Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 4, 5 January 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1881.

We publish to-day a telegram from Wellington containing a memorandum addressed hy Ministers to the Governor, enclosing a copy of a letter which they recommended should be forwarded by him to Te Whiti. This has, doubtless, been made public by way of contradicting the rumors that have been circulated throughout the colony to the effect that Sir Arthur Gordon bad taken upon himself to communicate with the Parihaka fanatic without consulting, or, as it has even been said, in opposition to the wishes of, his responsible advisers. Acting, however, upon their advice, the Governor wrote the letter, which will be found elsewhere, and despatched Captain Knollys, bis private Secretary, as the bearer of it to Te Whiti. The letter is a cleverly written one, conciliatory, and persuasive, and might be fairly regarded as calculated to induce the old Chief, to whom it waa addressed, to comply with the wishes and suggestions contained in it. Still, it was a hazardous experiment to make. Had it succeeded in accomplishing the object in view, it would have been regarded as a master stroke of policy, for there can be no question that the result would have been to remove much of the ill-feeling that now exists between the Maori and the pakeha. But it haa failed, and, to put it very mildly indeed, our position has certainly not been improved by the atep which has been taken. The Representative of Her Majesty has humbled himself to the extent of craving an interview with a Maori Chief who has for a long time past remained in sulky seclusion and been inciting his followers to acts of lawlessness though not of violence. In reply he has received about as thorough a snubbing as could well have been adminis-

tered to him, and the result cannot be otherwise than to lower both the Sovereign-and tbe Colonial Government in the estimation of Te Wbiti's: followers. The "cooked potato " has most decidedly scored one' in the encounter, and Sir Arthur Gordon's first attempt at negotiating with the Maoris and bringing about a better state of things, be v tween them and the Europeans has resulted in an unmitigated failure. A few months ago Te Whiti predicted that the Governors would go to him. His prophecy has- been fulfilled, and he will now be more highly thought of than ever by. those who .believed in him before, while others who have hitherto stood aloof from him will begin to think that although he so modestly alludestohimself aa a " cooked potato" there, is quite as much life and power in bim as iv the lire by which he cays the culinary process was effected. It is hy no meaus improbable that this coquetting with the wily old Maori will lead to a large iucrease in the number of potatoes yet to be cooked.