The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 16 July 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1880.

Sir William Fox has at last given, evidence of possessing sufficient honesty to enable him to make a candid admission of previous error. Nay, the old gentleman's sudden metamorphose has gone even further than that. He has actually arrived at that • stage of conversion from his previous evil ways necessary to enable him to acknowledge that the' late Sir Donald M'Lean's administration of native affairs'was not what it ought to have been or what it has hitherto been represented to have been by Sir William himself. We are led to the conclusion that there is still hope for Sir William Fox by a perusal of the report of the Royal Commission on Native Affairs. This report bears the signatures of Sir "William. Fox and Sir F. Dillon Bell, and. contains the following truthful sentence" The further we went into the task which yonr Excellency, had commanded; us to undertake the more clearly we sa.yr two things—first, that the disaffection of the natives on' the West Coast was but the natural outcome of a feeble and vacillating policy towards them during more ! than fiteen years; secondly, that the trouble which during that period beset every successive Government might have been mastered any time if only scrupulous good faith had waited on steadfast counsels and consistent purpose." What an admission is this from two men who, during the period mentioned of fifteen years, took a prominent part in the affairs of the Colony ! What a marve' lous admission tobemadeby Sir W. Fox,.themanwho drove Sir E. W. Stafford from power when that gentleman was pursuing a vigorous policy towards the natives, which promised speedily and effectually to end the native difficulty, and that too an terms vastly in our favor. "What an admission from the colleague and the patron of Sir Donald Mljean, who, according to the oft-repeated declaration of Sir William himself, i was the only man in the Colony that understood the proper mode of dealing with the natives. '? Lcave it my honorable-friend and colleague, Sir Donald M'Lean, "said the' old gantleinan ; " be will soon Eettlfi thejiative difficulty." Well,_theJiative difficulty was left alnuMt .unquestioned"! in-, the hands ,of Sir Donald wifo,tj^freetjie grfp&'tir- to ot », 84 i{ md .

blankets, and how did he settle the trouble ? Let us see what' William Fox anH, Sir^r&^" N Dil^\BeU ? ' have to say uopn tljC {After alluding to the diverse manner iin which Sir Donald M'Lean treated rebels,, the Commissioners prpceect-:.^-"We say at#oaCe j that the right policy would have been-'to treat Tito Kowaru and Taurua both alike, j They were both representatives of the in--Burgents-»of~ been; allowed to return to tfyeii; respective districts on precisely the same conditions, the fEar they were to: fettle' Onvrteery.es as -ignjed to -them by -the—Government. This—was-the-policy laid cown for t!;e Pakckohi,j and should have been the same for the Ngatiruanui. Nor are we here to refuse, as members of the Ministry of that day,j our own share of the blame. Have we not allowed a difficulty to grow up by small degrees, which has since become the uir-' welcome inheritance of every Government V' Of course they have left the unwelcome inheritance of a native difficulty to other Governments, and of a debt to the country. But, again,- what an admission ! We are not taken so much by surprise in the ease of Sir F. Dillon Bell; but that Sir William Fox should admit that he himself could possibly have been guilty of even an omission to perform his duty is really too much; of a surprise. Then, again, Sir William|s reformation is so sudden that really we scarcely know how to find words capable of expressing our wonderment, gratification; and thanksgiving that so marvellous a change should have been wrought in the behaviour and character of the old gentleman. Verily the Millenium is near at hand