THE NATIVE POLICY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5521, 6 December 1878, Page 2

THE NATIVE POLICY.

“ Honorable Legislative Councillors and “ gentlemen of the House of Eepresenta- “ tives, I congratulate you on the fact “ that peaceful relations have at last “ been established with the Waikato and “ Ngatiraaniapoto tribes. . . . . “ Papers on this subject will bo laid “ before you.” Thus spoke his Excellency the Governor on the opening of Parliament, on the 2Gth of July last. The policy of the Government and the personal influence of the Premier and the Native Minister were supposed to have, in a few short months, accomplished that which so many statesmen, in the course tf eighteen years, had in vain striven to bring about by the very opposite methods of fighting, and of flour and sugar. Representatives of both these forces have been happily combined in the Cabinet, and by the use of them the Premier might, not unreasonably, hope that his own mana would be rendered effective. I have said over and over again,” said the Hon. Mr. Sheehan, the Native Minister, in bis speech on the address, “that it would have “ been better tohavespentmillions in flour “ and sugar them to have gone to war “ with the natives.” In the debate on the address in the Legislative Council the Hon. Colonel Whitmore, Defence Minister, said, speaking of the existing happy conditionas theresult of theflour andsugar policy:—“l believe wo might have “ obtained it in three months at the out- “ side in a much lets expensive and much “ more honorable manner but fer the “ reversal of the policy of Mr. Stafford. “ The end of war should bo peace, and “ being at war then (in 1869), I believed “ the proper course was to conquer a “ peace, and not to lot things drict, and “ purchase the forbearance of the “ natives.” But the tongue was imagined to bo mightier than the sugar bag or rhe sword ; a few soft words with a sack of lollies at Hikurangi and some enigmatical talk at Waitara by Sir George Grey wore assumed “at last ” to have settled the native difficulty. “When “ I look at what is said in the speech,”—Mr. Sheehan modestly exclaimed, parodying the' ' words of Clive —“ as to what the Ministry had “ done in regard to native affairs during “ the recess, I am, like the Indian statos- “ man and soldier, surprised at my own “ moderation.” When the promised papers wore dragged out, towards the close of the session, the evidence which they afforded of what was done amounted to—nothing. They were, as we have said, a voluminous untruth.

Tlio touchstone of timo lias boon applied to all this vaporing, and its real character is disclosed. Peaceful relations with the native people are nearer to a rupture at this moment than they have boouforyoars past, and the dangorhasboeu brought about by Ministerial boastfulness and by the necessity which their bragging has imposed of showing something, even in the shape of fireworks to justify and sustain it. They are “»aoo to faco” at this moment with a voiy serious native difficulty arising out of the “success” of their dealing with the confiscated land in the Taranaki Country, and particularly with the Waimate Plains. If this difficulty bo dealt with in a cautious and statesmanlike fashion, as wo aro fain to hope it will bo, by the .Native Minister, the. danger may pass away, but the gingerbread glory of the personal influence must go with it. Wo think well enough of Mr. Sheehan to believe that, in the public interest, ho will bo ready to make that sacrifice if ho bo loft to himself in his dealing with Te Wnm in regard to the surrender of Hieoki and the sale of tho confiscated land. Mr. Sheehan

knows Te Whiii very well, and has described him as a prophet who pretends to be an emanation of tbo Divine Spirit. “I think,” said the Native Minister, “ that he and two others “of his tribe compose, in their own “ opinion, as near an approach as they “ can possibly get to the Holy Trinity.” A fanatic of tho same kind, Te TJa, was long tho mainstay, if ho wore not the cause, of tho disturbances at Taranaki in the early days of tho native war. There is some doubt as to tho actual circumstances of the murder of the campkeeper of tho Government survey party at Manraahaki, but there is none as to tho light in which the people about Parihaka, said to bo greatly increased in number, now regard Hiroki. Wo hoar he is a young fellow of very considerable personal influence, and that his cause is taken up as tho cause of the “ land.” An idea of the state of affairs may be got from a dialogue between Te Whiii and a friendly chief who had gone to negotiate about tho surrender of Hiroki, which has been reported to ns upon reliable authority ; “The trouble,” said Te Whiii, “is about “ tho confiscated 1 ud ; you give up that, “and I will give up Hiroki. Why do “ you ask for Hiroki when Whitbley’s . “ murderers, Sullivan’s murderers, and “Wxniata are at large?’ To this the emissary is said to have replied, “Why “ do you talk about the confiscated land 2 “You know that McLean was not killed “on that account, it was a private quarrel “of Hiroki’s, and not one in which tho “tribe were concerned.” To all this Te Whiii makes rejoinder by repeating what he said before, with greater positiveness. It is said that there is much excitement amongst the natives, that tho Parihaka people have been selling off their cattle and horses, and that there is a great demand for ammunition. That may possibly be owing to a belief that an attack was about to be made upon them by the Government; although official assurances to the contrary have been given, no reliance is placed now by them upon the truthfulness of the Ministerial words. Wo have abstained advisedly from commentary upon this business heretofore, but it is right now, wo think, that some at least of the facts should be known. A native disturbance, oven of a local character, would be a great misfortune for the Colony at this moment; the danger of it arises out of the ill-advised action of the Government, and is heightened, as wo have said, by the absurd bragging in which Ministers have indulged regarding tho success of their peculiar policy, and by the necessity which they ha ve thus foolishly imposed upon themselves of doing something striking to justify it. It may not be too late to cease to think of a party or personal triumph, and to consider only what the situation demands of them in the interest of the public. They found in operation on their accession to office a sound and sensible policy, a policywhich had been steadily carried put for seven years with tho most satisfactory results, notwithstanding their own incessant efforts, when in opposition, to traverse and disturb it. They have not improved upon . that policy, and they will do well to revert to it now at once, and toletit be seen that they have done so. In that way some atonement may be made for past folly ; but although a catastrophe may bo avoided, they cannot expect to recover tho confidence of tho native people which they have deservedly forfeited.