The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1870.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 422, 3 May 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1870.

Numerous reports have been in circulation of late as to the manner in which £e Whiti intends settling the dispute now pending between himself and Government, re the Waimate Plains, and some individuals have gone so far as to assert that settlers around Hawera have actually been ordered off their farms. The days of prophesying are supposed to have long passed away, so far as civilised races are concerned, yet here we find men givng out as truth that which was certainly never told them by the Maoris, and we must therefore conclude that a race ot modern prophets has sprung up amongst us. Those foretellers have an object in view, without the slightest doubt, and what is it? They wish to work settlers up to such a pitch, that farms will be sacrificed at any price, and these would-be warners will gloat over the victory they have achieved; for they will not hesitate to purchase whore it is considered unsafe for others to dwell. Such men as the above are always hovering round to plunder the unfortunate. On the other hand, settlers should not be deaf to warnings when received from reliable authority, as it is a well-known fact that before any acts of violence have been committed by Maoris, timely notice has invariably preceded it—not by an armed party of natives, but generally by a single individual. Not long since it was currently reported that the settlers and Constabulary had been ordered to leave Opnnako, which statement Government placed no reliance on, because “ a boastful swaggering Maori name Narama was in Opuhake, and asked what those Europeans were doing there, and why they did not clear out, but that in doing so, he represented no one but himself.” Governments are too fond of disregarding statements that arc likely to involve them in trouble; but instances of the evil result of this course are too fresh on our minds to allow of these being passed over lightly. Take the Wairaii and Ahn Ahu massacres in Taranaki, for example. Had the warnings given in both these cases been heeded by those in authority, many valuable lives would have been saved. We do not wish to make things worse than they are, but we think that warning received from even a “ boastful swaggering Maori” should not bo treated too lightly.