WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 49, 29 February 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

I^H^Stfrcm th 6 SatHMdg Review.) from New Zealand reproverbial inaxiln, It is because it ia no news,- The that exiated fw a, speedy suppression of the-iuaur-in a succession of prompt blows^that should conHft wayerjng tr-ibes. . of the of Q'reat Britain before committed themselves beyond the resource^ of : the local , do not appear to have to such operations. The Engianclpursuea towards rOU3 tribes .^lth wh"om she has in general, a* K^ppy mixture and. unreadiness. It suit our financial necessities ?P> — *M-j£§sk.°£- sl *Ah neigh* sufficieilt? to deter^tSiem' and ; it does not suit tempeivto^ pursue the ; eirHfifXcf "conduct wHeK 'corresponds .unarmed /condition./ ,t As a conseguenc,^ .^e arejCpntinually Hll* 'o^'^e's * n ™? ■."condition.-uppri-'oiir^iiands ' a i;i; bl6pdy RfeMfitii isome^harbarous ,-. brJ-half- ■ HfifSd race, fe^'ipg^o .adequate Hlill^ith' wliieti' to '" carry it M within Miiflan six months' call.- The result HSlfp^while, w^are .collecting;, ojir| H; i|wes,;oii£ enemies are. learning to? ■ll^tbeinselves our superiors^ arid ; aH'j ■|r:ijjrars;are,;.-in the/ s ejad, y tau_cfr(niore j ■} |i»than theyvnegd\be. ; . They are j BSf»lmrfeful.tQ us, in permanently H- f|fc the racfe with whom, we affcerBi :ii|« mean' to I trade, and in procuring ■' ■ : $M* a - Europe-a -sanguinary- reputa— ■iv^rliich we hardly _, deserve v .This^ HiHlmu New Zealand seems f'"des-f' ■i i|l to proye, _ no_ exception ;to the ■;;4j No English Ministry can be ■ :|»d ibr having '; failed to provide K^t the results of a Colonial policy ■f IB they did not; originate* lior sane-* R i|» But the .scantiness ■ jq£, general ■; ;||»ron's force, thbugli niiavoidable, ['!§ ely to contribute, seriously to the :| ration of "this ealamitiotis ' war. i'| ations are. at, a .standstill for i:| ien. . : The insurgent natives^ are" > : -v| Sly for tifying , their .positions, and ;-;-| r'of those who have hot yet moved ; Ipr now to be on. the "point of ] Lfjftg rebelUoiij encouraged by 'Jljjippareht' impotence of our arms.. said jthat a .reverse '..of any p§9 on our * v side "Will certainly' Ibarid ; -Ifßher the w,hple population iMmsb us, and \ reduce the conflict j sfifcicn the 'twp graces," to a iwar ";qfj J^rminatioii. ; J ]Aiixl:' a' reverse is no "P^ e ty contingency 'in bush warfare, £|«c the bravery and discipline of .^yrHte.inan avail little, against the Ifflge's' ' local lm'6 Pledge and ' supple ■:lmi. The IVf misjudge of our power. J|»hat they see upon the spot. They . ||ijv; o£ the, ,enprmous wealth ; Jlljiiie liiilitary'strength which- are id /Hh^' an^ which make their .hopes their nationality in defiance ""j|bs an idle' dreamy Arid*if Hve' cannot iAiptly convince them of our power by "j icisiye military success, the whole 7\ twill naturally argue that it is just Opportunity; for -ithem^td' -rescue *; r coimtiy, before- they shall have .; iin rweaker 'andj-the j strangers rela- -- ly stronger.i v/ :[:-fy;,- \.P*J- :■ sif to increase to. the utmost the Tedit and difficulties of the war, ~' : colonists are pressing upon' the . l repmnent^-4-andA'' -the - - G-overmnent ears to some -- extent" to have con-ted-M;o' borrow a leaf /from Presi- ". t Lincoln's book- The ConfiscalAct, it appears, is to be nnitated Xew Zealand. .It is openly ~ pro|*d— and it seems to be ; assumed t the project willjbe: sanctioned — ) pay the expenses of the war " confiscating the lands of the,.tribes ) have taken arms against the wn. Gf eoursß :_suchi a /measure lid be profitable^ ifdt) could 1 be carl out without resistance ; for ? :the, Is are rich, and, their price woxild ell the land iWd/'-'itfdr 1 can the legi- . far- as preced.ents /are .^ncenied? it a Government ought to be very: re of complete yietory thati ventures* such a step. It>is burning the ships pot its own ships," but the ships of |c enemj. It i% forcing ,him;.tq .fight '■the bitter endfwhether he wisitfes'it' ■ not. The Maoris^have nothing else W their land. "With .few exceptions, WJ are not skilled, in. handicrafts, and luld not . support themselves ■ in-;any ' •h employment .against.; ( European ■mpetition. Even- as.^laborers, as' *wers of wood or drawers tof / water, ■eir labor is.. of -litt^yaluei .and: the #cc of it, by itself, -wouldi hardly suf»e to meet their .most -necessary "lints. If their land * ; is; taken from v ■em, they will be reducedW a con- j --■tioa somewhat . lower 'I and more ! ■retched than that of after »c great Protestant confiscations. To ■ Maori, whose sense -bf-pßrstfiial digJty is keenr such; ; a, ■ould be far more; -terrible than ■eath. If the Grpyernment . anjpunces to the natives, as the coloPsts are urgmgitr^aijparently.with »o much prospect, of .. success— to s doj Pat such a fate willbe She- first conse-. ■uence pf peace/ theyuwill.cqntiaye. to ■gnt after their oAvn peculiar fashion, Jiurdering, bui-ning, ravaging, till the ;«ast thicket in which a Maori rifleman' ■*a lurk has been cut down. With WUuh a proclamation once issued, there mn be no talk of terms ; for even if it we recalled, the remembrance of it wfll 1 #ot be easily effaced from the native IRn • No choice wiU be^ left to-tlie ymtes, when , such ,a step has been W ken > but ' to hum the Maori mm of the Northern, island, as the ■Maoris have burned- tEe Moa out ■« the Southern. As -the Irish■man. hated the Saxon, as the Pole ■nates the Russian, as the inhabitant of ■tossippi or Tennessee hates the ■ xankee, so will the -Maoris' hate the ■liovernment 1 and -the people that have ■stripped them of that whfch to them is

•wealthv^d^libijor, aiid indep^tidehce^ With such hatred' every future G-6yern' ment, and every individual settlement in- the JSf or-fclier-n island, will have to Jidntencl, until the race that cherishes ! itjhas ceaaed to exist, $o doubt, if fully exerted, England's power is equal to these - -things, ■'■ -'But.'' -will such an €>xerois9j t>£ ? tipwor ; be very profit^ble^ tflf the Kortheyn island ? A Xew Zealand newsp&pei' Veoently ohnrao- j teVised My. ■A.dderley'a protest against oui\ Oolonlal 3stiniates fas • the M yell of '.a taxpayer.'! Jt ;js jt,. kind: .of y^llwitii. which the colonists will ,be, very lamilliar if this war is to assume j ; tHe shape of a war of extermination. English taxpayers will not be content tcj pay millions for. a quarrel which ; is not^ theirs, and wkieh' has not' been brought about by their agreed of land, unless they are first satisfied that the colonists: : have paid -to./ ±h.& ' uttermoafc farthing of their capacity. Already tlie colonial finances are beginning to%ive • way.- .> Desperate, . schemes 4 for,weighting them are being suggested .— ramong ; others L a .loan ...,<. to; .be secured t uppn, ; ; the. , lan.d/ which is 'to be conquered- and . confiscated frbm the '.-Maori!" It is.".difficult. '"'.difficult tp predict what value may ; be attached to so novel a security ■on the English iStock-exehange. Heavy ineumbrances *of all kinds are usually., objected to by 'those who desire to acquire real estate, aiid land encumbered with a Maori title, to be enforced by "a bullet at the first -favorable opjiortuiiity, does not seem, to purchase for • which the competition is likely /to, be hot. . - ; There is another very serious objecitipn to the confiscation scheme at the fpresent moment, which will not apply with suph force later. on, if the .mass of the tribes that are now wavering should be 'dra\NTi into the struggle.- It is; simply furnishing fuel to the flame 'by^which ;; this war has been originally kindled; , That the whites have a fixed design, by force or craft, to possess themselves of the Maori's land, is a "conviction which the colonists have contrived, in one yfay or another, to burn , deep into, the native mind. Partly it has been the mistake of the Grovernment, which, to meet the white clamour for land, has employed skilfulagents., to buy it of the sinrpler natives in vast tracts at a nominal price. The celebrated despatch of Lord Grey, in 'which . the title of the natives was plumply denied, contributed to propagate that "comdeti on. But the most powerful cause of its prevalence undoubtedly has been the foolish and wickedlanguage constantly held out by the colonists themselves. Both in newspapers and at public meetings they have not scrupled to advocate a forcible transfer of the land from its real owners, upon the naked ground that iri the hands of the savage it yielded less than in the hands of the civilized man it was likely to do. The doctrine would have applied equally to the park of an English landholder. But, whatever its theoretical defects, its practical operation has been momentous — especially to those who have maintained it. More, perhaps, than any other- single cause, it is chargeable with «the ravaged homesteads and murdered settlers which mai'k the present frontier between Maori and English land. It has bred an intense irritability upon the subject in the native mind ; so that "when Governor Browne committed the folly of seizing a block of litigated land by force, they at once drew the worst inference, and concluded that the doctrines which they had heard broached so often were now at last to. be carried into practice. This belief, so excited and sustained, is the true of the war. Unhappily the Confiscations cheme will only seem to thenatives to be a justification of all their fears. It will confirm them in the belief that the appetite for land is the real mainspring of the policy of the whites. It Will appear to them as the revelation of a long cherished design, disclosed in the ..anticipation of approaching triumph.- y And .it will seem to convey ahvarning to those who have not yet taken • part in the conflict, that the truercause of quarrel is one in which .all of -Maori blood ware equally concerned, and, 'one which, : therefore, all must; combine 'to struggle for. It is surely ; not worth while to embitter the contest and enlarge its limits, for the very questionable relief which the Treasury can-hope to obtain from the sale of land^ which the purchaser will have to conquer for himself: ■•■ Tet, by the tenor of the lastintelligence, there ! is- too. much reason to :fear that spine j such measure will be forced on tiie' G-overnm'eiit by-the local Legislature.