The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1863.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 108, 30 October 1863, Page 4

The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1863.

. y It is supposed fey some that to -be consistent a man must always be the same, not only in principle, but in word and action, no matter what circumstances may arise or what changes may take place. This is confounding consistency with obstinacy — a virtue with a vice. The charge of iwconsistency is too frequently brought againt newspapers' without cause ; but whilst a certain latitude should be allowed for altered -circumstances, etc., the general principle must in all «ases be adhered to. We were surprised to see in the Otago Daily Times, of the 22nd inst., an article condemning the present^conduct of the war, and the volunteer system — an article, in fact, of a decidedly philo- Maori tendency. In writing as . he did, our centemporary laid himself, open to a charge of^inconsistency, for, the opinions usually to be found ex- j pressed in his columns are of a very, different character. Regardless, how- : ever, of what he said on the 22nd, in; his issue of the 26th foe urges the j vigorous prosecution -of the war, and calls loudly for the striking of a decisive blow. We quite agree with him that a war of extermination is to be. ; highly deprecated; <( we are fighting; simply and truly for the •establishment of Her Majesty's authority we have to destroy, not the natives* but their . power." So d sirable a consum-J mation is not to be arrived at in the manner proposed by out Bunedincontemporary. He objects to the ; employment of the Australian and New Zealand Volunteers as" Forest Rangers," and wants the immediate establishment, of " military settlements at sucfi points , as may be considered most desirable.". This reminds us forcibly of the receipt for jugged hare " first catch your hare, and then cook it," We have to get the land from the Maori before we can establish military settlements on it, and ; unless he is polite enough to give up, without fighting, certain spots from which he can best be governed, and his power destroyed, we do not see how any other course than the present one can be . adopted. Our contemporary would begin vrith that with which the Government proposes to end — namely : The establishment of military sett'emen^, when the groand on which to plant them has yet to be obtained. The system of fighting the aatives with forest rangers is an infinitely better one than . " sapping " ala General Pratt— better both for the white man and the Maori. What is required is to show the Maories that we can beat them with their own weapons, in their own manner of warfare ; and when we do that, we shall inspire them with respect arising from fear. Th« Maori imagines we are frightened of him, and hence all this fighting, bloodshed, and destruction of property. During the glorijus days of Gen. Pratt's regime he had good cause so to think, for however brave the soldier, the incompetency of the officer rendered his gallantry of no avail. The recent surrender of the . Waitara has confirmed this id am the ; native mind, and the only way to remove the impression is not only to forfeit his land, but keep possession of it. His notions and traditions are in perfect accordance with the lines " They shall take who have the power, And they shall keep who can." He has seen that hitherto we have displayed neither the power to grasp nor the ability to hold. We can hardly be said to have conquered anything during the Taranaki campaign, or, if we did, we surrendered it immediately. We have lost our prestige, and until we can regain i^, and then keep it, the war will never terminate. The capital of the Maories — Ngaruawahia — is in the fork of the Waipa and Horotui rivers, the junction of which forms the Waikato. The latter is easily navigable to the junction, and both the other rivers for some distance beyond. Ngaruawahia is the Mana, the prestige of the : Maori ; once let us take that from him, and hold it, both against the rebel Maori and a perhaps worse, because a more insidious enemy, the friendly Maori, and we reverse our present position, and terminate the war. Nothing short of this decided step will do. This we prusume is the intention of General Cameron. He will first drive in their outposts, and then conquer their capital, when we sincerely trust the Governor will allow no inducement to prevent him holding it permanently — will listen to no claims made by som« friendly (?) chief, on the ground that his father's great grand uncle had planted a potato in some part of it. Maori traditions are doubtless very interesting, and Maori customs and usages may be tolerated in ordinary circumstances, but this is no child's play, no farce for the amusement of maudlin philanthropists. The expenses of the war are enormous for so young a country to bear. The home country has repudiated the idea of paying them. Who then will do so? We doubt not the J^orth looks with hungry eyes on the fertile plains of the South, and speculates on saddling the expenses on us. What benefit has been derived fr~om this ruinous military expenditure has been derived by the" North — to the South will be left the honor of paying the

piper. It is all very well for Mr FitzGteraldyin his .magnificent peroration \ delivered at the last session, of ihe As- j sembly, toshudder at the thought that his ; son might one day stand beside a lonely . mound in which were the bones of a ( buried nation. It is probable that' that son, when paying 'enormous taxes for the philanthropy of his father, would take a different view of the question. We bully the to allow -us to enter their ports we visit the slightest infringement of the treaty with war to the extremity $ we carry destruction into the heart of their country, and, taking possession of their capital, make pelce only- on condition that they pay the expenses of the war, and philanthropy applauds. In New Zealand, we pet and foster the " finest aboriginal race" which has yet come in contact with the European. We truckle to them, destroy the prestige of the British arms, and give way to them in, everything. We show them how to acquire wealth, and, above all, introduce Christianity amongst them ; and the "finest aboriginal race," in return, break through all treaties, plunder whenever an opportunity presents itself, shoot down not only strong men, but helpless boys ; and then the cry of horror is raised, when, to protect their lives and property, the settlers attempt reprisals, raised simply because they snivel psalms and can wrest Scripture in defence of their murderous atrocities. This reminds us of the arguments used in defending Charles the First, as stated by Macaulay. "We accuse him of having given up his people to the merciless inflictions of the most hot-headed and hard-hearted of prelates ; and the defence is that he took his little son on his knee and kissed him ! We censure him for having violated the articles of the Petition of Rights, after having, for good and valuable consideration, promised to observe them ; and we are informed that he was accustomed to heamrayers at six o'clock in the tnornilg ;*' The Maori comme iced th • war, let him pay its expenses by the forfeiture of his land, — ■» Ct is strange that the martial spirit which has transformed the English people from a nation of shopkeepers into a nation of soldiers, should never have prompted the inhabitants of this province, as in every province of New Zealand, to form a Volunteer Rifle or Artillery Corps. Certainly the necessity for the use of other armad men than the blue coats of the police barracks has never arisen ; but the same may be said of Canterbury, Otago, Wellington, and Nelson, and yet they have thought it advisable to organise volunteer military bodies. On the double principle of meeting even the possibility ofanvasion, and that the evercise and discipline enforced by military training, improve the breed of colonial j'ouths, Volunteer corps have everywhere but in Southland been formed, and developed into efficient little standing armies. The principle in. its latter branch of improvement of tone has been a success, and if tried here would be found equally so. The spare time of the multitude of workers requires to be considered by those who feel an interest in promoting a class of settlers mentally • and physically strong. If, as at present, the majority of the employed, when business is over, resort to the billiard room, and the public houses, or stay at home in the sweet companionship of the <nn bottle and the tobacco jar ; their energies cannot but gradually waste, and their best talents, and loftiest aspirations soon cease to attain anything beyond the power of drinking seven tumblers of spirits without showing signs of intoxication ; or the by-many-considered noble capacity of coloring a new pipe in a fortnight. Whether men so passing their timj will in a year or two be able to be of use to the state, is a question extremely problematic; whether they will be better suited for scoring hazards and announcing " two to spot,'' than for any more practical occupation, is re markably likely. It is in order that* a better tone in these things than that prevalent, may be led to, that we would, without in the least attempting a homily, suggest amongst other means, the formation of a Volunteer Corps, A Volunteer Corps combines so much useful and healthy amusement, that scarcely a more suited expedient could be hit upon. Even in its driest particulars, for example, the initiatory drill, there is to those who can take it right — infinitely more true enjoyment, than in looking dreamily through a cloud of smoke at the contortions of secondhand " Perfect Cures," The "goose step" may not be lovely to look upon, but when tried in the open air in a bracing atmosphere, it will be found far more invigorating than the waltz step in the steam of a Casino, even though that Casino should have all the glories of the Metropolitan Argyle Rooms, backed up by the chandeliers of High Holborn. The six mile march into the country may be- sometimes a little tiresome, but when performed under the auspices of a commanding officer who is not too much of a martinet, it will be found of considerably greater advantage to nerves,worke<l upon by sedentary occupation, than the much patronised march up and down Tay-street, which involves so many dives into popular hotels. There can, indeed, be little or no doubt but that the morale of the place would be benefited by the formation of a corps ; for an active and interested Volunteer would have no time, and speedily lose inclination for many of the frivolities which eat away a man's income, and mental and bodily strength. We will say nothing of the military aims which usually induce these volunteer bands, for we think the chances of invasion or descent of privateers as likely to be

realised a§ Dr ' o. urn m ings' prophecies of the immediate termination of the worlds but- this much we will say, that in the event of riots, which are of occasional occurrence in countries proximate to goldfields, a Volunteer Corps would be found of use as an assistance ib the armed police, should they be found unable numerically to cope with an excited mob ; as guards of honor too, on holiday occasions, they would be of service. The material ! for a Corps is abundant} there are more than a hundred young men attached to Government, mercantile, and other establishments} who have been in the Volunteers in other places, j and* who have bone and sinew enough. The expense upon the individual would be only nominal; for the general Government provide uniform, arms, and accoutrements — the last certainly of a very rough description ; and also pay ' drill Sergeants, which non-commissioned officers would be found ready to hand, in old army men resident amongst us. The Provincial Government would, in addition, be inclined to encourage the movement, by a donation for the purpose of building a drill shed and armoury — they did so in Otago. The project altogether looks feasible, and if taken up by the younger portion of the public, they will in a year's time find themselves gainers both in purse and health. .» - . The opinions of the majority of persons who have travelled over portions of the province, and whose experience of the auriferous characteristics of a country has been <;ained in other parts of this colony, and Victoria, 'entitle those opinio as o be valued, and cannot but be convincing that the province contains many payable gold fields, which an energetic system of prospecting would open to the miners. The movement, therefore, which has been set on foot in this town for the establishment of a prospecting association, cannot but be regarded— to use thut hackneyed, but trite expression — as a step in the right direction, a direction, which, if only followed perseveringl}' by the originators of the movement, mu*t lead to the increased prosperity of ths town. By a reference to the report in another portion of our issue of to-day, of the proceedings at the preliminary meeting to form the association, it will be seen that a person at the meeting, representing himself as a Victorian prospector, expressed a very favorable opinion of the auriferous indications of the province. It will also be observed that in referring to an application which he made to his Honor the Superintendent for Government aid to his proposal to prospect the province, he received anything but that kind of encouragement which, in our opinion, the representative of a Govern: ment, anxious in every way to develop the resources of a new country, should have afforded. To put the mildest construction on his Honor's refusal, it simply amounted to his completely suubbing the respectful application of the person in question — if we may fully credit his account of the result of his application. We have heard extraordinary rumors that it is .h • poMcy of tho Provincial Government to discourage and retard every effort made for the discovery of gold fields in the province. We are certain that such a mistaken, and illiberal policy is not advocated by the other members of the Provincial Government, and cen hardly believe that any such shortsigh ted ness could have been the motive actuating his Honor the Superintendent in discouraging the application; but, would rather attribute his disinclination to afford any assistance to an applicant, under such sircumstances, to a want ( f attention to the public requirements which some times characterises Government officials. Looking, therefore, at the fact that beyond the inadequate reward of £1000 offered by the Government for the discovery of a payable gold field in this Province, we cannot reckon on assistance of any kind from that quarter. It now only remains for th.^ public to be enprgetic, and, according to their means, each and all contribute to the necessary expense for carrying out the real objects of the Association. There is no doubt but public feeling is generally unfavorably disposed towards subsidising prospectors. Experience of the ultimate fate of many prospecting associations in Victoria, has shown that the majority of them were unsuccessful ; while only a few attained a comparative success. That failure, however, in every case, was clearly traceable to the mismanagement of the committees appointed by the public, and entrusted by them with the expenditure of the funds collected. A want of judgment and discrimination in the selection ofthe leaders and parties appointed to prospect, was generally the rock on which they split. Profitting, therefore, by those failures, the Provisional Committee appointed to carry out the objects of the Southland Prospecting Association, will see that they have other equally important duties to perform besides the mere collection of the necessary funds. "We have little doubt but that the very small amount necessary for commencing operations will be readily subscribed by the business men of the town, after which it will o:ily remain ■ for the Committee to appoint a leader and party, in whom they can place every confidence for integrity and experience. If this course is pursued, we hopefully predict a successful accomplishment of the objects of the Southland Prospecting Association,