Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE: THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1883.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1305, 5 April 1883, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. GISBORNE: THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1883.

We have not unfrequently been necessitated to draw the attention of the public to the scandalous manner in which the telegrams and cablegrams, as published in newspapers, are prostituted to private ends. In matters entirely private, in matters of speculation, in matters vitally affecting the well being of the Colony at large, and in matters apparently too trivial to demand notice, the use of this valuable and speedy method of communication with other places, and even with the Antipodes, has been brought into play with the evident object ci influencing opinions, actions, and markets by exagger* ated and doluaiva report® of what is actually occurring here. W# know not who is responaible for the authenticity of messages sent to the London papers, but bo it who it may, and to our mind it savours strongly of Government work, we deprecate the forwarding of such a message as the following, which appears in the “limes” (London), of February 17th, 1883, under date Welling!on, New Zealand, February 15th, 1883, as a distorted exaggeration, deliberately sent with the express intention of misleading the Imperial Government and people of England generally, as to the actual facts connected with the mission of the Hon. the Native Minister into Waikato, and the pardon of the murderer Te Kooti ;— “Wellington, New Zealand, “ February 1.5.

| “ Mr. Bryce, Minister for Native Affairs, • “ has had a meeting with Te Kooti, the i “ Chief Rewi Maniapoto being present, s “ when the provisions of the Amnesty Act “ were explained. In reply to quest ions as I “ to his future behaviour, Te Ko»ti said he i “ had been peaceable for ten years, and would 1 “ were/* again cause any trouble. The Chief, ’ “ Rewi, expressed his belief that the GovernI “ ment might safely accept Te Kooti’s as- ■ “ surances, adding hotc much it was wished ■ “ that the amnesty should be general. Mr. : “ BkYCE being satisfied, promised to recoini “ mend the Governor to proclaim an amnesty i “ fur all offences of a political kind or con- • “ nected with the Waikato War. Accord- “ ingly a Government Gazette has been ; “ issued proclaiming a general amnesty, i “ without exception under the provisions of | “ the Amnesty .Act,” i Such being the message, as it appears in i the “Tinies,” the leading journal of the . World, whence it will be copied in all lan- ! guages by the journals of all nations, we un- ; hesitatingly pronounce it to be a deliberately • fraudulent falsehood, forwarded with the : express intention of creating false and unj true impressions as to the real facts of the . conduct of the meeting between the Hon. • Mr. Bryce and Te Kooti. The cablegram ■ would create the impression that Te Kooti I had supplicated for pardon, that he had : made promises of future good conduct, and , that the Native Minister, in consideration of : such promises, backed by Rewi Maniapoto, i had graciously extended tne provisions of i the Amnesty Act to Te Kooti as a political I offender. Contrast impressions so created ! with the real facte, which are us follows :— I Te Kooti is not a political offender, but a gaol breaker and murderer ; he never sued j for par lon, but treated the approaches of ! the Native Minister with contemptuous ■ scorn ; in the place of making promises of j future good behaviour he made threats of a ; repetition of his past murderous career if ! molested in any way by the Government, j Rewi Maniapoto, instead of becoming .a i security for future good conduct on Te ‘ Kooti’s part, made himself a surety for the I due performance of Te Kooti’s murderous i threats, Te Kooti’s attitude was, throughi out, impudently and truculently independent j and carelessly defiant, while the attitude as- • sumed by the Hon. the Native Minister was ’ creepingly abject and humiliating. Never j before has a Minister of the Crown so nbI jectly truckled to the impudent bounce of a ' rebellious murderer as to shake hands with j him at any time, but more especially with- : out waiting to be poked. Te Kooti did not ■ want the pardon, nor did he care to shake hands with the Native Minister, and both in promising the pardon to, and shaking hands with, the detested murderer Te Kooti, the Minister inflicted a shameful and disgraceful blow on the dignity of the Crown, the Colony, and the high office he holds. The pardon was granted at the instigation of. and consequent on the heavy pressure ex- : erted by, land speculators who are anxious ' to profit by the acquisition of the King • Country lands, and whose projects were ini terfered with by the presence of Te Kooti. • The Bank of New Zealand—the old mau of ' the sea, the Colonial Sinbad -brought its j enormous influence to bear The Lands Pur- • chase Companies, under their various names t and titles, brought their influence to bear ; j The Land Ring generally, among whom we ; recognise many who sit in high places, all ■ brought their influence to bear to this end, . regardless of the prostitution of dignity and the trampling in the dirt of the feelings of i the settlers, to which they were thereby subi jecting the Colony. To this end it became necessary that false and misleading cable* , grams should go to England, with the object ; of misleading the Government and the j people, and inducing them to regard the j action of the Native Minister in recommend- : ing the Governor to extend the Amnesty . Act to Te Kooti as a just, necessary, and I disinterested one ; whereas, in reality, it ! was an unjust, unnecessary, and doubtless an i interested one in so far as the Government ' strings were pulled through the Hon. Mr. Bryce, by a gang of land sharking speculators, who consider monetary gain the primary object of life, and preferable infinitely to honor, dignity, and honesty. That the English people will be enlightened as to the real motives governing the pardon of Te Kooti, and the general tone of Government action regarding Native lands generally, and the Waikato and King Country lands especially, cannot be doubted. Nor can it be doubted that the proprietors of the “Times,” a journal holding the premier rank ; among the newspapers of the VV orld, a rank I fairly earned by honesty, impartiality, and wise discretion, will highly resent having been made a tool of by interested persons in the insertion of a fraudulent, meagre, and lying telegram.