Poverty Bay Standard. Published Every Evening. GISBORNE: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1883.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1278, 19 February 1883, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. Published Every Evening. GISBORNE: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1883.

The following comments regarding the pardoning of Te Kooti will be read with interest The Waipawa “Mail’ save in a masterly leader“ A great calamity has happened, and a doubledyed, execrable scoundrel, a murderer of men, women, and children, upon whose head there has long been a price set, has received a free pardon at the hands of Mr. Brice. Te Kooti, a demon’s cub, compared with whom the lately hanged WiniiTa was almost a saint —Tk Kooti, embodiment of all that is ferocious and vile in the native character, and author of the terrible massacres at Poverty Bay of the bygone times—has been handshaking and orating with the “ hero ” of Parihaka, and has been told he is a free man. This is a calamity, and will bear evil fruit. . If it can be shown that the whites have any business at all in New Zealand, whether by virtue of treaties or by virtue of force, then it can be shown by the same reasoning that the smut-colored hound called Te Kooti has forfeited his miscreant's life a thousand times. Mr Bryce told this Maori Nana Sahib that he would be pardoned, if he would promise “ nnt to do so again," by virtue of powers conveyed in a proclamation by the Governor.”

The whole business smells vilely. Te Kooti quoting Scripture while Mr Brice shakes hands with him forms a picture at which the whole white race should blush. . .Oh, shame I Te Whiti in prison and Te XOOti pardoned; with the other old scoundrel, Rewi, boasting that if Tx Koon fights Kewi will fight with him 1 We have invited this by such overtures to murderers as Englishmen never before saw, and are eternally disgraced. Oh, shameOh, veginm of Bmycie I The " Now Zealand Times," a Ministerial organ, eulogises the conduct of Mr Bbtce on “ gaining a great political point, and says : “At the meeting at Mautigaoronga, between Mr Bryce on the one side, and Bewi and Te KonTt on the other, both chiefs promised to abstain from further war, and the bloodthirsty rebel of former years could wifi justice appeal to his own conduct since 1874 as a proof that he desired henceforth to be at peace with the pakeha ” The Napier “ Daily Telegraph," in a strong article alludes to the question thus :— “Those districts in this Island that suffered from rapine and murder of which Te Kooti was the head and front will not hear the news of that scoundrel’s pardon with the complacency with which Mr Bryce extended it to him The meeting at Maungaorongo between the Hon the Native Minister and Te Kooti has completely destroyed Mr ©ryce’s prestige. It showed that he was no better -and no worse than his predecessors in office. It showed that he could stoop to an act of weakness, that he could humble himself before the proud savage, to obtain what he considers a political point. We shall be much surprised if he does not find that he is further off than ever from the attainment of his object. We have had many wretched spectacles of Ministerial banquets, the piece de reliefance of which has either been dirt or humble pie. but few actions will present themselves in a more humiliating light to East Coast settlers than that of Mr Bryce, grasping the blood-stained band of Te Kooti. And, it must be remembered, Te Kooti never asked for pardon; he wanted no forgiveness for what he has done, and, as he said boldly to Mr Bbyce, if molested in the future he would do again what he had done be fore He professes no repentance and he doubtless knows that the pardon he has received from the Government will not carry much weight in certain districts of the East Coast ” Mr. Bhyck in this most uncalled for and most unnecessary act of weakness has stripped himself of all the prestige of his administration, has deprived the cabinet of all the strength his name

and presence could give it, by increasing the pride of thu'Mnnri at the expense ot the honor of the Colony. The Otago “ Daily Times ” snys “ Of course it must be understood that Te Kooti is a political, not an ordinary criminal, having committed his excesses in the course of an insurrection against British rule. The Wi llington “ Post ” kaya “ The proclamation of a gettel’al amnesty for all ‘ offences more of lesM of a political character’ committed by Natives during past insurrections, or arising out of such disturbances, is an event of no little import in New Kenland history. It is also a step whteh all sensible persons will admit to be fnlly justified by the circumstances.The great end now sought is lasting peace and good understanding.betwetm the European and Maori races, with its complement, the advancement of civilization, settlement and prosperity in this Colony. For a long time past it bas been felt that no substantial progress could be made in the work of blending the races in harmony and I good feeling so long as certain promiI nent Natives, who were looked on by ' their fellows as warriors and leaders i in past patriotic efforts, remained proI scribed by the law, and liable at any moment to be arrested and tried for their lives if entrapped by a ruse, as in the case of Winiata

To those who recollect the dreadful incidents of the Poverty Bay massacre, which occurred on the 10th November, ; 1868 nearly 15 years ago, and still more ■ to those friends or relations who perished in that fearful slaughter, it may seem strange and horrible that such a deed of blood should be condoned by the pardon of him who is understood to have been one of the chief actors in that dire tragedy, if not its author. Clearly, then, it would have beon impolitic to allow this old sore any longer to fester and rankle, forming a constant source of uncertainty and even danger. It was better to take a definite step and to declare that the past should be deemed legally dead and officially buried. But before this was irrevocably done it was necessary to ascertain what would be the attitude of the chief ex rebel, whom it was proposed to absolve ” The I yttelton “Innes” has the following in reference io the extension of the amnesty to Te Kooti, and com pares the treatment, of ‘the bloodthirsty murderer” with that extended to Te Whiti, “ the apostle or peace.” The article proceeds: “ But because this monster has the blood of fifty of our murdered fellow countrymen and allies on his hands unavenged, because he has triumphed ami been strong and powerful, because he is too fierce and determined an enemy to be cowed into subjection by Mr. B'<¥Ck on his whi>e horse, Mr. BaYCE crouches and cringes before him, promises him pardon and ImmUrtily nnrl u«l i»n fra Hl Ijr ! shake his blood-stained hand. If it i were possible t<> find in t..c English language terms of ignominy, loathing, and disgust stronger than those we would apply to I e Kooti, we would burl them at the miserable being who has thus degraded the Colony, and brought disgrace on the British name ” From these extracts it will be seen how differently the question is viewed. Those who have suffered at the hands of the brutal rebel, who, by the way, was never a chief, have their own opinions as to how he should and will be dealt with.