ABOUT THE “KING” AND HIS COUNTRY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1208, 23 November 1882, Page 2

ABOUT THE “KING” AND HIS COUNTRY.

(By an Old Waikato Settler.) There seems to be too much made at present of the personage styled the “ Kint/f and his power to open up the country* which commonly bears his name. The danger is considerable of provoking jealousy on the part of other chiefs, such as Rewi, the astute head of the Ngatiinnniapoto not to speak of Wahtuni (Bigmouth), in plain English) the orator of that tribe, and the controller of His Majesty’s conscience, deliberations, and operations. It does not seem possible for anyone to make much of “ Khig ” Tawhiao, without, at least tacitly, admitting that he is, to those around him, a King to all intents and purposes. However much, therefore, Mr Bryce may protest that he will admit of no authority independent of Queen Victoria, how, logically, can he “explain away” his approach to the chief Tawhiao - his singling him out from all other chiefs, to do him especial honour—to present him with a gold i medal of indefinitely more value than its in--1 trinsic worth in gold ; to offer to him above i and beyond all other chiefs (however loyal), honours, dignities, power, office, and emolu- | ments hitherto unheard of among the Maori I people ; to degrade the magistracy and the Legislature of the Colony by admitting to their sacred membership one whose, chief distinction in the public eye has hitherto been that he has persistently defied the law, a rebel at heart, if, indeed, the constant harboring of murderers and other outlaws does not constitute him a rebel in overt act. What brother magistrate could administer to this man the customary oaths in the belief or with any reasonable expectation that Tawhiao took the oaths with any sincerity whatever? Or when his “dusky” majesty presented himself at the bar of the Legislative Council, surely some loyal member would be found to object to an unconverted rebel being permitted to take the oaths requisite. It seems evident even now to the , intelligent representatives of the public press who had an opportunity of witnessing the recent proceedings in the “King” : country, that Tawhiao was deterred from ' taking the Ministerial bribes, not by any personal dislike to their acceptance, but ■’ simply by the conviction that if he stooped to accept these valuable commodities, he j should degrade himself for ever amongst his compatriots, who would look upon him ' as a traitor who had basely deserted the I national cause, and gone over to their bit- I terly hated enemy, whom they hate all the j more that they are convinced in their hearts l they are unable to drive him into the sea ! ' The very offer of such things is calculated < to strengthen the “ King ” movement, to ■ make its adherents think that they are of real power if it be only (from our point of I vision) a power of the obstructive or dam- i ming-up sort. Why even the loyal Te i Wheoro, who has fought our battles for a | quarter of a century, both in the field, on ! the bench, and in the senate—must have felt small by the side of such a magnificent lay-figure as Queen V ictoria’s Minister for Maori Affairs built up on the banks of the

Waipa to intoxicate the covetousness of the arch-rebel of New Zealand. The gallant Major must have felt that even his own proud position as M.H.R., as the elect of twelve thousand of his own people, was a small and transitory distinction in comparison. Apart from his “ Kingship,” it is impossible to conceive a more ordinary Maori chief, or a more personally degraded and unintellectual man that this Tawhiao. Newspaper readers cannot have yet forgotten how a few brief months ago a grand Native ceremony was brought to an abrupt ending by the prone and helpless inebriety of this man, whose wife (or rather one of them) appeared on the scene and chastised him with her gingham ’ The missionary of his youth, and those who have known him ever since, concur in one opinion of his mental calibre, and admit that he is well enough described by the undignified word “ woodle,” and would be better and more usefully employed in weeding potatoes or other physical food. What qualities of mind or what training has this man shown that he possesses, that he should be put in power over the lives and liberties of all Queen Victoria’s subjects in New Zealand ? Assuredly for all such purposes Tawhiao has been tried in the balance and found wanting. And then aS a Maori Chief, what is he more than the chief of any other tribe ? He is indeed much less than most of them, and most conspicuously is he as a tribal chief insignificant and contemptible as compared with Rewi and Wahanui, whose tribal territories — wide and fertile in the pristine richness of their virgin soil—are as yet all their own. The Ngatimahuta tribe, to which Tawhiao belongs, owned the lands about Ngaruawahia. These were nil confiscated in 18(51 after the British invasion and conquest of Waikato. For st .ragetie reasons a line was drawn round the lands which those then in power expected to bo able to retain and use for settlement purposes. Only a very small portion of the Ngaiiinaniapoto land fell within that line, and Rewi felt much that his favorite place, Kihikihi. should have been taken from him. Rather

he ought to have been glad that he lost more. But that he and his people should be expected to make provision for tnc landless people of Mahuta, is really too much for ordinary human nature. v fo suppose such a thing implies a belief that the “King" movement, gives a right on the part of the “ king” and his tribe, which is of the very essence of that movement which it ought to be the policy of all advocates of individual authoI rity to ignore and overturn. Why cannot 1 Tawhiao be told that he and his tribe had better go and settle at Kawhia,’where they have still ample lands for their maintenance ? < Why should either the Government or the ' Ngatimaniapoto tribe be expected to find ' laud for them on the banks of the Waipa or the Waikato? Why, indeed, except on the supposition that Tawhiao is a “king” and that his “ kingship ” is to be kept in a state of survival, however feeble operatively or governmentally ? How very much better it is to “ let sleeping dogs lie !’’ For if you disturb their unconscious slumbers, they will start awake, and ferociously bark at you. Even if you are simply passing by the settlement, and have no business there, except a friendly “ tenakoe ’’ to any one who may be stirring, still the awakened dogs will follow you barking along the track, and return to their warm corners to dream complacently, “Oh ’. we have driven off that pakoha too ! ” | “ Quitda non movere" is a a good motto; ’ but unfortunate!}’ it is one that has yet to • be learned (or if already heard of, there laid > to heart) by our New Zealand statesmen. | Is there not law enough in existence already I for the conquest of the “king country, ’ I that diplomacy should be called in to aid the development of wholesome peaceful law ? 1 Docs not an all-powerful engine exist sufficiently reasonable and well adapted to act ! upon the springs of human nature ? By eni couraging the employment of the machinery ; of the Native Land Courts, the rights of | proprietors of the soil would be rendered 1 preeminent and irresistible ; and as a natural consequence the mana or sovereignty of the “king” would be simply ignored. For never yet have these Courts recognised any claim of the nature of mana that partakes of the assumption of sovereignty over territories not limited to tribal boundaries. There are many ways in which the action of these Courts can be promoted and encouraged ; but assuredly it would seem (although indeed the mud has been lately stirred up) that, so far as the Government it concerned, the best advice to give them is to “leave things alone,” and they will I come right without your interference.