NORMANBY.

Patea Mail, 28 September 1881, Page 3

NORMANBY.

(from our own correspondent.) 26th September. The recent utterances of Tc Whiti and Tohu have had a disquieting effect here, and have absorbed something more than general interest. It is generally felt, however, that we are comparatively removed and safe from the more immediate consequences of a native disturbance. It is thought by some, that a little forbearance combined with firmness would avert the miserable contingency of a war ; but experience altogether disproves this. In any case, should a war unhappily be forced upon us, the Volunteers in Normanby would form a prompt and willing auxiliary to the A.C. Force. Their long training, and the pertinacity with which they have stuck together and to their diill, many of them having proven, on repeated trials, to be the very best shots, eminently qualifying them to take a front place in any coming struggle with the Maoris. Not a few of them were A.C.’s in the olden wars, and now wear medals as proof of their former conspicuous bravery. There has been a good deal of discussion as to the policy of Mr Bryce’s recent proposal to advance upon Parihaka and seize and imprison the two insurrectionary leaders who have so long imposed upon the infatuated natives, and depreciated all properties by their perpetually disturbing orations. That policy is undoubtedly a good one, and till it is put into force, there will be no peace upon a lasting basis, no end of periodical imprisonments and bloodshed, and the sheltering of criminals and murderers from legal retribution. There is now no doubt whatever that Te Wind really did endeavour to incite his semi-civilised following to actual bloodshed, and not to passive resistance as he has since been trying to to make it appear. After-reflections have induced him to modify and fine down his meaning, impelled no doubt by a wholesome dread of the consequences which his temerity would entail. His late retraction has probably been influenced more than any other by considerations for his more immediate safety, and tlie visitation upon himself of distasteful penalties. Some families here have been deterred for the present frc»m the intended occupation of their holdings in the bush, from the menacing and alarming native position* and, it will be a long time before the female portion of them, at anyrate, can be reassured. Actual hostilities would be infinitely preferable to the slow torture of suspense for ever kept alive by Te Whiti’s monthly deliverances and concealed threats. The Government alone have been mislead by his mysterious imagery and apparently meaningless figures. l No one else has been deceived : Undivided dominion—enormous sums in the form of black mail —or, if these are,, unattainable, bloodshed —are the true springs of bis seemingly unintelligable teachings. Better a thousand times burst up. the savage compact, and do it at once and quickly. If the Govern-, rneht so decide, the whole country will back them to a man ; money and muscle, self-denial and endurance, will be abundantly available to aid them in stamping out an oppression which, by repetition and continuity, has now become altogether insufferable. The discarded policy of Mr Bryce is really the correct one. All experiences go to show that the immediate arrest of Te Whiti and Tohu and the murderers they have screened in defiance of any law human or divine, are the only effectual methods by which Government can break up this disgraceful combination, and place its heel for ever on the hydra. Year after year we have been keeping up an expensive armament —arresting progress—lowering the value of property—and' holding thousands of industrious families in perpetual alarm—and for .what ? Why, for nothing more than-to humor and be derided by two of the greatest scoundrels jn the Southern Seas. Had they belonged to any other civilized society, they would, by one single act of firmness and promptitude, have long ago been dangling in the auv The suppression surely of two dangerous chiefs is preferable to the carnage of thousands of his followers, not to mention at all many of the brave pioneers who are pouring abroad

over this delightful laud, their civilization and science, and industrial pursuits. Confinement for life woo'd mean the disbanding ;of dmigdruus fanatics ; the suppression the hiding place of skulking assassins, and the uninterrupted prosperity of both races of the island. It is little more, than two years ago that the settlers themselves scornfully re fused, to tolerate the timid and degrading policy of the Government. Their mischief making supineness exhausted the patience of every one. Despisingthfeir how-not-to-dorit policy, these intrepid colonists took prompt and decisive measures to stop the ploughing. When the over-fed insolence of the Natives, at the instigation of Te Whiti, brought them to our very doors, they bundled them over the river neck and crop, with their bullocks and ploughing gear, and all their belongings ; and were prepared to proceed to the last extremity,, if necessary. But this is nothing compared to the war of extermination which would now ensue, with our enormously increased numbers, superior training and equipments, and the vast interest at stake. The whole country is animated with one stubborn determination to put an end for ever to this paralytic 'dallying and senseless trifling with the Maoris. Should one, shot be fired and one settler killed, Parihaka and its inmates would be utterly destroyed, and rebellion routed from its stronghold. The former mild measures of Sir George Grey, and tlie pampering of the Natives have had an effect precisely the reverse of that intended, and it is significant that the ex-Premier himself has beeh convinced of it. The wholesale bribery,of previous Governments has completely demoralized and corrupted the Native mind, and our liberality and leniency have been construed into fear, , Instead of the mighty bulwark .upon which our legislators have been relying for support and supremacy, they now find they have been leaning on a reed, '