THE OPPOSITION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 30, 19 August 1871, Page 15

THE OPPOSITION.

[lndependent, August 17.]

Last night witnessed what may be supposed to be the baptism of fire of the new House of Representatives, and the batteries of the Opposition engaged at long range. With due courtesy, Mr Stafford opened with blank cartridge; but his successor did not confine himself to such peaceable demonstrations, and though he averred t he would not take up the time of the House by putting on the gloves and going all round, he took very good care to fire all round. Nothing seemed to please the hon. member—the Postal Service—the very line which last session he voted for was now an abomination in his eyes, and a. branch line from Australia, which he opposed on a former occasion had. become his hobby. The paragraphs touching on the ballot, the.loan, and the telegraph all were reviewed more or Jess . with bitter criticism; but it was when adverting to, the Maori question that the hon. member, the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland, displayed his animus. We can find no other word for it; for we could not for one moment impute to the hon. member an ignorance so gross of the state of the country as he depicted himself to be laboring under. Where he picked up his information we cannot of course guess; but we should like .to be informed to whom Mr Gillies alluded when he stated that " We" lived in fear of the tomahawk. Mr Gillies has recently paid a long deferred visit to Poverty Bay and had interviews with the settlers in that locality. Did he find any dread of the towahawk in that rapidly rising community? We ' are not aware that he has visited any of the other out-settlements, and he can hardly be understood to mean that the lethal weapon is likely to fall on any of the towns. But although Mr Gillies has not honored the out-districts of his province with many beams from his presence, he might have taken the trouble to ascertain facts, and not gone to the extent of insulting the House by asking it to believe his highly exaggerated statement. Although we: are. not so close as Mr Gillies to those dangerous spots, where, according to him the tomahawk hangs over the head of every settler, we yet can enlighten him and tell hirn that he is entirely mistaken. Far from any dread of attack being the foremost thought in the out-settler's mind, it is his late foe who has most cause for fear. Defeated and baffled, the few rebels remaining in arms have mostly failed to find a spot wild enough, a bush sufficiently dense to conceal them. The Uriwera country, that bugbear for so many years, has been traversed over and over again, and its fierce denizens have had to accept their fate and submit to the terms imposed upon them. A number .of them, deported down to the coast, cultivate tracts of land under the surveillance of staunchly loyal chiefs, whilst their connections, the Whakatoea, have since their surrender, also devoted all their energies to farming pursuits. In Taupo we find our forces settled in the heart of the country, and important public works in process of construction by Europeans and natives. Bit by bit, the outskirts of the most antagonistic section of the hostile natives have been rent away, tribe after tribe has seen the error of its ways, and, foreseeing ruin in a further adherence to the mandates of war, has openly - abjured Hauhauism, and ranged itself under our banner of peace and order. North and West of the lake there is amity; and, where passage was not long ago denied to a European, roads are in progress. The West Coast presents no less gratifying a spectacle. A coach runs peaceably along country in whick ambuscades were of. constant occurrence, and no waggon could be sent five miles without an escort.

A great proof of the change is to be found in the report on the construction of roads in the North Tsland. Bush and barren plain, hill and valley, closed hitherto to the foot of the traveller, have been explored and surveyed; and the very owners who a short time back cared to meet the European, only rifle in hand, have now gladly grasped the pick and shovel, and labor cheerfully to give access to the country from which their present taskmasters were formerly so jealously excluded. Of the contracts for road works, fifty-one, more than one

fourth of the whole, were taken up by natives and have been carried out to the satisfaction of the engineer in charge, in addition to which Maoris have been largely employed by European contractors. It is to facts like these, that we can point for proof of the strides which have been made under the present Government towards the extinction of the troubles which have pressed upon us with almost irresistible weight. A judicious course of firmness, joined to moderation, paved the way to a reconciliation ; by degrees confidence in the Government began once more to take its place in the native mind, and, as that increased so did the influence of hauhauism decline ; overtures were made by the Maoris desirous of peace, and eventually all weapons were laid aside; the only rivalry remaining between the two races was fixed on the struggle for the obtainment of road contracts. But these are not Mr Gillies' only objections. He blames the Government for hunting out the TJriweras, and. by a ceaseless pursuit, rendering Te Kooti innocuous; but, at the same time, he is angry that they have not forced the wire down the throats of the Ohinemuri natives. He wants a mean policy between fighting and the present policy. As avowed not long ago, in Auckland, that he did not see his way to recommend any steps for the better government of the Island, we doubt whether the short time which has elapsed since his lecture has been sufficient to enable him to find that happy mean which is to have such results. Mr Gisborne, in bis telling and convincing speech in reply, assumed him to be a disappointed man. We can go further, and take it for granted that he is a mistaken man ; mistaken, because he dreams that a course of fault-finding without argument will elevate him to the rank of a leader, and because he deems that strictures inspired by personal feelings will ever secure him the confidence of the House.