THE NATIVE MINISTER AND TE WHITI.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5638, 25 April 1879, Page 7

THE NATIVE MINISTER AND TE WHITI.

. (From the Titnaru Herald.) It would be impossible to depict two figures more unlike than Te Whiti, as described by Mr. Sheehan last year, and Te Whiti as described by Mr. Commissioner Mackay last week. The truth is that it was Mr. Sheehan, not Mr. Fox, who talked about what he did not understand. The Native Minister was, in fact, gulled by the antics of the wily Maori, as easily and as completely as if he had been a “new chum” from Europe, instead of having been born and bred among, Maoris. It has probably been observed that Mr. Sheehan has allowed anybody but himself to conduct the more recent communications with Te Whiti, and : that,' instead of going up to Parihaka, and putting his much vaunted personal influence to the crucial test of actual practice, he has remained in. the background ever since that lamentable occasion when he went uninvited to .Te Whiti’s meeting, and got snubbed and insulted for. his pains. We cannot help thinking he feels himself that.he is only an exploded cracker, instead of the great gun that he was formerly supposed to be. We never had much faith in Maori doctors. We always believed that the man with the longest purse and the least amount of scruple, was the most influential among the natives. But we confess we thought that if any man could claim to exercise real influence over them by his personal attributes, it was the present Native Minister. He has.lived among them, and studied their peculiarities, and managed their affairs, from his earliest youth. He speaks their language like one of themselves. He has travelled all. 1 over the North Island, and dwelt in Maori fashion in almost every Maori settlement of any importance. He has made his reputation as a Maori lawyer. Ho is, in short,' so thoroughly'Maori, that but for the’immutable laws of physiology, it would be a wonder that he has retained his white skin so long., He is moreover ah unusually observant man, with talents far above the ordinary, and has a, great deal of that particular force of character which might be t supposed to give him control over the mind of an uncultured but warm-blooded people. ; Without saying anything , 1 illnatured of , Mr. Sheehan, we may , add too; that for natural cunning he has not his superior in the country. It was reasonable, then, to believe that a combination of such qualities would make him really a power as compared with the common run of Native Office officials, in his special sphere. That he has turned out to be no power, and that his boasted influence has failed miserably as soon as any severe strain was put upoait, satisfies us, more than anything else could, that’ the Mumho Jumbo method of dealing with native affairs is as fallacious as it is impolitic and degrading. . _■