The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1884. NATIVE AFFAIRS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 40, 15 January 1884, Page 2

The Telephone. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1884. NATIVE AFFAIRS.

The success Mr. Bryce met with in dealing with Native affairs has created some little excitement among those journals that give unqualified support to the Government on every line of

its policy, and it is amusing to note the heroic form in which all the actions of the Native Minister are pictured. Mr. Bbyce has, undoubtedly “ done the state some service ” —he has grappled with a great difficulty in a commendable manner, and we are willing to admit that he is one of the most energetic and able members of the present Ministry ; but no unprejudiced person will contend that to the policy of the Government alone is due the success that has lately attended the attempted solution of the land settlement question. The leading members of the Native race possess an amount of intelligence and good feeling that is highly creditable to them, and it must be allowed that time, which works wonders, has had a great deal of influence in bringing the solution of the Native question to a somewhat successful issue. Maoris are now aware that is to their interest to bring their lands under cultivation, and also that to do this successfully it is necessary that their country should be opened up by means of roads and railways ; but it cannot be rightly contended that this revolution in Maori affairs has been brought about solely by the action of the Native Minister and the policy of the Government. There are a great number of pakehas who have taken an intelligent and honest interest in their Maori friends, and it is, undoubtedly, to their iuflu> euce, in a great measure, that Mr. Bryce is indebted for the success he has met with. In a telegram from the correspondent of the Press, dated Wellington, January 7th, it is stated that Mr. Bhick “ gives a very satisfactory and encouraging account of Native affairs The surveys and other arrangements are proceeding rapidly, as is also road-making, and every despatch is being used to facilitate bringing the King country under the Court, and establishing the title on a definite and practicable basis. It is considered very desirable to strike while the iron is hot, and carry out the arrangement with the Kingite chiefs, while the favorable humor lasts, so as to render any change of front impossible. At Kawliia all goes well. The Natives and Constabulary are on the best of terms, and all the former soreness has quite passed away. Most of the Natives now express pleasure that the land is at last to be utilised, and several ex-obstructionists have freely admitted to the officers in the A.C. that they have come to see the error of their ways, and to recognise that they have been ‘ fools and children’ all their lives hitherto to lock up land and exclude Europeans, together with roads, railways, aud settlement. From all I hear, I fancy the Maoris are thoroughly making up their minds at last to an opinion that great benefits may be in store for them if they are sensible enough to take the tide at its flood. All this means still further benefit to the colony and colonists.” Of course, it is desirable to “ strike the iron while it is hot, and carry out the arrangement with the Kingite chiefs while the favorable humor lasts, so as to render any change of front impossible,” as it must be admitted that there may be a few disaffected Maoris who would readily listen to the bad advice of those white men who take a delight iu stirring up strife—for their own selfish ends. Undoubtedly, the intelligence and good feeling of the influential Natives would counteract the evil effects of the persuasive powers of those PakehaMaoris who have done much harm by stimulating “ their friends" to indulge in strife in the past; and, therefore, it would be well for Mr. Bryce to “ strike the iron while it’s hot," to guard against any obstruction that may be likely to cause delay in the opening up of the King country. We feel convinced, however, that the power of Rewi, Mani Apoto, Te Heuheu Tuxrxo, Paebata, and other Waikato chiefs, who are favorable to the opening up of their country, is too great for the little agitation that may be got up by Pakeha-Maori influence, to have much effect, and that the “occupation” of the white hangers-on at the pahs is gone to rise no more. It is highly satisfactory to find- that the Natives and Constabulary are on the best of terms, and of this we rest assured that the intelligent members of the A.C. Force have a high appreciation of the good feeling aud manly bearing of the majority of the Maori chiefs. Instances have come under our notice in which the non-commis-sioned officers, in particular, of the Constabulary treated the Natives with much kindness, and these acts have, no doubt, tended to allay any suspicion on the Maori mind that the pakehas are all enemies of the rightful owners of the land that requires to be opened up. The Natives—or at least the majority of them—who have visited the European settlements are conversantwithandquite capable of appreciating the advantage of following in the footsteps of their white brethren, and it cannot he said that—even among the largest gatherings at holiday time—-Maoris do not know how to conduct themselves as well as the ordinary run of European settlers. The settlement of the contention about the opening up of the King country is, assuredly, a great advantage to the Maoris as well as to the pakehas, and we sincerely hope that, ere many years have passed, the land now locked up

will be settled by a happy people, composed of the Natives and their pakeha friends,—that this glorious country will no longer be a place of bloody contention, but a land in which friendly intercourse among all races and prosperity will reign supreme.