LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 75, 2 August 1873, Page 2

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Sib, —We are on the eve of an adjourned holding of the Commission which held its first sittings here in June and July, 1869, in accordance with the provisions of the “ Deed of Cession.” It is of immense importance to the prosperity of the District generally, that as much country as possible should now be passed under this Commission in order that the declared owners should be in a position to deal with their lands as they may see fit. Sinister influences are, however, already at work to throw as many obstacles as possible in the way of the Commissioners ; indeed, from information derived from reliable sources, I am inclined to believe that the resident natives, instigated by Henare Matus, the representative of the Russell clique, now entertain a deliberate project of obstructing the action of the Court if possible. Should this scheme, by argument or otherwise, prove successful, it will have the effect of retarding the progress of this fine district more than any of us can foresee. The mischievous agitator now in our midst, has been sowing his pernicious opinions broadcast; he has overhauled every transaction in land that has taken place native and European, with the ostensible object of upsetting them; and has even gone so far as to induce these people to believe that he intends “ to beard ” the Commissioners in open Court, and compel them to forego the object of the sitting. Unless nipped in the bud.it is difficult to foresee what these dangerous projects may lead to. Can no law be brought to bear upon the men who compose this party ? Shall a member of the Upper House have it in his power to scatter the seeds of disaffection in this way with impunity P

From • long and Intimate acquaintance with the native mind, I give it aa my firm conviction, that if this state of matters is permitted to endure, what has begun »n land squabbling may end in bloodshed. The native ear is ever open to evil impressions; they are at all times eager to embrace the counterfeit and reject the genuine. With all Henare Matua’s pretended respect for the law, he is an instigator to evil. What results are likely to spring from his mission, when it is known he tells the resident natives plainly that the Government had no right to appropriate the Muhunga and Patutahi Blocks to indemnify the countiy (in part) for the expenses in quelling the Hauhau rebellion, and in doing so they behaved most perfidiously to the unfortunate Hauhaut ? On the whole I am bound to say that, with the exception of the “old days” when Hauhauism flourished, I have never, during a twenty years residence among these people, seen the native mind so thoroughly unsettled as it is at the present moment, and this I attribute entirely to the baneful influences brought to bear upon them by Henare Matua and other partisans of the Russell clique.—l am, sir, yours obediently J. Wyllix. Whataupoko, July 30,1873.