WAIMATE PLAINS DIFFICULTY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5638, 25 April 1879, Page 6

WAIMATE PLAINS DIFFICULTY.

(from a coeeespondent.) Patea, April 5.

Be telegrams from Opunake and New Plymouth as to Messrs. Blake and Mackay’s doings, those who know the former, and who claim to be of the Parihaka people, know also the large private interest he has in Parihaka land. The withdrawal of the Waimate Plains from sale is looked upon as a first instalment of the price which the colony will have to pay for the mission on which Messrs. Blake and Mackay have been sent. The reconsideration of the confiscation question to him will practically mean the total exclusion of Europeans from the Waimate Plains, and the handing over to himself and Te Whiti an immense area, probably the whole, of the Parihaka country. That secured to them, a step beyond those boundaries will be made, and land claims, one after another, Major Brown has successfully disposed of will be reopened. Messrs. Blake and Mackay have practically superseded Major Brewn, to whom Mr, Sheehan, in the presence of the Patea County Council, gave carte hlanche to act as he thought proper, and at the same time promised the full support of the Government while Land Commissioner Williams was going from settlement to settlement with the Cto-

vernmsnt ’ultimatum—that if Major Brown could not settle the plains difficulty Colonel Whitmore, with armed forces, would. Messrs. Blake and Mackay, authorised from the same source, were working in an opposite direction. This double dealing, and the withdrawal from sale of the Waimate Plains, has completely shaken all faith in Mr. Sheehan, and the worst results are now anticipated.

(PER PBE33 AGENCT.) Hawera, March 28.

All the Waimate Plains surveyors have been sent up the mountain road to survey some confiscated land in the Chester line, about which there is no dispute. Hawera, March 29.

News has been received here that the bulk of the natives have retired from the plains land to the bush, which is looked upon as a sign of their intention to fortify themselves. The well-known chief Tauroa, who was forced into fighting at the last war by Titokowaru, is in trouble at the present state of affairs, and is anxious to come with his people to reside at Carlyle, offering to stand on the defensive with the Europeans if required. He positively refuses to join Te Whiti or go to Parihaka, saying he has already suffered enough by war. The feeling of the settlers here is that the Government should take a decided stand. Fighting is by no means desired, but there is a strong feeling that the plains should be held even at the cost of a collision. The settlers show a readiness to do their part, and approve of the firm attitude which the Government has so far showed. If men are sent, as promised, in fair numbers, such confidence will be felt in the combined strength of the settlers of the district and the constabulary that it is believed the Maoris will consider before taking any further action. The announcement that the Government are determined to organise a force of militia settlers to occupy sections on the plains is hailed with satisfaction, the time for temporising being considered to be past. What is strongly desired is that the Mountain-road from New Plymouth to Hawera should be occupied by armed men, to isolate the plain natives from those inland, and as protection to the contract parties now forming the road. The settlers are ready to stand on the defensive if they are furnished with arras, and redoubts built at all the eentres of population and on the plains. If vigorous measures are not promptly taken, the natives will not stop at the plains, but will demand the whole of the land down to the confiscated line. It is believed all the inland pas are well supplied with arms, about which the natives bent on fighting boast. The settlers desire to be placed on a similar footing. The determination to sell the plains land, as advertised by Government, is highly approved. Hawera, March 31.

James Mackay arrived here as Government agent to settle the Ngatiranui difficulty. It is stated that in the portion of land surveyed on the plains the native reserves were ignored altogether, and some people are of opinion that this had something to do with the bother which has arisen.

Patea, March 29,

Mr. Williams went across the river to-day, carrying, as he says, the Government ultimatum, which is stated to be the effect that if surveyors are again removed from the plains Whitmore and the East Coast natives are to be sent up here; but the people who have heard the news are somewhat incredulous about it. If Mr. Sheehan comes up speedily, and has a talk with the chiefs, the general opinion of those best informed is that the peace and credit of the colony can be preserved ; but they insist that they should be heard on this confiscation question, which they have not been as yet. Patea, April 1.

A well-informed and trustworthy resident in the Patea District telegraphs the following as the prevalent opinions in that part of the country : A storm is brewing on this coast through the inaction and apparent indifference of the Government in reference to turning the surveyors off the Waimate Plains. Moderate confidence is felt in the Government as a whole, but not so much in Sir George Grey who is rather distrusted. An impression obtains that he is tying the Native Minister’s hands.

Captain Blake, a half-easte and pakeha Maori, who has a large land interest at Parihaka, is in the district acting in the Government interest. The rumor that Blake was to supersede Major Brown as Civil Commissioner at the close of the session created a feeling of alarm aud indignation. And his influence, it was believed, led to the Grey Government countermanding the order given by the Atkinson Government to start the survey of the plains. The evil of that injudicious act is still felt. .Blake is an old schoolmate of the Native Minister’s, and it is feared that Sheehan’s strong sympathy and disposition to stick to a friend will lead to disasters to the district through Blake's advice being followed and further temporising pursued, instead of preparations being made for the occupation of the plains by military settlers and other armed forces. Two hundred good men could be at once raised to occupy the plains as military settlers, on fifty-acre sections, or anything approaching to liberal conditions, in conjunction with an armed force. Delays are dangerous, and reports from the plains state that the fightably disposed natives are firm and confident, though Government may hesitate to strike a blow or move the natives to action. It is generally thought that there should be no hesitation about starting working parties to complete railway and road communication at the back of the Mountainroad, without which successful military movements during winter will be next to impossible, and outsettlers will be easily sacrificed to marauding parties of natives. The settlers seem unanimous as to the necessity for at once and for ever putting an end to the bounce of. the natives by a determined front, to be followed by vigorous action. If the natives should force it by not assuming a more reasonable attitude, it is thought to be useless to sell the plains unless it be in conjunction with military occupation. Blake in this district, as a Government agent, is considered as an omen of evil. He aud all such like pakeha Maoris should be made to stand aside in the present difficulty, and if Sheehan and the Government persist in temporising and acting on the advice of men whose interests are wholly or in most part Maori, disasters will follow, aud Government, the district, and the whole colony, will suffer. Patea, April 4,

There was a great meeting of natives at Omutarangi on Tuesday and Wednesday, four miles from Oeo, to tangi over a chief of note just dead, and who fought against the Europeans during the war. He was an earnest disciple of Te Whiti, and on that account a large number of Parihaka natives attended. There were also a number of Titokowaru’s people and influential chiefs, some supporters and some opponents of the Government. The tangi soon drifted into a political meeting, and speeches were made for and against the Government. Katene, who aided Major Browne to start the survey, spoke most decisively against the action of Te Whiti in causing the removal of the surveyors, and ridiculed Te Whiti, saying that instead of his doing the work of a god he was only doing the work of a man. If Te Whiti had the great power he assumed-why not use it, that men might be convinced of it by sending all the Europeans to England, and returning New Zealand to the Maoris. Katene said he would bring the surveyors back again on the plains and protect them. The speech was received in silence, except by a few running comments at his daring outspokenness. Te Kohu and Ngatura also expressed themselves favorable to the return of the surveyors, saying they had trouble enough already. : Honi Pihana, who lately lost a child and had not mixed much with the natives, stated that though he had been otherwise engaged, he had been informed of what had been going on, and should support the Government. Honi Pihana was interrupted and told that the Government had taken care of him by giving him land at Tongahoi and Oeo ; therefore he should not speak. Tatihi then spoke to Titokowaru, reminding him how he had become famous by fighting on the native side at Te Nguteoteraanu, and that he could still further distinguish himself and get honor if he would forsake the Government altogether. Titoeowaed seemed to lean towards the Government, and said he had finished his work at Te Nguteotemanu. Captain Blake is reported to be endeavoring to ingratiate himself with the natives by throwing discredit on men who so far have been actively engaged on the Government side in connection with the survey, and at Katita, when talking to natives, he received an unexpected rebuff, an uncomplimentary reference being made to bis part of the transaction with some of the natives.

Katene, at the meeting, spoke strongly against interference with the natives by Europeans, and said that there would be no trouble unless it was made by sending white men across the river to talk with the natives, as some had been doing lately. Patea, April 16.

- The chief Taurea, who lives with his people about three miles up the Patea Elver, haying

heard that the Wairnate Plains land has been withdrawn from sale with the object of its being returned to Titokowaru and other prominent natives, for several days past has been talking quite freely of claiming Patea it Titokowaru gets the Plains. Tauroa says he himself was compelled by Titokowaru to fight or be killed, the only alternative left him during the late war. He is much excited at the report, but is not altogether displeased, because he considers if the Plains natives, who started and forced the fighting, are now entitled to such large compensation in land, that his own claim to Patea and land formerly held by him, but which has been confiscated and sold to Europeans, will be undisputed. He expresses his determination to use every endeavor to secure its return to the vouug men of the tribe. His land has been taken, and he has had to suffer imprisonment at Dunedin with his people. Titokowaru has always been free, and is now being better treated than himself, who has suffered so much by the war. Opdxake, March 31.

There is little apprehension here of a native outbreak, and this place may be called the frontier. James Mackay and Captain Blake went to see Titokowaru to-day, but as there was a tangi over a deceased chief, the conference is probably postponed. The contingent of armed constabulary sent per steamer Patea is still at Patea, and will possibly remain there until some other steamer brings them on here. The natives at Parihaka say there is no contemplation of bloodshed. Opdnake, April 1.

Mr. Mackay and Captain Blake left here for Parihaka to-day, with the object of talking over the difficulty with Te Whiti, as they yesterday did with Titokowaru with good effect. The question of reserves, which has hitherto been neglected, appears to be the very heart of the question at issue. This place is absolutely defenceless. There are nine men—a sergeant, a captain, and a major—here, but for all practical purposes it is felt they might as well be none. The reinforcements are still at Patea. All the Maoris I met ask me how many men Government intend sending here. The Whitmore and Ngatiporou story has travelled along the coast. A new camp is being formed at the Bay, and the head quarters of the A. 0. are to be shifted there from the position now occupied between the township and Parihaka. There is, however, more alarm felt South from the few straggling copies of Southern papers that come here than is felt here, where, if an outbreak occurred, evil results would at once be felt.

Oponake, April 2,

The tangi over Tu Hota at Omatarangi is over. It was partly political as well as a mortuary gathering. Maokay’s proposals and suggestions were received and commented on. Tu Hota was being buried while the telegram was being written. The situation is unchanged. Mackay is still at Parihaka, and no news from him has been received. Meanwhile people here go on with their ordinary avocations as usual, as if no Waimate difficulty existed. The Maoris come to Bartlett’s to drink and chaff as of yore. The carters and travellers go along the beach, and no excitement is manifested among the few and scattered residents, save as to when the detachment of Armed Constabulary will arrive, and where they will be located. Having lived for years under the edge of the Maori tomahawk, they are thinking whether the reinforcement is not a farce and a mistake, ■and pretty generally agree that they would have been just as sale without the Armed Constabulary. Every Maori t meet deprecates the idea of war as strongly as the whites, and their only dread seems to be such a contingency. Their large and prosperous special settlement at Parihaka they know would be endangered at least, and their extensive cultivation certainly destroyed. They also fear further confiscations, and are really anxious that the difficulty should be—as they say it ought—met and overcome by diplomacy, and not by force, if the white man would for once be honest. The Maori side of the question is this : McLean promised them large reserves on the plains, and a monetary acreage compensation for what he sequestrated and sold. These promises, they maintain, have been ignored or overlooked. They regard all Governments as continuous, and not as individuals, and think that the honor and promises of the past should not be broken or set aside by the present Government. They say that 16,000 acres of the finest land on the plains have been surveyed and laid out without the reservation of a single acre for themselves. They point to the advertisement of its sale as the deliberate sanction of the Government to ignore McLean’s promises, and rob them absolutely of their inheritance. They have European and native witnesses who can testify to the truth of their statements, and as to what McLean really did promise. Hence they are pouri (dark), protesting, and stubborn, several saying “We may as well be dead as to have no land on which to live.” The white people in the district, or the bulk of them, maintain that the cutting up of the cream of the plains without any reserves being made, promised, or talked over, and advertised for sale, arose from the fact that 25 per cent, of the produce of the sale goes to the Taranaki Harbor Board. This they state is the reason why all that could be got has been sought to be obtained ere the Assembly could interfere to prevent such an act of local spoliation. They also assert that Brown and Williams have either ignorantly or mischievously deceived the Government and Native Minister as to the state of the Maori mind, and also have treated the dispossessed natives with ignorant contempt, and in so doing have imperilled the peace of the colony. There is another aspect of this question to which I have not hitherto referred. It is this : According to Maori custom and habit of thought they consider our conquest of their lands was not complete. They say “ You took the land, but failed to keep it; you allowed us to return and settle on it; have we now to contest your occupancy}” 8 p.m. I have just received the following from Parihaka, dated 2 p.m., April 2 ;—“ Te Whiti and all the natives here received us very well. We are having a quiet discussion of the question. So far us conclusion has been arrived at. We go on with the korero after dinner. I shall remain here to-night, and probably tomorrow.—James Maokat.” Opcnake, April 3. I think the influence and tact of Mackay have enabled him to settle the difficulty, but I am not quite certain, as Mackay has gone to New Plymouth. One thing however is certain: all the people on the plains and all who reside at Parihaka assert that they will not fight any more under any provocation whatever; therefore all fear of actual war is over so far as this place is concerned. Opdnake, April 5.

AU fear of an outbieak is now at an end. Although the natives are in a keen state of excitement owing to their dread of being deprived of all of the confiscated land, they are still very outspoken, and decided in asserting that they will insist upon the full performance of the promises made to them on several occasions by the late Sir Donald McLean. The exact nature of these promises, the fulfilment of which the natives stickle for so much, are what Mackay went to New Plymouth to make inquiries about, and ascertain all particulars possible. It is upon this the whole question will turn, and any arrangement with the natives will depend. Nothing further can be done until the exact nature of McLean’s promises are ascertained and made known to the natives. Opdnake, April 6. The Hinemoa called in passing to New Plymouth yesterday, and returned this morning. She was unable to land her passengers owing to the remains of the late south-west gale. She comes here to-morrow morning. Captain Fairchild improved this morning’s opportunity by taking soundings while the steamer was in proximity to the reef, so as to enable the Government to form an estimate as to the cost of making a breakwater here. The twenty-five pounds a year, or whatever it was that was taken off the Estimates for the services of a harbor-master here had better be replaced. There is a signal staff, but no man to signal or give Instructions or indications as to landing. With a force here of eighty men such niggardliness should not be tolerated. There is nothing new or strange in the political aspect of affairs, but as I see the Southern papers are all astray about this Waimate comedy, from the good specimens which reach here, X will relate one or two incidents in the rehearsal of the farce which may have political significance. When Titokowaru heard that Hiroki had been shot, his rejoinder was, “There is only one dog the less.” When the proposition to fight the pakeha was resumed, Hone Pihana reiterated his caution to Warn, “ You know I told you years ago that it I could not beat the pakeha you could not, and you found out the truth of the saying to your own and my cost. Don’t be a fool, Warn.” When the evil designed and evilly-promul-gated story about Whitmore and theNgatiporou went to Parihaka, the response was, “ Let them all come ; we can give them all some-

thing to eat; ws shall bo very glad to see them. We have no intention of fighting or spilling blood ; no more war for us until the pakeba commences to kill our women and children to obtain possession of our lands, and then, why we will fight in self defence.” Mackay has obtained golden opinions from all the native people in the district. They halt and pause over his name to do him honor. The Native Minister must have foreseen this when he sent him on his mediatory mission. They say Sheehan wanted to kill the Maoris because he wanted to kill their laud ; they use the same word—“ patu”—for both things. Mackay, on the other hand, wants, they assert, to conserve the people, and preserve to them their inheritance. Thus are the actions of men viewed in a duplex light. I observe a good deal in some telegrams about Mr. Assis-tant-Commissioner Williams and the infl-mnee lie has over the Ngatiruanui. This day week, when Mackay was having a conversation with Titokowaru about the surveyors, the name of Williams cropped up, when the following caustic remark was made by Warn : “ I like the blacksmith very well [Williams, to his honor bo it said, is a blacksmith] very much indeed; ho is a very good man indeed. Mackay, yon look at me, Mackay, and you do not believe me, but I can assure you the blacksmith commissioner is an excellent man : he made me a plough nr two, and then a buggy, and ho did his work very well, and he would be in my opinion a good man still if the Government had kept him ploughing and buggy making.” I would not have related this anecdote had I not seen Southern telegrams full of Williams’s influence and Williams’s ability. These are positive statements, capable of proof or of refutation. Private advices from the Plains inform me that he is trying to frustrate Maokay’s mediation. The advices I send you by post, being absolutely almost shut out from all correspondence here. All that we can learn of Maori thought and intention is from Maori mind alone. Meantime Tnke and ids men are building a redoubt at the Bay, and to-morrow he will have some tdghty men under his control. That there is no serious fear of any outbreak in Wellington can he gathered from this source. There are forty-four men at AVaihi, eighty here, and five between Parihaka and New Plymouth. The settled district you will thus see has been left defenceless. As I told yon before no act of sanctioned outrage will be committed, unless we first break the peace, but some tutua, or some white larrikin may in a drunken or a wrathful moment commit a breach of the peace, which the people may deplore and their leaders condemn. I met a Maori here to-day who asked me what all the men wanted to be sent here for ? I told him to make a white Parihaka of Opunake. I said “ You have plenty of men and guus and ammunition at Parihaka ; have you not, to defend yourselves?” “Yes,” he replied. “Then why should we not have the same ?” Of course there was no response. Parihaka at any time, without a call or waiting for one, could send down 400 well armed and well trained fighting men on the plains. The Ngatiruanui could find almost a similar amount, but they all insist on p eace —their leaders, I mean. Their turning off the surveyors was a protest against the breach of faith of the present Government. McLean’s promises they maintain must be carried out if they appeal to the highest court in the realm on the subject, and test the whole question of the legality of confiscation in the Privy Council. Meanwhile Maokay’s presence is like oil on the troubled waters. The Native Minister comes here when Mackay returns.

Opdnake, April 8. The Hinemoa landed thirty-seven Armed Constabulary and a quantity of stores here this morning. The meeting to be held at Parlhaka on tho 18th instant is expected to finally settle the Waimate question. It is rumored that fifty more men are to be sent up here. At present everything is peaceful and undisturbed in this neighborhood

New Plymouth, April 3,

Mr. James Mackay and Captain Blake came here endeavoring to obtain information regarding previous proceedings connected with the confiscated land. They were both received in a very friendly way by Te Whiti, but the satisfactory settlement of the matter proves to be a somewhat difficult task, owing to complications which have grown up during a series of years. New Plymouth, April 10.

Now that the war fever has reached the pockets of the New Plymouth brethren by the depreciation of property, its temperature has been reduced and the people here see that they have much to lose and nothing to gain by an outbreak. The natives on the other hand know they have all to lose and nothing to gain. Coming along the beach yesterday I met a lot of Te Whiti’s men, with whom I had converse, and the whole burden of their talk was, when will Sheehan come back to settle this dark business. Meanwhile Mackay is interviewing the people, and endeavoring to make them amenable to reason, but wherever he goes and touches on Government business, he is told to hold his tongue, as the Government is a liar in not fulfilling the promises made to the natives by Sir D. McLean. This is all their justification for interference, their pretexts for eventual bloodshed, if in their eyes it becomes necessary—the reasons for a general rising. Their reason, if they are driven in a corner for any outrage they may commit, is the neglect of the present Government to fulfil the promises made by McLean, and all through the meeting to-day Te Motu told Mackay and his people that all the trouble arose from Brown’s ignorant or malevolent neglect of McLean's promises. Meanwhile Mackay is stealing all the huia feathers from Sheehan’s cap, despite his intelligence. There has been no mess in New Zealand like this West Coast mess. There has been to the natives no individualisation of title, and no security of tenure yet granted. The natives consider such a state of neglect only a prelude in their minds to complete annexation, and you cannot think how deep is the distrust the natives entertain towards the pakeha, and when expostulated with on the subject they only say that the past has taught them the value of British promises. A very little thing would make the natives fight, and if they are compelled to do so we may fear troublous times. I heard from the plains yesterday before I left that Mr. Commissioner Williams had been threatening the Ngatiruanui with the Ngapuhi, the Ngatiporu having refused to come. You cannot conceive the irritation such ignorant and mischievous canards have on the nati\ e mind. They are perpetually asking—is it true ? can the Government be prepared to so ignore its past pledges or be so dead to all sentiments of honor, to all feelings of justice, in its dealing with us 2 There is no doubt but what Brown and Williams, as X before said, have wilfully and deliberately deceived the Native Minister and the Government. I remember five years ago, when I was here, that the natives told me that certain promises had been made to them, the exact nature of which I forget ; but these promises form, I think, the only ground of complaint. All I can say is that while Mackay and Blake have the control of affairs on the Coast I think all difficulties are likely to be well handled.