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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1302, 31 March 1883, Page 2

“Tk Kooti is doing his best to justify Mr i ; .:y< e's confidence in his future obedience to the law. He is a man of intelligence and and powerful for good or evil. The admission of surveyors to the King Country w;i3 an event calculated to test the ;. i it;,- of his professions. But for the proclamation of the amnesty he would have been found among the ranks of those engaged in obstructing an intrusion fraught with to himself. Now, however, the cir••.instances arc changed, and Te Kootl •.news that safety Hea in removing the pre- • . ■ caused by hia paat bad record. His it arries thought quickly d the ugh an intruder among \\ aikato tribes, the individuality of ti e ■ ■ ’« and his reputation for prowess have . infl tence over tl e natives livina amongst. The band of 1 vets u ho readily responded to his call for the rescue of the Government surveyors would have gone just as willingly with their leader to aid Ma nr ki in his outrage, The tiovernment would then have felt bound to puui.'h the daring defiance of its authority, ain’t the flame of insurrection might once r.ore have been lighted in New Zealand. Happily, this has been effectually averted; and that through an act of clemency which was not very popular with the European ■lists. W-rily, Mr Bryce was born under : ■: ill-oinened as the seizure of the surveyors appeared to be, it actually plays in the end right into the Native Minister's hand. Without the justification afforded by recent events, he might have found it rather hard to defend before Parliament his korcro with the perpetrator of the most bloodthirsty deed recorded in the recent history of the Colony ; and without the seizure of Mr Hursthouse by Maiiukt, Te Kooti would have had no chance of giving this proof of his reformation and loyalty.” This is the manner in which the Evening “ Star blates forth the success Mr Bryce has achieved. If the writer in the “Star” knew as much about Te Kooti as we do, he would never have written such trash—aye, not even in the interest of the land ring. Te Kooti is simply obedient to the law, because it pays him to be so, and we would almost , he is actually paid in hard coin to be so. ‘‘He is a man of intelligence,” says the “Star,” and if being a most accomplished thief means intelligence, ■\’.ry is right, and if he is clever et his palm well greased by the , istles," he deserves a certain lit, but there are other things red. Tb Kooti is a low bred ! .:>'.c, who, having defied the Government, ensconsed himself in the King Country u here lie felt perfectly safe. Through his atrocities he gained for himself a name, and through that name followers. The land ring wished to acquire large blocks of valuable prop rties, adjacent to the proposed line of i.iilway, and finding a pliant tool in the ■-’.ape of Mr Bryce, thev used it to work murderous ruffian whose name almost '■ ' ■:■■■: o.:r paper when we write it. Somc- . has suggested to our mind i . .’ • sohition of Te Kooti’s present i - : f. r the la v. The newspapers of the * . : ' with but few exceptions, the mis ireant was a • \ ere I- nd in the ir in I dministration of jus-j-rtitige v...s imperilled, : . ' ;..d to be done to restore it. - • ...... z - /X such as ih has just been enacted? A Silly Lilly uchasMAHUki undoubtedly must be 1 •-•ur_-1, a harmless surveyor stopped, Te

Koon to the rescue, Mr Bn •. - •>; jubilant, and i then the gland tahledti. We do not assert i this is so, but it seems to us that we are not very far out. By this clever stroke those dirty hands, which were tainted by contact with a murderer’s, if not clean presented an improved appearance, whilst a ruthless assassin appears in the garb of a hero and aii upholder of British law. Well might John Bull bring from out his cnpacioils pockets the often-pictured handkerchief and weep at the prostitution of the word “Englishman,” which every day is observable. We in New Zealand have no “ glorious charter most of us claim to be Englishman, but, alas ! only a few of us attain to the proud and distinguished position of land speculators.