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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5763, 18 September 1879, Page 2

Mb. Saunders was a Mte noir of the Government during the whole of last session. Sir Wji. Fox was looked upon as the field-marshal of the Opposition forces ; Mr. Wakefield was leader of the Uhlans, and in the day of battle generally conspicuous in the van, but Mr. Saunders may be said to have taken command of the heavy artillery. His criticisms wero less easy to reply to and more difficult of evasion than any other man’s, because he adopted a sober matter of fact style, without the spice of personality which has been sometimes objected to in the case of the two others whom we have named. He has been aptly styled the great gun of the Opposition, and he pounds away vigorously at the • transparent devices of the enemy. We were not surprised, therefore, a fortnight ago when we heard that Colonel Whitmore had telegraphed to Mr. Ingles, asking him to stand in opposition to Mr. Saunders, and said “ our party will support you as far as possible, and consider you have a claim upon it,- even if you are unsuccessful.” As it happens, Ingles has been unsuccessful, and now the question is, how will his “claim” be satisfied ? This is a most interesting point, and has already excited some interest elsewhere. Election expenses is the first idea that strikes many persons as the most suitable recognition of the claim. Others think that a <f J.P.ship” is all he is likely to get. Again, it has been suggested that a Government billet, a land tax valuatorship, a commissionership of annuities or of railways, or oven an emigration agentship might meet the ease. Mr. Ingles has now established his “claim” on the party, and we hope sincerely that it will not prove to be a “ duffer ” when he “pans out.’’ As the original telegram has been made public it might be worth Mr. Ingles’ while to publish any further correspondence which may take place on the subject. The public would be most grateful to him. If another general election should shortly take place, as many persons predict, it would be very encouraging to future Greyita candidates to know how a former claim by an unsuccessful candidate had been dealt with. The system inaugurated by Colonel Whitmore is a new one, and a well authenticated precedent would be invaluable to impecunious candidates who may aspire to Parliamentary honors, but who without a reasonable prospect of outside support could hardly afford to risk the coat of contesting an election unless they had a very good chance of success. It Mr. Ingles is a wise man he will not be content with such a paltry office as any of those to which we have alluded. If his vote was worth securing in the Lower House it would probably he equally valuable in the Upper. If he should claim the right to be made an “ honorable “ for life ” Sir G. Grey will no doubt be most happy to oblige him. As a Legislative Councillor he would have every opportunity of assisting in building up a nation of heroes such as Sir G. Gncy hopes for, in which Utopia every man -shall possess his own cabbage-garden, and shall also have the proud privilege of planting that plebeian but esculent vegetable with his own hands. Since the present Ministry came into office a staunch Government partisan requires but the smallest modicum of legislative ability in order to bo amply qualified for a seat in that august Council.

Ix another column an important telegram from Grahamstown appears, from which we loam that the Ohinemuri assassins have determined to brave the Maori and the European authority. We have throughout predicted that they would not give themselves up, or consent to be given up to be tried under European law. They have been taught to despise our authority by the present Government, and they have proved apt pupils. The chiefs who tried them acquitted them ot all wrong doing. Shooting surveyors in cold blood is, according to their ideas, justifiable homicide, and, no doubt, like Te Whiti, both the accused and the judges think it is rather a meritorious action than otherwise. We regret sincerely that any such difficulty should have arisen. We yield to none in our earnest desire for peace with the natives, so long as honor is not sacriried. Unfortunately the honor of the colony is not safe in the hands of the present Ministry, and the history of their boasted native policy proves beyond doubt that the Ministry does not deserve the confidence

of the public. A- white man may sufter loss of life, property, and prestige at the hands of the Maoris, without any steps being taken to avenge him, or to reinstate him in his rights. A rebel chief is first offered a legal defence of his claims free of all expense, and scorns the proffered favor ; but after he has, through his illegal action, destroyed the prosperity of a vast tract of country by a deliberate course of destructive trespass, his servants are arrested and treated like gentlemen, and he himself is allowed to go free. It is now B»id that the law which he set aside and discarded will be at last put in force in his favor. If white men were allowed the same license as the Maoris New Zealand would soon become a very Pandemonium. Since the present Government came into office a Maori in the disturbed districts may trespass, steal, wreck trains, turn off surveyors, insult Ministers of the Crown, and murder surveyors or their men, without running the least risk of being punished. The Ngatihakos have been the first to take full advantage of the wonderful privileges extended to them. This is the return which the country gets for the £20,000 which Mr. Sheehan admits he has overexpended in the Native Department.