WAIKATO.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5439, 2 September 1878, Page 2

WAIKATO.

(from our own correspondent.)

How is it that the Native Minister has not yet made his statement ? People in Waikato are anxiously awaiting the advent of the Native Affairs speech. They want to see how it will agree with facts. There is no end of indignation in and about Cambridge at the extraordinary conduct of the Government in the matter of the Land Court, After being postponed several times, it is now put off sine die. No cause has been assigned, but it is supposed that it has been done with the idea that in will please Rewi, who has no personalinterest in any of the cases set down for hearing, and, as far as the public know, docs not pretend to have any claim on his own account, though he has a vague idea that all the Ngufciraukawa country belongs to the “ King !” The action of the Government in this matter is, to say the least, very unfair to loyal Maoris, who-have come up even from the shores of Cork’s Strait, and who have now been away from their homes for three or four months. Latterly it had become a settled idea in the Maori mind that Kingite mana did not cross to the eastern bank of the Waikato River, but the Government have, in opposition to the prayers of the owners- and occupiers of the soil, extended the boundary in that direction even beyond the Thames i And the general impression here is that, southward, the boundary has been advanced to the Waitara 1 River at Taranaki. Some years since Tawhiao proclaimed that bis southern boundary was at “Tirangl;” curiously enough that is the spot now occupied byßewi, north of the Waitara, and it is the only ascertained fact in support of the statement that Tawhiao was a party to the meeting at Waitara. “ Tirangi ” was one of “the five doors to be kept shut against the white man.” The Maoris attach great importance to the occupation of this “ door ” by Rewi, the more so as it is said the Premier tried hard to induce Rewi to retire to Mokau till their next meeting.

Of course, native accounts of the Waitara meeting differ considerably from the published (t suppose one may say, the Government) version. For instance, when Rewi is made to say “ When this question is settled then we can arrange about the railways, roads, &c., &c.” the Maori account reads “ Return Waitara to me ; I have only one word there is no other word beyond; if this is finished we can make regulations for the children and those who come after, and the Parliament and other things that are good for us.” Again, when the Premier said “Yes, X consent, Waitara is with us too,” Rewi replied “Yes, I Waitara is with us too ;” then, turning to his people, he said “I have nothing more to say to Grey, the law will decide the question between us. X will remain at Waitara. Let all the clever people, both Maori and pakeha, come to Waitara. It is not for me to fix the day for that. This day is for (the meeting of) the two scornful men who made the trouble.” The meaning of all this from the Maori point of view is that the Waitara question is to be opened up to its very foundation, and the law is to decide whether or not the pakeha occupation of it is just. Of course, this opens up the whole question of confiscation, and this ia what Rewi and other thinking men like him have been driving at for years, Tawhiao, who is not such a large-minded man as Rewi, would bo content to get back what ho considers to be his own—-that is Waikato, but this would not suit the other. Tawhiao had nothing whatever todo directly with the Waitara meeting. The statement made in Parliament that messengers were despatched constantly to keep the King informed of what was going on is as incorrect as another statement made in the same place; that Rewi merely asked for the restoration of Waitara for form’s sake, to give him a locus stands as it were. The truth is that all that country has been conquered more than once by Rewi’s tribe ; and farther, that at one stage of the Waitara difficulty Wiremu ICingi gave Waitara to Rewi; that is, that in accordance with a common Maori custom, Wi Kingi, feeling unable to grapple with the difficulty, transferred it to Rewi. bo much for the story that Rewi required a foot-

ing at Waitara before he could cuter into important discussions about it. I notice that a number of North Island members have formed themselves into a committee or caucus for the purpose of agitating the Great Northern railway question, and that some of them suggested that a flying survey should be made at once of the country from Waitara to Waikato. Do these honorable gentlemen know what they are talking about, or are they too helping to blind the people of the colony? Let anyone, even the patriotic Mr. Mokau Jonas, try to make a survey for such a purpose, and I am afraid that if he ever came out of that country again it would not be on his own feet. I have already said that Tawhiao had nothing to do with getting up tho Waitara meeting; on the contrary, there is good reason to believe that he is, if anything, rather annoyed about it. It is verv well known that he proposed to have a meeting early in the summer at Kopua, when he would reply to the Grey proposals; he even selected the spot for the gathering, and warned the occupants not to crop it; hut a few days since he informed them that they might take a crop out of the ground, as he would not need it before March. Ngatimaaiapoto says that this is an attempt to snuff out Bmvi’a March meeting at Waitara. The late Hiknraugi meeting was considered very successful as an exhibition of force, and it is understood that, in the same way, the next one shall be a groat success. luvitations are to be sent to all pacts of the island from Terawiti to Te Boinga. Keoeut arrivals from Waitara state that Bewi says that he does not know who to trust amongst the people who surround him. He has good reason, it is said, for'believing that the persons upon which he is obliged to rely as his interpreters are in the pay of e the Government. It is known that one of them gave a wrong interpretation of something said at the “ Waitara banquet.” Poor old Bewi, he may well exclaim <l Save me from my friends !” There is a good story going the rounds in Auckland about the negotiations, supposed to be private, between the Premier and Bewi. In a discussion going on at the club a sporting man from Waikato was appealed to for his opinion as to who would come out best in tbe business. “ Well,” he said, “ I believe that Bewi is deep, but we must bear in mind that he is heavily handicapped, inasmuch as he has to speak the truth ” This ends. Waikato, August 24.