The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1879.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 955, 10 May 1879, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1879.

The Watmate Plains diflictilty is on the shelf for the present, and Opposition Journals have changed the subject for others in connection with which their views are c«jna!ly jaumlice'd- It is a pity that their love of country is not sufficiently | strong to prevent them from writing I statements as untruthful as they are j damaging to the Colony f«>r no other j reason than to be etjual with their • opponents. Had it not been f»r their t unguarded behaviour at an early stage of the Waitnate Plains dispute, the whole affair would by thi3 time have been disposed of. Indeed, we are indebted to them and the more rabid of the party they ! represent for the occurrence of the trouble at all, as we shall have to thank them for the failure of the effort at present being put forth to come to some understanding with the natives in the King country, if that effort should prove unsuccessful. e are not of those that profess to believe that the present Ministry are " rich in good works," but their ideas in the main are sound, and when they are endeavoring trf" carry them out they should not be subjected to dirfe opposition, which, in injuring thenr also injures the country. Those in opposition to the ideas of the | present Ministry, and to the Colony s progresa—for, whatever may be their failings, ; the programme that the present Ministry would carry out, if tliey were permitted, is sound, and just what the country i-i pining for—in their anxiety E' l hnd liav.s in the present administration, run past actual defects and grasp at shadows. In their aevsiety to serve their party they ; to think that W,' lies are imnv !appropriate and potent v-eap'.r.s fo;- their use than little truths—in fact, that the lautuai shortcomings of the Ministry are too paltry to use as a means of convincing those multitudes that differ from them that Sir George Grey and his colleagues are shockingly bad. TEte part they played in thcWainiatePEains affair was as criminal as it was seditions. They it_ w«s_ vrho : incited the natives to rebellion m order f«> 'play a trurup «ar».l against thi'ir poi.tie;d enemies. But the sfanie is a dan::t'i">..=> one, arid, in the interest* of the C>»l >nv. .and, S3 a warning t«> others*, it_ is tu be ; fondly hoped that every etfort will be put ' forth to expose, and, if possible, punish i those who have fermented the present native disaffection, and by gross misrepresentations, fed the natives to believe that the present <j"V=.-rini!e:it were endeavoring to infringe their ; rights in order "'that they and their lands might once moiv be available for the exercise of almoat unparalleled cupidity. Not only within the boundaries- of the Colony, but outside the Colony—wherever we are anxious to establish a name forour-elves —the c.tiditi'on of the Colony and its people is misrepresented. Those at Home, tor instance, have little idea that the representations of opposition are dste rather to '» desire to injure political opponents than to a sense ot their creators »t_ the necessitv t'or making them in the interests of the Colony. To this day, the bull: of the population of Great Britain—the very people there that we want in this Colony—know little as. to our position as a CoWy and our condition as a people, except that we have borrowed in their markets ■about L 20,000,000. that the Maoris may cook and fiat us ali at any moment, and that, having already become semi-black, we are fast acquiring a liking for human flesh. This is one of the eKeets of newspaper writers, allowing part'y political feeling to override their duty to those by whom they live, and to the Colony. The: man that calls himself the first rector of the High School of Otago and the initiator of the eight hours' system ot labor in Dunt'dift, like nwuy other disappointed men. endeavored to injure tiie Colony by shameless misrepresentations in the newspapers of the Old Countrybut moat people could see that his _ writings were nothing more than the ravings of a disappointed man. Not so, however, with the statements circulated by the Opposition newspapers of the Colony. There are those within the Colony who scarcely know whether to believe such statements or not, and we cannot wonder that the majority of outsiders, unaccustomed to the unscrupulous journalism that, iives birth Co specious lies, should accept them as gospel. Having succeeded in 'stultifving the active and wise measures bv which the Native Minister had resolved to take possession of the Waimatc Plains, and creating discontent amongst natives that were previously inclined to be conciliatory, these newspaper firebrands turned their attention t»> the native meeting at Te Kuiti. by which it ; was hoped that a proper understanding would be arrived at. They said that Taw haio would not meet Sir George Grey land Mr. Sheehan. But in this, as usual, the wish was father to the thought, and they were wrong. Tawhaio ha 3 met the Premier and Native Minister, and, as might have been expected, made an ! harangue bristling with impudence. Opponents of the Government will make capital out of the circumstance that Tawhaio was atubbotnj and absented himself from the second day's meeting. But, stubborn as he was, he has apparently learned that it would be futile for him to i make demands for the restitution of conI fiscated land, as he did when Sir Donald 31" Lean had the honor of an interview ' with him: and, as to his being absent from the second day's meeting, our surprise is that he did not adopt the old plan of keeping out of the way altogether. But, whatever may foe the 44 dcfcermi'nation regarding the laws which he calls his, he has few sympathisers of any note. Rewi is a powerful chief, and we beliere that if the Maori who calls himself King i were to be withdrawn from the midst of his "army" to-day, the native difficulty would disappear; that is, if we could ! dispose of the newspapers to which we !in no small measure owe the present trouble. &