New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JULY 12.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4775, 12 July 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, JULY 12.

In his speech on the meeting at Kaipiha, between the Hon. Sir Donald MoLean and Tawhiao, Sir George Grey said ;

Now sir, I wish to tell the House what I think a most important point: that this meeting was unsought for on the part of the natives; it was really forced upon them. . . . The meeting originated from the Government side, and that meeting was meant for a political object. . . . And then, sir, what will appear most extraordinary is this: When he who is called the native King was led to meet Te Wheoro, it was under the belief that a meeting was to have been arranged between theKingand myself, and they only consented tomeet the Native Minister upon being told that under present circumstances it was impossible to meet me.

It is to be regretted that before making these statements Sir George Grey did not take the trouble to ascertain the facts. We are quite prepared to believe that Sir George Geey had persuaded himself that his view of the matter was correct, and that his belief was based upon representations made to him by agents and emissaries who visited the King country in his interest after the meeting between Sir Donald McLean and Tawhiao. But before attaching any importance to the representations of such persons, Sir George Grey should have been careful to verify them by inquiries in reliable quarters. At the very time he made those statements Sir George Grey had in his possession a • parliamentary paper, the merest perusal of which would have shown him that he was being misled by the representations of his agents, and it is to be regretted that he had not taken the trouble to look at the document before he allowed himself to be betrayed into a statement so utterly at variance with facts. In the annual “Reports” from officers in native districts we find frequent allusions to a strong desire existing on the part of Tawhiao and his followers to meet the Native Minister, and not a word of reference to Sir George Grey. As long ago as the Bth October, 1875, Haupokia Te Pakaru wrote from Kawhia ; I hear from the Waikato chiefs that Tawhiao will meet you and the Governor either at Te Kuiti or Te Kopua next March. Mr. R. S. Bush, Government interpreter at Raglan, writing on October 22, 1875, says : Many natives, both at Aotea and Kawhia, are busy catching flsh, &c., for the coming hui at Hikurangi, which, from the accounts given, is to be a monster meeting. All the tribes are to be represented His Excellency the Governor and you are to be invited. The same gentleman, writing from Raglan on February 6, 1876, says ; While here (Motakotako) Tawhiao took me into an outhouse, told me that he had forwarded a letter to you asking you to meet him, not at To Kuiti or Hikurangi, but Tatahi, which I took to mean either Alexandra or Kopua. The invitation, he said, had been forwarded through Te Wheoro. And on the 9th March Mr. Bush writes : Tawhiao asked me where you were. I replied the papers made you leave Napier for on Eriday-last, en route for Auckland. He replied, Ka koa ahau (I am glad). He seemed as delighted with this news, saying: “ I shall send Takerei to Te Whooro to send a letter to Sir Donald McLean to come and meet me." These extracts completely refute the statements made in the House by Sir George Grey, and prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the desire for the meeting emanated with Tawhiao himself, at whose special invitation the Native Minister went to Kaipiha. The Waihato Times , which certainly ought to bo regarded as a reliable authority on native questions/ contains the following article Elsewhere we publish, from one who was present a* the meeting at Kaipiha, a refutation of the mis-state-ments of the Alexandra Correspondents of the Auckland Herald and Star. Since then an attempt has been made at a public meeting in Alexandra to affirm the statement that Sir George Grey was the more popular man with the natives and more confided in by them than Sir Donald McLean. The assertion is utterly groundless. Sir George Grey is most unpopular with the King party. Ho was never expected by the natives to visit them. His presence was not desired. Ever since the meeting between the Defence Minister and the King, Sir George has been fishing and vainly so, for an invitation. Wo extracted lately a paragraph from tho Auckland Star in reference to the visit of a Maori Princess and two native girls to Auckland, and their interview with Sir George Grey. It appears that ho, did more than rub noses witii them at least as far as concerns the Princess herself. According to the chloftainess. To Hoinga’s, own account of the matter, ho gave her £5 (for which she declined to Kivo a receipt) and told her all his grievances, complaining of tho manner In which the Government had treated him in the matter of Ids intended visit to tho natives, tolling her that lie would not respond to an Invitation until ho had first submitted tho same for approval by the Government, and trying to Induce liojr to use her influence in getting him such an invitation This is To Ilcinga's own statement, and shows clearly that Sir George was never Invited, as those in his pay on tho frontier wonld make out to have been the case.

Again, wo have it first hand from a gentleman who spoke direct to the King on this matter, that Tawhiao’s reply to the question, whether Sir George had been invited to visit the King natives, was as follows;—That he had given no such invitation, ana that he had authorised no one to do so on his account That he had no intention of doing so, and meant to arrange with McLean, and him only, that he haanot given McLean up, nor would lie. But we have not only oral, but documentary evidence to prove that the leading native chiefs have no confidence in Sir George Grey. Sir George through his newspaper organs, has denied having written to natives. Such denial Is not in accordance with facts. Wo would simply ask Sir George, has he forgotten his recent letter to Manuhin, the relative and adviser of the King, and will he or Manuhiri correct us, if the following is not a literal copy of the answer “Kia Hori Kerei: Tenakoe To tangata nana i maka te oko ki runga ki taku kaki.—Na Manuhiri. Of which the following is a translation;— To Sir George Grey; salutations to you, the person who placed the yoke on my neck. From Manuhiri ” (meaning the man whom they had to thank for all their troubles.) The “I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of such a date " reply is nothing to the caustic shortness of Manuhirl’s contemptuous manner of showing Hori Kerei the literary door. Disappointed hangers-on and discharged employes of the Native department may raise the cry that " Codlin’s tho friend, not Short,” but the public wo’nt believe them.