The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5457, 23 September 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1878.

“ Honorable Legislative Councillors and “ Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,” said her Majesty’s representative in his place on the opening of the session of the General Assembly, “I cun- “ gratulato you on the fact that peaceful “ relations have at last boon established “ with the Waikato and Ngatimaniapoto “ tribes. Complying with the pressing “ and frequently received invitations of “ the loading chiefs of those tribes the “ Premier and the Native Minister li visited thomonsevoraloccasions in their ** own districts, and met them also at “ Waitara. Papers on that subject will “BE LAID BEFORE YOU.” The session is now two months old, whore are the papers that his Excellency the Governor

promised 1 Not a line or a letter has been laid before the Parliament. Tho Premier has “orated,” the Native Minister has made a’ “stump speech,” dignitiedby the name Of a “statement,” in which ho appears to have bettered .the instructions, of his -chief in audacious assertions ; but where*: we ask'again, are the proofs, where are the “ papers V’ Thousands.of pounds have been spent, absolutely, .already. Promises, involving enormous tracts of tho public lands, — lands acquired by the expenditure of the “blood and treasure” of tho people,— and of a largo annual tribute, of money, have been made to buy native favor for Sir Geoege Grey ; but up to tho this hour the representatives of the people have not been taken into the confidence of the Government, nor has any word of tho nature and extent of the engagements entered into with Tawhiao and with REWibeenyet officially vouchsafed to tiie Parliament by tho Premier or by the Native Minister. Is this constitutional Government, or personal Government 1 Are the promises of the Governor, officially made and officially recorded, to have no more weight than the promises of individual Ministers daily made and daily —postponed. The Kino natives and Rewi declare that Ministers forced themselves upon them in Waikato, deluded by Major Te Wheoro’s promises of a restora tion of the confiscated lands; and Bewi persists in saying that it was not by his invitation that Sir George Grey went to Waitara. In the absence of the papers the assertions of one side may be balanced against the assertions of the other. The old virtue of truthfulness which once adorned the native character may have been lost or corrupted; but are Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan models of official veracity and of scrupulous adhesion _to facts ? - If they are not so, and we think that that will now be generally admitted, why are not tire proofs of their bold assertions produced, if dhey exist, and why are tho solemn promises of tho Queen’s representative not fulfilled 1 Where-are the “ papers 2”