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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2656, 24 September 1881, Page 2

The Northern correspondents of the Christchurch papers telegraph to the journals with which they are connected very different opinions ns to the state of affairs on the West Coast. The correspondent of the “ Press ” wires from Wellington a very reassuring message, to the effect that not only is there little or no danger of trouble but that the Maoris who heard Te Whiti’s speech are astonished at the interpretation that was put upon it by the Europeans. The settlers on the plains, he says, laugh at the idea of war. The correspondent of the “ Lyttelton Times ” wires from Normanby that he had visited the Mawhaitiwhiti pah, which is about 25 miles from . Parihaka as the crow flies, and there conversed with some natives. One who acted as his guide to the pah said of Te Whiti that he had “ too muchee gammon, all te same as te Guvaraeut,” but an old Maori friend assured him that the man was a Te Whiti-ite, and that the gammon was on his part. This correspondent says that all the talk on the plains is of the possibility of war, and that though most opposite opinions are expressed, grave apprehensions undoubtedly exist. The native tactics are, he understands, to irritate the Europeans till they strike the first blow, and this they seek to accomplish by taunting and insulting the Constabulary, and by wantonly impounding the settlers’ cattle. He last night received a telegram from Pungarehu that an attack was expected. Mr Rolleston, Native Minister, has gone up to the Coast, and should arrive there to-day.

“ All that glitters is not gold.” We have been congratulating ourselves all along on the “ remarkably fine winter ” we have had. Perhaps it would have shown more wisdom to have deplored it as a remarkably bad one. One of drawbacks to farming in South Canbury is that the summed is not hot enough to kill weeds on the fallows, nor winter cold enough, and a summer cooler than usual, or a winter warmer than usual produce characteristic effects in the greater growth of rubbish. The same effects follow in another and more important field. A warm winter permits a greater number of germs of disease to retain their vitality ready for the return of summer, and the “ remarkably fine winter ” just past may be proved a remarkably bad one through the mortality and sickness returns of the coming summer. Already there are outbreaks of disease occurring in different places, in the colony which scarcely would have occurred so early in the season had the winter been of average severity. Wc hear of scarlet fever in Dunedin, diphtheria at Malvern, and typhoid at Christchurch and Winchester. Let people take warning, and, on account of the fineness of the past winter, exercise an extra amount of vigilance in keeping premises clean and dry during the ensuing spring and summer.