The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays) SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1878.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 348, 17 August 1878, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays) SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1878.

The questions lately put by the Hon Mr Fox to the Government in the Assembly respecting the Opnnake rescue, the murderer Wiuata and others, has been followed by articles in both the Opposition and Government organs. The JY. Z. Times, referring to the meeting the late Sir Donald Mu Lean had with Tawhiao, in the King country, and crediting him, on account of the firmness displayed, with having succeeded in making Tawhiao fuel that his expectations of getting back Waikato were hopeless, and stating the result to be a real advance towards the final solution of wbat little remained of the Native difficulty, goes ■ on to quote from a speech delivered by Sir George Grey on the G’th July, 1876, who, in the House of Representatives, savagely attacked the then Native Minister for the reason that “ at the time of this [ Waikato] meeting there were present in this chiefs company, and amongst his followers, persons who were known to be cold-blooded murderers.” Reference is then made to the changed front in the following words — u Bnt time brings its avenging. At last Sir George Grey holds the reins of power which he had by such nnscrnpn’ous means sought to obtain. A meeting with King Tawhiao, the ‘ native chief of some influence who bail assumed a royal title,’ becomes a political necessity and a possible sou re.' of political capital. After some manceuvering it is accomplished. And how and where ? With the very same surroundings and circumstances as furnished the foundation of the savage attack on Sir Donald. Te Kooti, of Poverty Bay massacre notoriety, was there ; Winiata was doubtless there ; Todd’s murderers wore no doubt there; and Pnrukntu, the reputed murderer of Sullivan, was there, and, we are told, took the leading part in a war-dance, carrying a bayonet fixed on a pole, right under the Premier’s nose. Does Sir George then tell Tawhiao that ‘ no Ambassador or Minister from a foreign county in which diabolical crimes bad been committed Avonld enter into treaty with those who screened the murderers ? Did be demand their surrender ? Did be do any one thing which lie denounced Sir Donald McLean for not doing ?' Did he not do every single thing be denounced him for doing ? VYe cannot conceive a more humiliating position than that of Sir George Grey among the King natives in 1878, seen by the light of bis utterances in 1876.” The lYew Zealander , in reference to the quos tions put by Mr Fox as to the non-cap-ture of Winiata, the Epson murderer, asks why the European—the Lake Oiiau murderer—had not been brought to justice, and why the mystery surrounding the slill later Woodville tragedy bad not been cleared up, concluding that the one request was about as reasonable as the other. In reference to Winiata, however, the New Zealander, says, “ This we know, that, as regards Winiata, the natives themselves look on him as a black sheep, and the time will come when he. w/!! hang as high as liZercopn did niter years of impunity, and after a Governor had even shaken hands with the criminal.” The following, from the same source, and which may be taken os an expression of the Ministerial mind, will be noted with considerable interest by Europeans on this coast, and will not be without its influence on the natives concerned. Truly, circumstances alter cases, and wo can only say as Dr Wallis remarked, when npraiding the Ministry on the Address in Reply, at the difference between the Grey party when in opposition, to the doings of-the same party as occupants of the Government Benches, “ the best I can say of you is that yon are six of one and half a dozen of the other.” There is little doubt bnt wbat the present Government arc, in native matters, acting pretty much as the Atkinson Government would have acted had they continued in office. Both parties were, and arc, earnestly desirous of establishing peaceful relations between the two races, and so ensuring the rapid settlement of the country by Europeans. So far as this coast goes, we hold that much more would have been accomplished by the Atkinson Government. We are, however, not disposed to quarrel with what is being done, nor with the following, which wo regard as an expression of the Ministerial mind—“ There is another phase of this Maori criminal question which had bettor be spoken of, and frankly put before the public. We have said that Winiata will, and must be taken, tried, and hanged, as his flagrant crime merits he should be. It is only a question of time. Justice is often slow, bnt in cases like his it is inexorable and sure. But with regard to the other offenders, they stand in a different position ; and perhaps it may be as well to express plainly what we believe are the sentiments of most men who have thought on the subject with care. We cannot rank Tito Kowaru or Te Kooti, or even Pnrukntu, with Winiata, who murdered his fellow-servant in his sleep, and stole his money. Those men were political offenders, and the murders they committed were accordnig to the style of warfare commonly carried on by their race, even, as in the Poverty Bay affair, going the length of a chivalrous warning sent to Major Biggs, which Te Kooti did, to remove his women and children, as he was coming to attack the settlement on a certain day. The warning was disregarded, tbe Maoris came, and the people were killed. What Ministers

may do, wo know not; but there can be little question that the establishment of a permanent peace should be signalised by the offer of pardon to all those chiefs and ordinary natives, whose offences are of a political character, differing wholly from that of Winiata. Such an amnesty would make men of influence among the natives, like Tito Kowaru and Te Kooti peaceable settlers, friends of the Europeans, and restore them to the position to which men who had fought for their native soil and their supposed rights, after the native fashion, and been guilty of no heinous crime like that of Winiata at Epsom, may now', after this lapse of years, be fairly entitled.”