THE GREAT TE KOPUA MEETING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 112, 12 May 1879, Page 4

THE GREAT TE KOPUA MEETING.

(From tbe Duneftn Morning Herald.) The farce that ia heitg played up North at this present moment would be amusing enough if there were do chance of its turniug sooner or later to somethin;* tragic; an 3it i?, to say thß (ruth, even in spite of the ßwkoni poeeibilitioF, extremely »nd grotpequely ludicrous. Sir Georve Grey waiting nml longing for an invitation from a wily old savage, and Tawhiuo standing prou Jly on his fihoily, an<) sayiDjj in effect that the Premier rosy coma (o Kopua if he picas?, but that he most curiaioly shall have no invitation from him \ Here is a very interesting situation indeed — almost a spectacle for gods aud men. Nor are the accessories without » spice of comic interest — Tawhno's soldiers dressed in white, with painte i faces, the chief soldiers, or officers we 6uppose, Bporting firemen's helmets cud scarlet waistcoats, and all carrying firoaims. This is very picturesque, even without the other rig. in which the King's bodyguard sre said to be attired, bdJ which is deecribfdaa " the co3tumo of our first parents." The appearance of the vast body of assembled legislator?, "dusk with horrid shades," roußt also be very imposing. We confess we shall be forced to consider Tawhiao a man of matchless dignity &nd self-cou-tent, if he can refrain fioni asking Guvnor Grey to come and see all this marvellous show of barbaric power and grandeur; and we have do doubt that the Premier, if he should be honored with on invitation from tbe mighty potentate, will say with the Queen of Sheba, that the half had not been told him. That Tawhiao should even hesitate to invite him must be very humiliating to the Premier. His a&yieg that tbe present meeting is merely an adjourned one, and that therefore Sir G. Grey doeß not require to be invited again is a transparent pretext. If he had any desire to see his old friend he would, we may be sure, send him any amount of invitation ; for we do not suppose that tbe etiquette of his royal court is of such a very unbending description. But the fact is that the natives have learned to distrust, and we fear alto to despise, the present Muistry, and hence the very undigoified attitude in which the Premier and his lieutenants are now exhibiting themselves. All this is very disappointing. Jf there was any service which Sir Georgu Grey more than any other mac could have rendered the colony, we should have thought it would have Jain in the direction of settling the native difficulty. We little expected to witness the imminent danger ol another outbreak of boatilitioa under his administration. Bat so it was a little while ago ; and co perhaps it is at the present moment ; and the occureace to which we refer is only another proof of the truth of the common saying, that there is nothing so certain to happen as the unexpected. It is impossible to cay what shall come out of the preeent deliberations — if indeed anything should be accomplished ' beyond the consumption of a vast consumption of meat, fish, aud potatoes —but it is only too evident that the Government have up till how done nothing, or even less than nothing, \ towards delivering us from the rick of native complications. At present it looks as if they were lowering the dignify of the colony in & manner that would be almost certain to bring about a conflict, We have Romething to fear ea well from the chagrin of the Ministry at the results of iheir own incompetence, as from the threatening and foolhardy temper which such incompetence is apt to beget in the natives. But rather than run the rifck of bloodshed it will be infinitely better for tbe Government to acknowledge Jheir failure, aud rt^ign the (ask of administering the .native affairs into more capable hande. It is certain enough that wo cannot much, longer endure the painful and alarming uncertainty of the wretched palavering ia which the whole native policy of the Grey Ministry eeeens to consist. There ia really a great deal too much danger in it. We hav e invariably advocated the treating of the Maoris with justice and kindness; bat it is neither kind nor just to lead them to believe that they can despise and defy tbe authority of the Government with impunity. It is in this that the chief danger lies, Te Whiti put tbe fool upon Mr Sheehan with a vengeance, and it looks very much as if Tawhiao were going to do tbe same thing by Sir George Grey.