The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5428, 20 August 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1878.

On the opening of the present session of Parliament her Majesty’s representative in this colony was advised to say to the Honorable Legislative Councillors and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives “I congratulate yon on the fact “ that peaceful relations have been, at “ last, established with the Waikato and “ Ngatlmaniapoto Tribes. Complying “ with the pressing and frequently re- “ ceived invitations of the leading chiefs “ of these tribes, the Premier and the “ Native Minister visited them on several “ occasions in their own districts, and “ met them also at Waitara. Papers on “ this subject will be laid before you.” However lightly Ministers may be disposed to regard promises made by them individually in the saturnalia of the “ stump,” it has at least been usual to regard as obligatory promises put into the mouth of his Excellency the Governor upon ceremonial occasions, and loyally to take care that the faith of the Crown should be preserved inviolate. This used to be the fashion when the organs of heal thy political life were in their normal position —the heart in the right place, and the liver where it ought to be ;—but, like Moliere’s doctor, we have changed all that. These papers have not yet been laid before Parliament. The fault is no doubt as usual with the Government Printer. When all the sins of omission have been put upon the head of the scapegoat, and he is sent into the wilderness, Mr. Didsbury may find that his surroundings will be “howling” of a very pronounced type. If we have not the promised papers which everyone desires to see, wo have something of a bone in the shape of the annual reports from officers in native districts, a Parliamentary paper, which has been printed and distributed. As the reports are not of very recent date, we have no intelligence of the crowning Waitara business ; indeed, it is remarkable that the Civil Commissioner for the Taranaki District has furnished no report, or it he has done so, the printer has omitted it from the series. Major Maib also, the Resident Magistrate at Alexandra, an old and distinguished public servant, either has not been allowed to know what has transpired at official meetings in his district between the Premier and Taw hi ao, or he is very reticent on the subject. This is what Major Maie says : Several important meetings have been held during the year: one at Kopua, In February, was for the purpose of greeting the Hon. the Premier and the Hon. tho Native Minister. The proceedings wore, I believe, rather of a formal nature, preliminary to a more important meeting to take place a few days hence at Hikurangl, when there is reason to believe momentous questions will be discussed. The Waikatos are making great preparations for the occasion. Ngatlmaniapoto held a meeting at To Kulti early in March, for tho purpose of discussing tho land question, a section of the tribe living at Lower Mokau having shown a disposition to lease land In that neighborhood. This meeting resulted in an agreement by all the chiefs of Ngatlmaniapoto and several of the Ngatituwharetoa, from Taupo, not to part with an aero of land anywhere, on any pretence whatever.

Mr. Bush, a zealous and intelligent officer residing at Raglan, who was present at the Hikurangl meeting, observes with regard to it that it is needless for him to narrate what passed there, as no doubt all will be fully and officially reported by tho honorable Ministers who were present; this is exactly what has not happened. Mr. Bush goes on to say that—

Tho broach between the Manlapolo and Waikato King party apparently widens every year. I notice a growing desire, amongst the different sections of tho natives residing in this district, to procure warlike stores, which, for want of a hotter reason. X attribute mainly to tho above split: and I think I am not far wrong, when it is remembered that, as this breach has widened, the anxiety of Tawhtao and Ilia Waikato klnglte followers hn increased in tho same ratio to unite ail the Waikato tribes as one people. X am Inclined to think against a tribal enemy Waikato would bo united. Tho Ngatlmaniapoto Imre tor soms yean past been endeavoring to get rid of tho Waikatos from their territory, and have portly succeeded in removing them to Xlikurangl from To Kulti. No doubt tho pressure brought to bear on tho Waikatos from this source is making them anxious as to tho fulnrc. If there had been any feasible excuse for “gush,” well trained officials, such as Major Maiii and Mr. Bush, would not have been unwilling to improve tho occasion ; but their reports are very different in tone from tho reports furnished by tho agents of tho subsidised newspapers. We gather, however, that on tho whole tho march of civilisation amongst the Maoris in constant and steady. The children

are learning to read and write, and to speak English ; the elders are having, more and more, recourse to our Courts of Justice for the settlement of disputes amongst themselves. They have food in abundance, and are content and generally orderly. But there is one sad fact that colors all the reports, and that is that everywhere the number of the Maori people is rapidly decreasing. We are warned to be prepared to learn, when the tables of the Census shall have been published, that since the year 1874, when the last enumeration of the Maori people was made, there has been a great falling off of their number over the whole colony. It adds to the poignancy of regret for the existence of such a condition of affairs that it appears to be beyond human power to arrest the decadence, or to remedy it. All that remains apparently for us to do is, with justice, with forbearance, and with kindness, to make the euthanasia of those to whose heritage wo succeed, and to whom, as a people, we are under great obligations.