The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 433, 7 June 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1879.

Native affairs are every day assuming a more formidable aspect, and at any moment we might expect to hear of a decided declaration of war on the part of the Maoris. Matters at Opunake are as serious as they could possibly be, and the following telegram, received yesterday from reliable authority, shows that a strong force is at once required there:—“ Opnnake, Gth June, Tlie Maoris have already ploughed up Mr Bayly’s mill paddock, and are now fencing it. They threaten to plough Bartlett’s and Breach’s paddocks, and then to take possession of the flour mill; also to plough round the A.C. Camp. If these lawless wretches are allowed to do as they please, what protection have the settlors here ?” It is now some months since the surveyors vycic turned off the Waimate Plains, and yet the are not in a much better position now to detenu Hie country than they were at that time. Very little has been done towards making preparation for this difficulty. “ Oh, to-morrow will do,” Sir George would say ; but, unfortunately for the country, to-morrow has only just arrived. We learn by telegram that Government are about to wake up, and that a large force of A.C.’s and Ngatiporous will be placed in the Taranaki district. Major Noake has also been instructed to organise Volunteer Corps in the different towns between Wanganui and New Plymouth. Why could not this have been done before, the aspect of affairs from the turning off of the surveyors warranted it. We believe there are plenty of good men in New Zealand Maori, if sufficient inducement is offered by Government, but men are beginning to enquire what will be the result before they are inclined to enlist. Hitherto New Zealand warfare has not been of a satisfactory nature to Europeans—hence the disinclination of settlers to enroll themselves to fight, when nothing is to be gained, and everything lost. Perhaps, all things considered, the present difficulty will be one of the greatest blessings ever New Zealand—the North Island in particular—experienced, for without donbt it will be a war of extirmination. The settlers have stood the patch-work system too long already, and justice demands that these bloodthirsty fanatics should be returned to the dnst. So long as such sinks of iniquity as Parihaka are allowed to remain undisturbed, so long will orders go forth that the settler must have his paddock ploughed up whether he will or no, and for other similar outrages. The time has come, in our minds, when New Zealand must strike for freedom, and this means the death-blow to the Maori race.