THE Otago Daily Times. "Imveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 257, 16 October 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Imveniam viam aut faciam." DUNEDIN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16.

Tub New Zealand Native hag been made the subject of more theories than any aboriginal in the history of colonization. In fact he may at the present time be looked upon as a victim sacrificed to the speculative projects of others. Looked upon from the earliest days of the colony as an exceptional character, differing in every respect from other aborigines, he has been dealt with exceptionally. To the early Missionaries, the New Zealander was a very god amongst savages. His physical and mental organization was superior to thp.t of any other uncivilized race. The Ancient Briton was a fool to him, and Lord Macaulay but echoed the sentiments of their admirers, when he selected the New Zealanders as the type of that people whose civilization would be erected on the ruins, when England's greatness became a thing of the past.

.Enthusiasm in the cause of the Maories has at various times pervaded all classes. The Missionaries spread the infection to the temporal authorities; and statesmen in the English Parliament and the leading men in the colony vied with each other in providing for the welfare of the Natives. But the greatest difference existed between the various plans devised for this end. The Missionaries were fired with the ambition of training and developing the dormant powers of the Maories, and looked forward to constructing from them anation, unique in thehistoiyofthe world, and a.lasting monument to their own zeal and perseverance. To attain this they would exclude all and every influence but their own. They looked upon the Maories as their own property, and would not that their fair schemes should be thwarted by the introduction of European colonists. The theory was good, but, in common with- many others of equal promise, it failed in practice. However exceptional the Maories were, the missionaries could not ignore the fact that the theory would not hold good in respect to the Europeans. The spirit of enterprise and progress was as strong in the fir^t settlers that landed in iSi"ew Zealand as it was in the Pilgrim Fathers. So English colonization had fain to be looked upon as a necessary evil. But yet mean 3 might be taken to curb the action of this new element, .The scandals and horrors attending the formation of other colonies must be guarded against. The native occupants of the soil must be fenced and hedged in against the encroachments of civilization.

; The Imperial Government, when it saw that the time had arrived when law and order should be established, and that the authority of the Grown should step in, was actuated by a double motive. It had to look after the interests of English subjects; and to protect as well the interests of the' native inhabitants. With the Remembrance of the desolating effects which had attended the early colonisation of South America, ofMrica, of VanDieman's Land, and Australia, vividly impressed on the memory, it was decided that a new policy should be adop^ ted—a policy dictated by humanity. The causes which had led to former disasters should not exist in the case of New Zealand. The noble Maori should not be swept from the face of the earth as his brethren in North' America had been. His lands should not be filched from him—his life and property should alike be secured.

For tins end, the .power of governing the Natives, should not be trusted to the colonists* although as a class . they were perhaps equal in generous impulse to any in the world. They were hot a band of marauders, and assassins. The temptations to violence and outrage did not exist in New Zealand as in India or South America. The New Zea!aiider possessed neither gold or silver. 'Yet, English

statesmen recognising the temptations of power, decided,that in this case, that power should be withheld. The Crown, and the Crown alone should :deal with the Natives. The earlier settlers had swindled the Maories out of their land, they should, do so no longer. The advocates lor the handing over Native \ affairs to the colony, assume that the Imperial Government has failed in successfully governing the Natives, because that power should . always have been vested in the colonists. Mr Fitzgerald in his generous" but mistaken enthusiasm on the subject, would have been first in the list against the granting of such power to the colonists. He complains that it has been assumed from the first " that the moment *' the colonists gotpoAver they Avoiildinflict some " terrible injury on the natives." He admits that nothing whatever coidd ultimately " pre- " vent the natives being swept out of the path "of the English settlers, except the determined "■ resolution on the part of the settlers tliem- ' selves, to protect and preserve them." Can Mr Fitzgerald find anything in the history of the early colonisation of the Island to prove that' this determination existed? We think not; and so far the Crown was justified in preventing the consummation he predicts. However much the policy of the Crown may have failed in other respects, it has certainly succeeded in protecting the natives from the devastating effects of abused power. The Maori has not been swept from the path of the English settler, he has rather become a . formidable obstacle, and one not easily to be removed.

Admit that the colonists, might now be safely trusted with the power before refused them. The conditions of twenty years a<m are much changed. Law and order reign supreme in the European population. ° The native has learnt the proper estimate of his own power, and rather more. But inasmuch as then considerations for the native race caused the Imperial authorities to reserve to the Crown the power of dealing with the Maories. consideration for the European population causes the colonists to reject the responsibility now.