WAIKATO NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5356, 28 May 1878, Page 3

WAIKATO NEWS.

THIS LATE NATIVE MEETING. The Bay of Plenty Times, ol May 22, publishes the following from its own correspondent:— Cambridge, May 11, The Hiknrangi meeting is over at last; Ministers went up country from Alexandra on the 7tb, and were received with great display byTawhiao. Te Kooti had been sent away for having brought rum to the place of meeting, but Purukutu was unnecessarily conspicuous. The gathering is said to have been the largest that has taken place in the Waikato for many years, the numbers are variously estimated, but two thousand will probably bo a long way outside the mark; three orfour hundred were Government natives—so called. There were great stores of food, the principal “ line” being ten tons. of flour, and a proportionate quantum of liquor. When will our brown brethren provide something more.savory than the historical, but unpalatable, “ skilly” at his feasts ? The Ngatimaniapoto proved true to their determination to take no part in the Grey-Tawhiao meeting; a few second-rate chiefs of the tribe were at Hikurangi, but merely for the purpose of taking notes for their own improvement, or guidance. It is felt oven by the Waikatoa themselves that the Hikurangi meeting was not intended for a business affair, but simply a display of Maori force, and viewed in this way was a great success, lam not sufficiently sanguine to hope that any real good will come out of this meeting. I am afraid that the “ Maori mind” is not at present in the mood for entertaining any reasonable proposition whatever. (Perhaps the same thing may be said with equal justice of a large section of the pakehas in this colony just now). The Maori has been so pampered of late by visions of “increased representation,” “restored lands,” “ repudiation,” and a host of vague ideas of concessions on our part, that not only m the Waikato, but throughout this island, he is becoming simply outrageous. A dispute about a road near Graharnstown is “ referred to Tawhiao.” We had begun to hope that the King’s j mm was not in any way recognised oatsfdo the boundaries of a limited area of country, but if this sort of thing is to obtain, we may expect to hear that a row about an oyster-bed at the Bay of Islands is “reserved for discuHaion at the foot of tho throao of tho • King of New Zealand.” There is but one remedy for this increasing evil—leave the Maori King alone ; let him stow and swelter in his own dirt and ape-like conceit; teach him that laws for tho guidance of both races can bo made without reference to his whims, and that a Parliament of white men and a dispassionate Governor can, and will, work out his salvation better than ho with his dim, savage lights can ever hope to do.. Let him see this, I say, and ho will soon come to his senses.

The Ministerial tail is very much longer now than in the days of other Native Ministers; on. a late visit wo had four Cabinet Ministers and another M.H.E. —who,(by tho way, was for some time , supposed to be tho Premier’s coachman—and a gang of secretaries, reporters, and satellites,. On this occasion there are three responsible Ministers, the usual accompaniment of secretaries, and a

”canaille of both raceaand . both sexes. * Everjy-' thing is in a grand scale—“ special trains, “ special,, steamers,” spanking. buggy , teams, and troops of saddle-horses, diffuse a halo of glory around Ministerial progresses in the Waikato nowadays which ought to be very effective ! But it does not savor of the promised retrenchment in the Native Department. The “ working skeleton ” rattles his bones with no uncertain sound.

A FEMALE DIPLOMATIST. I had well-nigh forgotten to tell you of the latest addition tv the staff of Maori Doctors! The Telegraph and Postal Departments have, I believe, been long open to the fair sex, but it has been reserved for the present Government to admit the sex to the diplomatic branch of the service. The fair, or rather brown (for she is a half-caste) attache is very well known about. Queen-street and the “ demesnes thatthere adjacent lie.” She is said to be a relative of Rewi s„ and her “mission” is to “fetch” that^ doughty chieftain. She has made two visits from Auckland to Te Awaniutu, where she. put up at a hotel. Well supplied with the sinews of war, with horses and gentlemanly orderlies, aud the telegraph wire at her disposal, she commenced the attack j and after much gallopping to and fro, both by night and by tiny, between Pumii and Alexandra, long interviews with Ministers, and much of that " hope deferred, which maketh the heart aide, Xlewi lias fairly bolted to the interior, it is said, to “ consult his people,” but really to avoid being eo persistently worried ! The experiment of employing feminine political agents of doubt-,, fnl morals, though not without precedent, is a bold step ; it is one of those startling reforms in the Civil Service promised during the latter part of the last session of Parliament ! So fai it has not been a success, but Delilah and Measalina and Phryne must take heart of grace, aud not be discouraged at the failure of this maiden effort. Doubtless there; will be ample scope for them in this new field of enterprise, and they may yet prove valuable auxiliaries in the task of laying that Political Ghost called “ The Native Difficulty.”