South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, JAN, 29, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2139, 29 January 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. THURSDAY, JAN, 29, 1880.

Tut: doings of the Government in the North Island are surrounded with a good deal of mystery. For some time past, like many of our readers we presume, we have been watching the development of events with considerable interest. The Government has been slowly but surely concentrating a neat little army of armed constables on the borders of the fertile lands of the Maori population. That an invasion of this territory was contemplated, immediately after the prorogation of Parliament, was evident enough. The assertion that an aggressive movement was intended was resolutely denied by the leading Government organs, but we presume this arose from the fact that the present Native Minister has wisely kept his own counsel. It is impossible to help remarking that affairs at this moment in the North Island have a rather awkward and unpleasant aspect for the inhabitants of this Island of ours. If a row with the natives is provoked by the armed roadinakers of the Wanna to Plains and their military leaders, we must be a party to the squabble and its conse’sequences. No doubt in the action which is being taken the Government has an important object in view, but we southerners can hardly be blamed if avc demand some explanation of that object. Just before the expiry of the last Parliamentary session an alarming picture was presented by the Colonial Treasurer of the financial condition of New Zealand, and a considerable amount of new and heavy taxation was proposed. The taxpayers, however, were comforted with the assurance that, for the future, a policy of economy and retrenchment would be insisted upon. Singularly enough, one of the first instalments of that policy was the proposal to purchase a number of private lines of railway, constructed under the District Hallways Act for the express purpose of improving the properties of the shareholders. Another development of it has been the gradual massing of armed constables in the North Island. For some months past the colony has been supporting' a nice little standing army of cut - throats at a cost of at least £BOOO weekly. We have no doubt that the North Island has a deep interest in the maintenance of this cutthroat army. The object is to awe the turbulent Maoris into submission and quietly take possession of some millions of acresof confiscated lands. This maybe all very well for northern speculators and land huugcrers, but the question arises, how does it affect the highly taxed farmers and tradesmen of this Island ? Is it fair to the settlers of Canterbury, to be paying 20s per ton on their fencing wire, and 15 per cent, ad valorem, on everything they eat and drink or wear, in order that by means fair or foul, a few unfortunate Maoris may be evicted from their happy hunting grounds ? Is it in the mean pursuit of land-wrecking that the oppressive, unjust, and inquisitorial property-tax is to be spent ? Will it redound to the credit of the Colony that instead of submitting the whole question of confiscation to an impartial tribunal, a policy of armed occupation is adopted. Is this generous to a fallen foe—to a race that is gradually disappearing before the vices of civilisation ?

That tbe Waimatc Plains are very rich, very fertile, and very valuable, is very probable. But are they worth this standing array of 800 constables, kept at a cost of over £12,000 a month to the colony ? Is this a legitimate way of wasting the few fragments that remain of the five million loan ? We think not. The time for spending large sums in seizing native lands is, we think, scarcely opportune. While the residents of Southern provincial districts are straining every nerve and sinew to meet the demands of the tax-gatherer, and while urgent public works in these regions are lying in abeyance, it seems hardly the thing to be indulging in aimed camps and redoubts and semi-mili-tary evolutions on the Waimate Plains. In taking the steps they have already clone the Government seems to have been excessively ill-advised. The primary object of the Government, we assume, is to seize the confiscated lands and submit them to auction.

Wc don’t object to this ; what we object to is the process. Bead making by armed constables is an expensive affair. Is the game really worth th-e candle ? There is lots of hind in the market at this moment, and no purchasers. What pressing necessity exists for this aggressive descent on the native lands ? £BOOO a week for road making in the disputed territory of the North Island, is rather a sore nut for us southerners to crack. 13cfore taking this arbitrary method of bringing land,which is really uot needed, into the market, the Native Minister and his colleagues might surely have taken the sense of Parliament, if uot of the people. This is not the kind of retrenchment that the country was led to expect during the recess. New Zealand is undoubtedly over head and ears in debt, her population is taxed to a greater extent than any other people under the British flag, and we can scarcely afford to waste money in picking a mean quarrel with a small handful of Maoris. If northern land-sharks want the native territory they should be allowed to buy their own ammunition, and risk their own carcases. At all events the people of this part of New Zealand should cuter a protest against this expensive uncalled for, and disgraceful Waimatc Plains war - dance. Timaru wants a railway station, Ashburton is languishing for a court-house, Dunedin wants new railway workshops, and railways arc wanted in every direction to open up and develop the riches of land the title to which is undisputed and in the acquisition of which neither human life nor gunpowder are required. The money that is being squandered in this mad system of military roadinaking would help materially to develop the wealth of this island, and it is a lasting disgrace to the authorities that it should be applied to the stirring up of bad blood between friendly Maoris and the European population.