THE WAIMATE DIFFICULTY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5642, 30 April 1879, Page 3

THE WAIMATE DIFFICULTY.

(From the Sydney Morning Herald.) As we glance over the leading columns of 1 tho New Zealand papers recently to hand, we seem to be carried back in thought about a dozen years or so, to the time when the; native question was par excellence the political question in that colony, when the fate of Ministries pnd the popularity of Governors depended explosively op the success of their native; policy, and when three-fourths of the debating in Parliament and of the discussion in the daily Press turned bn the relations between the European colonists and their aboriginal neighbors. For many years past, in the columns of the Press, financial, agrarian, educational, and other questions have* jostled the; native question out of the field. Now, however,; t)ie case is reversed, "and Maori troubles again ppem to qbsorb the exclusive attention! of' the public. ' T The circumstances which have led ,to this state of things are, briefly, somewhat jas follows ;—There is a large, block o£_ land situated on the west coast of the North Island known ns the Waimate Plains. It was confiscated at the, close of the Waikato war, but was only; formally taken possession of by the Government without actual- 'occupation. This being so, the former owners who had - heed temporarily driven off the land, after’a time came ■ back and established their homesteads and cultivations there. The block abuts 'on the sea; coast between .New Plymouth and Wanganui, and the coach, which runs from the one of these towns to the ether, passes daily along" the road which runs through the middle -of -it.Jt is pporjy Ipyel, fertile,-and well watered, and as cattle base been running over if nflw for twenty years past, a great partjof it is clothed with clover and rye grass. It is'said to be about 120,000 acres in extent this estimate "must" include more;' than the Waimate Plains proper—and ‘the 1 Lyttelton Time a estimates its-value at n-million sterling. To open up such a district to European ..industry and to .culture, would ,no doubt be an important achievement, for, any. Ministry,' and the members of the present Ministry, while in' "" opposition, made, nrgood deal ot capital out of 1 thp alleged djlatorln'ess of their predecessors in the matter, and- held out -hopes that their Hup of action in regard to" it would be a different one. With ’ the view accordingly of fulfilling these hopes, . they—recently, ordered a sur. vey of the land. - For a 'time things went pleasantly. - " Thejurvey proceeded' for some' mouths without actual; interruption. 'At last, however, the attitude of the natives became so menacing that it was- thought desirable that the Native Minister , should go down to the district and confer with‘them.L;Al meeting accordingly • took place - in' March last- at a locality' called'Parihaka, 'and thert !the" proceedings of thp IJjktljra Minister dop^t-appear 1 to have been(marked by: the that might have been ' expected from I hisl hitherto judicious and successful career,;..'Hei told the i natives that J£ the survpy, wisre stopped they -knew what-thsy- had-to- expect; viz., - armed interference,on the part' of the Government,' and he further irritated them by: iqafcing"a - demand- for--the surrender of a native alleged . to be .guilty of murder,..who. had takenrefugil' " ■-,' A ' v' i

in the district. This might be very' proper and very dignified if the Government were ■prepared to back up such threats and.such demands. As things have turned-out, however, the result has been to, place them in- a ridiculous and humiliating position. A few days after the Parihaka meeting a bo ly of young natives, at the instigation of r i’e Whiti, the all-powerful prophet in that part of the country, wont on to the ground and told the survey parties to move off. They had no alternative, of course, but to do so without resistance, and it* is pleasant to learn that the natives performed their part of the business with affability and politeness. The Government next made another false step. They authorised the New Plymouth Land Board' to advertise a large portion of the disputed block for sale, and this step they have likewise since had to retrace by the withdrawal of the Gazette notice containing the order. Another meeting between the Native Minister and the disaffected Maoris was to have been held about the 18th of this month. News as toitsresults will be awaited throughout New Zealand with intense interest.

To what particular individuals praise or blame in the-matter should Be dealt out it might bo difficult accurately to determine so much seems clear, however, that the adoption of cautious counsels in the end has been duo to Sir George Grey’s influence. Throughout bis career he has always been in favor of a conciliatory policy towards-the natives, and has more than once incurred much odium through his pursuit of it. In 1847, after the Wairau mas-acre, instead of confiscating the block then in dispute, he bought it, and thus for a few hundred pounds achieved what a vast expenditure of blood and treasure might for many years have failed to achieve. ! - It is plain that the true policy for New Zealand, in the present contingency, is one of masterly inactivity, and indeed it seems to be universally recognised to be so throughout the colouy, except, perhaps, in the'neighborhood! of the disputed block. A second Waikato war, now-a days, would indeed be hardly possible. The interior of the North Island is, thanks to many years of conciliatory policy, traversed by roads in all directions,' along which constabulary posts could i be stationed so as effectually to localise the disturbed area. At the period of former disturbances, though the island was nominally the property of her Majesty, practically it was only in certain scattered coast settlements that her authority was recognised. Now nearly all these settlements have inter-communica-tion and traffic by land. Without full knowledge of the circumstances of: the case, however, we might easily, .under-estimate the capacities of the natives for mischief. Where a settlement has a. large amount of open country about it, there is practically nothing to fear ; but when it is in the neighborhood of the impenetrable forest, there is much. It was owing to its neighborhood to the bush that New Plymouth , suffered so heavily as it did during the Taranaki war,' and from the same causes there is no saying That it would not suffer similarly again. A native war, moreover —even one of no very serious dimensions—would mean for New Zealand a suspension of immigration, practical exclusion from the London money market, and a serious fall in the. value of property-' On the other hand, if peace is maintained, time w,ill infallibly settle, pacifically, the questions that, if settled now, might! have to sbe settled by bloodshed. A light railway through the disturbed district, the construction of which is recommended, would soon set at rest all thoughts of hostilities.-