THE NATIVE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 101, 29 April 1879, Page 4

THE NATIVE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

In an artiolo on lliis subject the Cbrioteharcb Press says:— "ln the first place, the Native Minister has proved • complete failure, and is ucqiiestiooably not the man for the responsible post he fills. But were he ever so well fitted for it, be would he subjected to •lnaoat insuperable difficulties by the settled disfroat with which tbe incurable obiiqoity of Sir George Grey bag filled tbe Maori mind. And besides all this the Ministerial financial proposals of last session hove idded another cause. Unable even ko underStand, far less to devise, n comprehensive scheme of finance, and feeling that they must do something, Ministers madly threw away £100,000 nf revenue, which the colony conld ill afford to lose. With a blundering incompetency, whicl* is scarcely credible, they hazarded the credit of (he colony on the faith of receiving a very larpe land revenue during the present year. To all appearance, their expectation will not be realised. In their necessity, it i« a mntter of urgent importance to them that the confiscated land on the Wairnate Plains ehoold be Bold. Mr Sheehan's position, unhappily, speaks for itself. He has done something worse than merely accomplished nothing. He has interfered where he : should bave let alone, and neglected other matters when be should hava given bis utmost attention to them. When be came into office the colony was making rapid progress. The Maori difficulty itself had ceased to be >* factor in our calculations, and time was on oar side. But Mr Sheeh&n «nast needs be meddling. Without ; giving himself time even to understand the real task be bad to perform, he thought it necessary to gain applause by. snowing how well he coald settle tbe numerous questione which brd for years occupied the attention of bis predecessors, when all that was wanted was just to let them settle rhemettlves. The result was that wbile he was talking so largely of the early abolition of the Native Department, he was setting tbe causes ia motion which have al" «ady gone far to make it a worse incubus tban ever. Bot it would bo unjust to charge the whole of tbe blame to Mr Sheehan. We pity any Native Minister who is compelled to act in connection with Sir G. Grey in Native •flairs. Great aa is the distrust which Sir George has succeeded in inspiring among the European*, it i« sb nothing; compared with the suspicion with which every act of bis has long heen regarded by the Maoris. Their knowledge of nun extends over a longer period than that of the great majority of the European population. .; To the Maori naiad tbe iJea of Sir G. Grey is : continually present bb that of the ancient Governor, who never met .then? without grand promises, and never made a promise which he failed to' break. He is to them the great arch-deceiver whom no man can trust Bat, as we have seen this is not all. -Through.- their- own .^financial incompetence and blundering Ministers had. got themselves into a position ia which -tbejrcopld not: let Na/tive matter* alone if, they would. They wanted- land andi they wanted it at once; tfbd they \ -were obH^jd to take 'the i for securing possession , qf it while, they were meeting: the Natives and professing to estctiahhe RMuranew^6^ goodwill ami frien'thMp. The^erioua logs to jtbiaT year's revenue 1 which hire incorrerd by the ineffective • change in' the Customs Katies, bad to be ..made somehow, aud the only means apparently open to ehem of doiog eo was by the sale of the Waimate Plains. . Tbe anticipated good effect of the Native meetings was altogether done away with. The ioweyors' pegs ifibrded more iodigpatable.evidenoe to the Native mind of the real intentions of the Government than any amount of promises on the part of £ir G. Grey. We thus bave it that ithe incapacity of the Colonial Treasurer, the ignorant impatience of ■the Native Minister, and the too wellknown character of Sir George Grey, Jbaye together brought about a ssriopa eruis to the affairs of the colony. How different it was 1 in Sir Donald M'Lean's time. He came iqto pow«r . faeqanfe . tbe , colony preferred; . peace 7 ' without conquest to a -policy of conqtf^riaijJeace, aoa from that time to the olosa of bis career she trusted itnimplicity r in his ability to maintaio peace in her borderr. We detract, aothing from the credit doe to others.; when we assert! that their labours woald have been impossible but for tbe; security and the sense of security afforded by the adminiatr«(ion of the great Native Midister. His management of Native affairs was, no doubt, expensive, bot tbe colony never begrndgedit? We gained peace. We gained credit on tbe money market 'at \ home. We gained power to inaugurate oor great scheme of immigration and public works, and to raise ourselves from being tbe last to be nearly tbe first of tbe British settlements in the Southern Seas. We secured all this by the policy of Sir Donald M'Lein, And now, after all these long yearslof patient work, tfae colony, tbaoks to the present Government, once more fijds Itself lace to face with a N» tive wnrra war wbicb, were it once to break ojat, woald nndo all that has been accomplished at so vast an expenditure! of energy and money. <