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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 105, 4 May 1881, Page 1

"Writing upon affairs on the We«! Coast of the North Island, the Argtii says : — The Maori prophet Te Whiti has practically given up the game; and now advises his followers to do the same. He recognises the overwhelming strength of the Government, and now tells his people that they must leave the land question to be settled by the Governor. There are some things which a Victorian politician may learn from a mad Maori, and we may commend these words to the consideration of Mr Longmore. r ln olden days the land was taken and held by strength, but in these days love alone shall guide all dealings with the land. I am aware/ says Te Wbiti, who had evidently been reading some burstingup speeches delivered in the Victorian Assembly, 'that this is a very novel thing which lam saying.' Te Whiti is not wanting in the craft to know when a game is played right out, and to try to make the best of the case. He says:— ' Let all the great men of the island behold your peaceful, quiet, and patient behaviour in gathering here before us. The things I am speaking are disbelieved and despised because of their novelty, but no good thing has been accomplished by strength, from Babel even unto the present time. Were it so, there would be reason for laughter against us for our present patient and unresisting attitude.' It really does not matter by what devices Te Whiti tries to satisfy his people that they are winning a victory or doing something very great and admirable. The practical point is that all danger is past, and the Native race has come to acquiesce in the decision of the Government. This is highly satisfactory, as it may be reasonably expected that this state of affairs will enable the Government to reduce the large police expenditure at the West Coast, which has for some time formed a heavy drag on its resources. This relief and the feeling of confidence in the preservation of peace will assist in the process of finciucial recovery, which is so vapidly going on, and a brighter time in the immediate future may now, with reasonable assurance, be predicted for New Zealand.