CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume 1, Issue 17, 11 January 1873, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

[Our columns are open for free discussion / but a we do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents.] ’ ’ TO THE EDITOR OP THE STANDARD. /•" COMPENSATION. “ Sin,—The original settlors of this district have. at length taken a step in the right direction,“by making claira against the Government for losses sustained, luring the native outbreaks here in. 1865-68. ’ i 0 I It is well known to many of us that Mr. Campbell, R.M. of Waiapu, sat here as'asdftJ.of special Commissioner, some five or six years ago, to hear and adjudicate on the claims hi question; but from that day to this no farther action has been taken by the Government in the matter; it has quietly, and without comment or explana- j tion on their part been consigned to that oblivion i which it i seem to have merited. . j Now’ is “this Well, is it just, that these claims should thus virtually be ignored, that the settlers, many of whom have been bereft of their dearest relatives, and who have had the fruits of; a lifetime of honest industry scattered fo the winds, should thus be left to begin the battle of; life afresh, without a helping hand from the Government, through the carrying out of whose f polity’, all this Category of ills had resulted—l say No! These men while praying that the Government take i,jito consideration the justice of their claim for compensation, do not so, in the spirit of those who seek for eleemo-* synary aid, but rather as payment of a debt which they coneeive to be due to them—a d£bt, •which Ist me say, ought, in the natural ordbr of things to have been liquidated very long since. - " ■ •’ 1 ■ b.lfosrfcr* retrospective glance. > No;d6ubt< the Government were justified in their first course of action here in 1865. The hideous Hau-Ssnfonaticiam had beenfotrodueed, direct from the sept of its birth, by theritianans Kereopa; a large section of the tribes of thio district had adopted it, and were-becoming loudly defiant, in fact, I may say, were in a state of Ove*)reWlion. Bad jgwMisrifoe Kfon permitted to become chronic, the issue woxad, no doubt, sooner or later, have be<m a general massacre of the European settlers. It was to strike d er root. The. torch of war was lighted, and the first sparks follonthe 'roof, trees of the devoted settlers, their flouriahint homeeSeadawere, in some eases, baVfcW tind destroyed, and in every instance riven, gm m pillage and rapine; their property becoming’th| prey, alike of friend and evefi the Europeans soldiers, in consideration of ito being war time, deemed theteadvbs, by right entitled

to anything they might choose to cany away from th* deserted homoa;. and ha fcrthe; !■»■ ponrn tribes, they appeared to regard “loodhg” aonatea »waa wuroathanuaeJma, ad i peal of yet less avail; Wy*Xe sufferers found out the force <n thfe adage, rnteaf fepes inter anta. The prajerty Snue pioneers of riviHratjcrn nf vras th|4

sacrificed to promote tWsenpral good ; and why, in the name of evervthi||Mpu-rixjg|pioidd not a sum be frcjlhe eW|M|9*Mmue i f the ‘■••lonjL coiiijx'neating thoae of thfe jyyar IHOB, broJHß9Etpetitfl|‘ of B*se disasifi*, in a Vet iuui£tgjEfoatedM|nn jOhen?the tjKstriat was wbJhKwswM of the setifiabecflmcthe savage,**4* little they had succmVtt accumulating since the former outbreak, was again utterly swept away, and nought save smoking embers, and blackened ruins kft to mark the spots, where happy homes had stood until the hour when the brand of the ruthless destrover, swift and sudden as the crack of doom, had blotted them from the earth. Destruction was far more general then, than on the occasion of the former outbreak, scarce a single house remained standing, and when To Kooti evacuated the district he bore with him as much plunder as his people could stagger under; the men of the Native Contingent again completing the least, might bave been averted, had the Government •’and Its 4 Mffcerb/ been a little mote prescience, for I hold, that it was entirely due "to thefabesywtom ufiy trench mint tiierrbring initiated, ai|h jjhe most culpable neglect, that Te IB|2k with his band of detperadoes, were pqtMfttMT-io escape from the otr. Kooti. as being an infringement of “ The Native 3U£& J»1 a Bntith Subject, he was entitled to the benefit of a*fmr trial, and, from private liidwladge of the most positive description, Lum. now able to affirm, that, had. the charge against, him been fplly investigated ft Would Imve been found, not only frivolous, but without any foundat ion whatever. Here again we have a glaring blunder on the part of »he, auGiokit4es t |od Wtfwftng done to one man, many suffered. • l£veu afUr Td Kdoti’4 landing at Wliareoiiga onga, had prudent- and - politic means been employed to bring him to tostijgd of a threaten - ing front being snown, .which had the effect cf drivtoghim.into Die Antonin of consequences, which rosnl tod "from that il-ad-vised act, might have been avoided. But such argument is apart from the subject in Hand; one thing certain* Te Koti, whatever weight of injustice was done Him'in the first instance, has by his after acts ol atrocity, put himself entirely outside the 4>ale of mercy. Surely then, in the face of Such conclusions, the Government wilknet insult the petitioners, by turning a deaf ear io their plaint, for, if ever there was h just‘cry for compensation, this is the one. Why. should poverty Buy be made an exception, it has already' been granted in the cases of Waikato, and the West Coast district. It is a notable fact, that the old settlers, almost to a r Joyal service all through the vynr, and as a matter of course received the foll Militia pay, and no more. Now it appears the. Government think it expedient to present the Ngatiporou tribes with 10,000 acres, of the best land in the valleys at •Patlitahi, as a 1 bonus for their services—how is this? These natives xcceived as high pay as the settlers, for,every day they, were employed, and* must have fotoid their occupation a profitÜbleone* in other reipkxfo, seeing that on Cudh uririritoiiof their, visiting rib they contrived to returnto their homp?- the.Coast, laden with the spoil of the* and driving mobes of horses before whence it is evident, that our native auxiliaries, have already been doubly paid, independent of the fresh-.bonus now given them—let the Government be just, before they are generous. A special Commission, with reference to land matters, is I understand, likely to sit here .in the course' of q mouth or two-; why should not the Government leave the determination of this matter, in-the hands of the Commissioners, with power to them to fix the amount of loss sustained by- each individual claimant, in acpordaqpg with the of evidence produced. In short, it is most earnestly to be desired, that the Government out of 4 pure sense of justice on their part,- may look" with a favorable eye ou the prayer bf the! petitioners. —Yours, &c., Janvs.