The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5335, 3 May 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1878.

The approaching meeting of Ministers with the Maori King Tawhiao naturally excites a good deal-of general interest, and’ all are disposed to yield themselves hopefully to the assurance that now at length the right man having got into the right place, the end, after “seventeen years”—to use the words of Manuhiri — is not commencing but at hand. There is, however, a great deal of misapprehension not only as to the general aspect of native affairs at Waikato at present, but with regard also to the tribes or hapus directly concerned in the movement now going on. One cause of this misapprehension is the difficulty of obtaining reliable information. The accession of the present Government to office was to have been as the dawning of a new day of culture and of light ; the roofs were to be stripped not alone from the Government offices, hut oven from the Executive Council Chamber, so that Asmodeus in opposition and the people might see every move upon the general board, and hear also every word of confidential advice given to her Majesty’s representative by his responsible Ministers. We were promised also, possibly without sufficient authority, that a daily printed bulletin of official transactions should show to the lieges how their faithful servants had been doing or not doing the business of the colony. There has probably not been time to make these reforms, and the pressure of business caused by the approach of the session will, we fear, necessitate a further, perhaps an indefinite, postponement of them. A letter from our correspondent in Waikato, which will be found in another column, gives a complexion to late transactions there somewhat different from that presented by the official reports, and shows how easily the Arcadian simplicity of Sir George Grey and of Mr. Sheehan may be imposed on by designing persons. The King party in Waikato during the early days of the war may be said to have been constituted by the Waikatos proper—Ngatimnhutu being the hapu of Tawhiao, —by Ngatihaua under the late William Thompson, and by Ngatimaniapoto under Rewi. There were allied tribes in Taranaki, at Tauranga, in the Uriwera country, and on the East Coast, and probably most of the tribes in the islands contributed a contingent more or less numerous of volunteer warriors to the forces of the King. One by one, in a series of events which have become historical and cannot be narrated in a brief space, the outside allies fell away. In 1865, we think, William Thompson came in and surrendered to the officer commanding in Waikato, and although there are still a few Ngatihauas with the King, the bulk of the tribe, under the chiefs Te Raihi, Hakariwhi, 'and others, have long stood : to the Government in the somewhat troublesome relation of “friendlies.” Within the last few years dissension has grown up between the Waikatos and the Ngatimaniapoto, and of late, as appeared in his meetings with the Native Minister last year at Kaipiha, at Alexandra, and at Taupo. Rewi, or Manga by which name he is now known, has withdrawn himself and his tribe altogether from the Waikatos and Tawhiao, and wishes to treat separately with the Governor about his own affairs, and those of his tribe. He is, on the Native side, master of the situation in; Waikato, and politically as well ns otherwise is perhaps as influential as the King himself, if not more so. His disposition of late has been very friendly, but he has many grievances with respect to land dealings, some of which are very real and must be redressed.

The King Party have persistently up to this time refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the Native Lands Court; when lands in which they were interested were being adjudicated upon they did not take any, or not the proper, steps to protect themselves in the Courts. The “friendly” Ngatihaua profiting by this indisposition became very active land sellers, and occasionally obtaining titles in the Courts in the absence of the legitimate claimants, succeeded in getting money for blocks to which they had no equitable right. Otautahanga, to which reference was made in the telegraphic news published yesterday, is one of these blocks, and a very flagrant' example of the proceedings of which Rewi so justly complains. The survey of this block was carried on, so far as it proceeded, surreptitiously, - as t the : natives allege, by, one Mr. Tole, and was purchased from Ngatihaua ; by another Mr. Tole for , a “song.” Rewi has taken possession of this land, and sets Mr. Tole and his .Crown title at defiance. Probably when Sik George Gee y has had time to look into this case, and others similar, ;he may come to the conclusion that there is not a' monopoly of wrong-doing oH the Opposition side of the House or amongst the friends of the late Government.

What we desire to show is that there are now two native parties of importance with whom Ministers have to deal—the Waikatos and the Ngatimaniapotos. That the latter are anxious to seek redress, with the aid of the Government, through the Supreme Court, for the wrongs which they have suffered through the action of the friendlies, and that the disposition of the Waikatos was so good that it was notified by Tawhiao a year ago that March last was the month in which his meeting with the Governor should take place. Whether anything has recently occurred to alter these dispositions or to render necessary the mystery by which the dealings of the Government are now sought to be surrounded, wo cannot say. The Maoris are irrepressible raconteurs, who keep no secrets; sooner or later the truth comes out," and such disclosures as: are made in the letter of our Waikato correspondent to-day tend not to strengthen our hopes that the Government will immediately attain the end for which they are striving with possibly imprudent eagerness. ,;