Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Tuesday, January 10, 1882.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1021, 10 January 1882, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard.

PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Tuesday, January 10, 1882.

We shall sell to man Justice or Right; We shall deng to no man Justice or Right; We shall defer to no man Justice or Right.

Sir Arthur Gordon’s formal resignation of the Governorship of this Colony will not take place, probably, until March next, after His Excellency’s arrival in England. The late policy pursued by the Government with respect to the West Coast Native difficulty will hasten in a measure His Excellency’s departure from this part of Her Majesty’s realm. Sir Arthur Gordon's efforts to settle the Parihaka question were not appreciated by Te Whiti. The memorable reply, “ kua maoa te taenia," “ the potato is cooked,” given by Te Whiti, to His Excellency’s invitation to a friendly meeting to discuss points in , dispute, could scarcely be gratifying to the viceregal dignity of the High Commissioner of the South Pacific. The affront, however, could possibly have been submitted to, had not the subsequent proceedings on the part of the Government with respect to Te Whiti been adopted. “No matter,” says a contemporary, “whether the policy of Mr Bryce was sound or not, common decency required that Sir Arthur Gordon should be consulted upon it, and that not being done lest on behalf of the Natives be should refuse his assent, it was only adding another outrage when hints were freely thrown out that induced not a few persons to fancy that he had forfeited his right to resume his position, when he hurried back on the alarm of a probable war being communicated to him."

So far as “ common decency ” is concerned, Sir Arthur Gordon before departing for Fiji in the capacity of High Commissioner, left as his locum tenens, the Chief Justice, Sir James Prendergast, who was invested with full power to administer the affairs of the Colony, in the absence of His Excellency. Sir Arthur left the Colony, at a time when Parliament was sitting, after he had failed in his negotiations with Te Whiti, and at a time, too, when the Native affairs on the West Coast were at a very critical juncture. It is altogether unreasonable, therefore, to assume that the Government were justified in adopting any other course but the one they did, in exercising a firm hand with Te Whiti and his fanatics. However, as Sir Arthur Gordon finds that to remain in this Colony is inconsistent with his views of what is due to the dignity of her Majesty’s representative, it'may be looked upon as an accomplished fact that the next sitting of Parliament will find the Colony with his successor.