Politics up North.

Patea Mail, 19 October 1881, Page 3

Politics up North.

(f il 0 M OUR COR RESPONDENT.) Nonnanby, 17th October. We are now upon the eve of a general election, and it will, astonish no one versed in politics if lire several condidates—bent only upon their own return —should give promises which they have little or no intention of fulfilling, and should amuse their constituents by high and lofty tumbling in the air. But this system, (excuse the expression) will not wash. The electors of Normanby are not a whit behind their compeers in intelligence, and I will even venture to say that modest and unassuming as they are, it is doubtful if thej' do not excel some of our more ambitious neighbors in governmental knowledge and political sagacity. They have heard Mr Hutchison and noted the address of Major Atkinson. Between these two candidates there is decidedly here a division in the camp. Upon certain questions the Major now must utter no uncertain sound, or presume upon his former position and pre-eminence. It is no evidence of his sincerity at all that he says the native difficulty must be settled this summer. This summer ! Good gracious ! what does this mean ? Does it mean this year, or some other unknown year, or what ? Ah ! indeed ; but we are not deceived. We know the astute Major of old. He may not perhaps be particularly prone to issue declarations he means to act upon ; but as to giving promises which may signify anything, the Major, to use a vulgar expression, “ is all there.” But our eyes are open, and we are awakened to a sense of our true position. We mistrust electioneering gammon, and we will have none of these soft and summer assurances. Action—immediate action—is the word. The fulfilment of one point will be imperiously demanded of him, and that is, an assurance of the reversal of his native policy. On this point there must be no prevarication. Sound and solid, and deeply versed as he undoubtedly is in colonial finance and the leading questions of the day, on this subject, he may rest assured, the electors of Egmont, and of Normanby in particular, will not be hushed to mesmeric forgetfulness by any bewildering or shuffling illusions. If his native policy is not bold, broad, outspoken, and pronounced, not even the memory of his splendid career will save him from defeat. The Major must not place too much confidence on his past syllabus, his undoubted influence in the House, and the brilliancy of bis former political distinction. There are hundreds of instances in which one false step has precipitated the fall of the most illustrious statesmen of every age and country, for even he who sits upon the highest pinnacle of fame is not beyond the reach of her vicissitudes. Passing over the suppression of Tohu, the blasphemy of Te Whiti, and the audacity of both, Major Atkinson must never forget that ‘ the land possesses such a person as Hiroki. The memory of his being alive must be kept for ever and again before his eyes. No excuse for his further existence will pass muster at the present juncture; On this point sophistry will not blind, nor pretence mislead, us. The expediency of the past will no longer confuse us ; nor will the Major’s eloquence—however rounded or alluring—blind us for a momernt to the horrid reality. Hiroki lives and Te Whiti rules, and both may die without mercy or remorse. The one is a murderer—the other the protector of the miscellaneous scoundrelism of the West Coast. To us in the North the adoption of these views are the pass-words to all political support —the magic sesames which will cause the doors of elective chambers to swing upon their binges, and admit their aspirants to fame and preferment. Three years ago a murder accompanied by circumstances of barbarity, such only as a savage would conceive, was committed almost before our eyes. The officers sent after the murderer made a great parade, while passing through

Nonnanby, of an attempt to catch him, but in such a way as to leave the impression that they hoped they would not; and indeed X believe they troubled themselves very little about this. Be this as it may, he escaped to Parihaka, when, absurd as it may appear, he has ever since been marching about in the Constabulary uniform, as if in utter derision of the force which followed him. The story of Hiroki of course is notorious in New Zealand, and for three long years every house and hamlet in the islands has rung with the proclamation of his infamy. Now, will any outsider believe not only that this Hiroki is a Maori, but that a large force of armed Europeans in the pay of the country have been camped quite close to him all this time, and that not a single move has been made to arrest him. Indeed the officers must have concluded that they are there only to keep up the mere shows of men, and have been laying out their camp ground with ornamental trees, evidently imagining their present life is to last a long time, if not for ever. We hear, too, of periodical balls, and gambling and the like, and that these brave and active officers are holding high holiday, while close to their festivities the murderer of a European is strutting about in their own uniform. And at Parihaka this murderer is regarded as a hero, and it is even said that his long immunity from arrest has inspired him—as well it may—with the most profound contempt for the Government generally, and the highly trained Constabulary in particular. Had he been a white man, no amount of money however fabulous, or perseverance however prolonged, would have been spared to overtake and apprehend him. Under any other rule, he would long ago have been hunted off the face of the earth, and fifty Parihakas, packed and protected by painted warriors, would not have saved him from the leashes of the law. *

Almost the concluding words of the Premier’ last session to a native member, was tire declaration that if any disturbance occurred the Government would know how to deal with it. This was said with an air of conscious majesty, as though their past policy was evidence of the ability and energy brought to bear upon the direction indicated. Miser miserahile dictu !; better had the Premier observed a discreet silence, for instead of knowing how to deal with these refractory natives, we have the most overwhelming evidence that they know absolutely and positively nothing at all about it. Only last week Mr Whittaker, formerly of the firm of Whittaker Bros, Hawera, in going to Parihaka, was set upon by the natives. He was dragged from his horse and his life threatened, with many foul oaths against the hated white man—and even at the fencing the Maoris are as demonstrative and menacing now' as in the old days of cannibalism ; but more of this by and bye.

When Major Atkinson invited our suffrages, we had then moderately good roads, because the population was comparatively small, but as population has increased, these roads have gradually relapsed into a perfect quagmire, up to the axles of all ordinary vehicles. Has the Major ever lifted one stern remonstrance against this grievous and growing impediment to industrial traffic. Not one ; not a single syllable. We were promised large and generous consideration at the last election, but the fact now remains that, in wet weather, we are floundering along in a sea of slime, and no elevating voice is raised in the House, to lift us from the mire of our present degradation. We may well remonstrate in bitter terms against our matrimonial alliance, and with Celtic indignation exclaim, “Look at me now and the day you got me ; I had not a rag to my back, and now I am all rags.”

When we meet the Major again as we shortly will, two points must be insisted upon: the settlement of the native difficulty and the formation of our roads —the money spent upon a Constabulary which should now be needless, must henceforth be used for the construction of our highways, and for the present at least, we can dispense with the effeminate refinements of the ball room, and the employment of our troops in landscape gardening.