REVIEW.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1316, 14 June 1883, Page 3

REVIEW.

Is & lengthy review of Mr G. W. Rusden’s “ History of New Zealand,” Vol. 11. and 111., a writer in the “ New Zealand Times,” of June 8, complains that in dealing with this subject, “ Mr Busden shows his ignorance of the unwritten hi-tory of New Zealand.” The writer of the review supplements the charge of ignorance by that of injustice, and goes on to say : —" Mr Rusden’s denunciations of Judge Richmond are altogether wrong. Mr C. W. Richmond may have made a mistake in the Waitara affair: but New’ Zealand colonists believe that however bis conduct may appear when viewed by the light of subsequent events, yet never at any time has Mr Richmond done anything of which he as a good man should be ashamed Mr Rusden presents to us a most discolored view of this man, of whom all New Zealand colonists are so rightly proud, and so justly revere. As a more striking proof of Mr Rusden’s utter ignorance of our unwritten history, we may contrast hts furious and ■ unjust diatribe against Mr C. W. i Richmond, his pages of Billingsgate | abuse of Mr Bryce, and his complete ' silence as to the demerits of Mr j Sheehan as Native Minister. ... I Mr Rusden says—Three men, and | three alone, stand out prominently as ; defenders of the Maoris, and the : name of this hallowed trio are Sir I William Martin, Bishop Selwyn and j the upright Hon. W. B. D. Mantell. j To a host of high-minded men he has | been unjust by his lavish praise of these three, for he makes it appear as if these were the only three in all the land who had not bowed the knee to Baal Mr Rusden gives marked prominence to five of our transactions with the Natives, and holds them up to the scorn and ridicule of the world. They are (1) The rape of the Waitara; (2) Capture of Te hauparaha by Grey; (3) Waikato war; (4) Theft or the Princes-street reserve in Dunedin; (5) Events which led to the punishment of Te Whiti. In addition to these, there are several minor charges which we need not discuss here. Though, as colonists, jealous of our fair fame, we may feel depressed and vexed at the bringing to light of our misdeeds; yet on the whole there is ground for self satisfaction. During 50 years of constant dealings with the Maoris these alone are the black spots. Contrast the history of our dealings with the Maoris with the history of the dealings of other white races with the blacks, and we can proudly boast that ■nowhere in the world can be found a history so free from cruel wrongs. . . Mr Rusden next describes, and at great length, the whole Parihaka affair, and here his language, though severe, is just. In our own view, the Parihaka chapter has two phases—an early one of shame; a later one that ended ridiculously for us. We confiscated large tracts of fertile land, and we promised to restore considers able portions of it. On this latter condition the Maoris signed a peace. Shears rolled on, and in spite of Earnest entreaties we refused to act up to our pledges. We admitted we ought to give, but we did not. Not content with breaking our pledges, we acted harshly to the natives of the district, who, led by a singularly able chief, named Te Whiti, adopted a novel method of forcing us to restore their rights. They ploughed Crown lands until 400 were taken prisoners. The Ministry brought in a retrospective Act, and punished them, then weakly let them all go again. Up to this stage our actions were not creditable ; in the next they were ridiculous. The Government assembled 800 armed men, and thinking this force insufficient to attack a totally unarmed Maori village, they collected a number of volunteers. When all was ready, the 2,000 troops, backed by two forts, and supplied with artil* lery and all munitions of war, marched . along the well made high road to be*siege, and carry by storm, if need be, an unfenced collection of miserable huts, tenanted by some 700 almost unarmed men, and a swarm of women and children. Well might Mr Rolleston, who walked into the pah that morning, laugh, and look on the whole thing as a joke. He seems to have been the only man who appreciated the nature of. this screaming farce Rusden’s sarcasm on colonial titles, and the way in which colonists win honors and dignities, is very amusing; but his remarks gene rally on the colony at large were not worth printing. To sum up, we advise people to read this book; containing many errors; silent as to many important events; harshly bitter though its tone is; yet to all students the book should be welcome for its fulness of research.” The writer goes on to observe that though the Maoris have an old proverb tnat “ land and women are the cause of all trouble with the Pakeha,” yot it is singular that in all our quarrels land has been the cause, women never ; and concludes in the following strain :—- “ Though this outsider has written so fully on our crimes, yet we can triumphantly and honestly declare that the story of our dealings with the Natives is a splendid example to history —one of which spite a few faults, we, as colouists, may well be proud.”