief who convened the meeting, appears to have been at times a little obstreperous, aud to have conveyed, by certain sigus intelligible to those who understand native customs, the impression that he was desirous of treading under foot the Queen's authority in these islands, but it is difficult to determine, frora the report before us, or whether he was really in earnest, or whether he was not indulging in that banter which appears to be so natural to every native who is at all of a humorous turn of mind. It would also seem that he was exceedingly jealous of any interference between himself and Mr. Parris, and that he remonstrated with the latter on two occasions for paying attention to remarks that foil from other chiefs who were preseut, and although he remarked that "the sword' had been returned to its sheath, aud was not to be drawn again," we find him eventually parting in anger with the Commissioner, because some of the natives had ventured to express their approval of what fell from that, officer, the last words he addressed to him being anything but those of a man who is satisfied with what has taken place. "Go every one of you," he says, "with the Commissioner and fulfil your hearts' desire— kill, and eat each other, rob, get drunk, commit adultery, sell land, make roads, do every thing the wicked are intended for — but don't look back on me afterwards." But without doubt the principal feature in this meeting was the presence of Titoko Waru, who, we are told, arrived there in great state accompanied by between 80 and 90 followers. He was " suberbly dressed for a Maori chief," and was received with great deference by the assembled warriors, but we learn that the first salutations that passed between him and Mr. Parris consisted, on both sides, of words of abuse " that it would be impossible to put upon paper." After this style of conversation had been sustained for a whole day, the parties retired for the night, and on the following morning Titoko Waru again appears on the scene, and asks with a jaunty air, " what all the talk had been about?" The reply does not appear to have been sufficiently encouraging to induce him to remain, for after a short conversation with Mr. Parria, and exchanging a little banter with Te Whiti and other chiefs, he expressed his intention to take his departure, and retired at once, first of all assuring his hearers that he would never strike another blow i unless he was attacked, but that if his face was scratched he should retaliate. Thus ended the Pariaka meeting. No doubt it was with the best intentions that Mr. Parris, as the representative of the Government, was present, but the ' impression left on our mind most certainly is that his position there was anything but a dignified one. There is something humiliating in the idea ofa Government officer of high standing meeting Titoko Waru, — a known murderer and cauibal, a man who bas been guilty of the most atrocious crimes, a rebel in arms against the Queen's authority, — on friendly terms, and gravely conferring with him upon the relations between the Maoris and the Government. It is true that on first meeting they did not address one another in the most complimentary of terms, but this, in the words of th 6 report, was only according to native custom, and having exhausted their stock of abuse, they were ready to talk seriously. It is difficult to say in which of these two situa-i tions Mr. Parris showß to the

greatest advantage, whether in abusing the rebel chief " in words that are impossible to put upon paper," or in quietly sitting down with him and explaining the object of the meeting. In neither of these capacities could he, as the representative of the Government, have given to the assembled Maoris a very exalted idea of English authority, for they know as well as we do what we have suffered at the hands of Titoko Waru, and must have witnessed with some surprise the amicable conversation thnt took place between the rebel and the Government officer.