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Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 68, 4 November 1864, Page 2

Xow that an early meeting of the General Assembly has been decided on, speculation is rife as to what the result of the Session will be. The people have succeeded in obtaiuing their first wish. Their representatives have been summoned to Auckland, after a futile attempt on the part of Sir George Grey to carry on the Government without an Executive — or with an Executive opposed to him on all the great questions of the day. ThE principal subjects wliich wdl engross the attention of the Assembly must of necessity be the war and the financial stale of the whole of the Colony. There are other points which may be introduced at the hitter end of the light, but those two arc the c.-auss of" the AsrtO:nbly beinsc called together, and on the manner in which they are treated the future of the Colony may be said in a great measure to h.mg. With regard to the war, the matter stands thus: — The policy of the Whitaker Ministry having been successful to an extent which enabled them, to look forward to obtaining some substantial advantages, suddenly received a severe check by the conduct of the Governor. After a series of fights of more or less importance, the natives were driven out: of the Waikato, two hundred of their number remained in our hands as prisoner.-', and many threw down their arms and were ready to submit with a good grace to their defeat. We are not now speaking of the cost of thi^J success, but if the price was too high, if the expenditure of blood and treasure was out of proportion to the advantage gained, the more necessity was there for turning the hardly-earned victory to good account. But such a course would appear by no means to have suited the inclination of George Grey. We may safely say that the Waikato campaign, indeed the whole war, was rendered much more costly and less effective by the machinations of the Governor, lie has never been at heart a supporter of the colonists, and although he consented to, if he did not initiate, the war, he has never been willing cordially to assist the Ministry in carrying out their policy. Instead of at once confiscating that portion of the Maori territory which had been agreed on, and causing arrangements to be made for a Taranaki campaign, he virtually refused to confiscate an acre, and the troops have been lying idle for months. It is true a Taranaki campaign was talked of, and recently a few deserted pahs have been taken by the military ; but nothing real has been done in that quarter, the pahs having been voluntarily left by the Maoris days before the; so-called attack was made. It was not to bej expected that the rebels would be indifferent spectators of such miserable weakness,; and procrastination It speedily became known amongst them that there was aj hitch somewhere — that the Pakehai were: quarrelling amongst themselves, and that' the Governor was unwilling to follow out fclfe evacuation of the Waikato ;to /ifca; legitimate conclusion. Then they took: lieart; the prisoners regained their liberty;; and the way in which they were able to: effect it ; the position (in a settled district) they choose for their residence; their subsequent conduct in helping themselves 1 o the necesßiiry supplies from the a tores of the neighboring J&uropoans ;

and the fact that no efforts have- been made to retake them, reads us a, plain lesson as to what they think of, and zoe may, expect, from Governor Sir Geokge Grey,- the Great Pacificator. Thus, then, .when the Assembly meets, it will find ho advantage taken of our successes in the Waikato, or nothing whatever worth naming ; it will find Taranaki unavenged and unrestpred ; it will find the late Maori prisoners at large —free to spread rebellion amongst the tribes, and to hold up British rule to .contempt. It will find all this, and it will also find a Governor firmly entrenched behind the clauses" of r Mr; Oardwell's despatch, and _ able and willing to take advantage of his position. And then there is the question of the subsidy to the troops. Will they be dismissed or not? It will be seen that this Native question is now complicated; to an extent which almost defies unravelling. That it may be possible to patch up°a peace with the natives without further bloodshed is true, but it must of necessity be a peace without a sure foundation — a peace which will leave the question almost where it was at the commencement, with the exception that the repugnance of the native race to the colonists will be greater than ever, and* life and property in the outlying districts almost as unsafe as though we were actually at war. In this case the colonists of New Zealand have been true to themselves, in spite of all the lying abuse which has been so freely lavished on them by the people of the Home Country. It is to Sir George Grey they must look as the author of much of the difficulty. Had he from the first vigorously seconded the efforts of the Ministry the war would by this time have been ove r , and if we had paid too dearly for the conquest, we should have had plenty of time during a permanent peace to retrieve our financial position. That question of the finances of the Colony is so mixed up with the Native question that it is almost impossible to speak of the one without being compelled to take notice of the other. As in military matters so in the finances of the colony, the Assembly will find a confusion never before equalled in New Zealand. What with General Government loans, and Provincial Government loans, and the question of paying £400,000 to the British troops, it is difficult to see how the Assembly will find its way to peace and plenty — -those two most desirable adjuncts to civilised life. We do not expect it will. Something it may effect, SUCh as getting ridof the British troops and inaugurating a Colonial force. It may reduce expenditure to some extent, and reject the proposals of the British Government to guarantee a million of the loan on terms manifestly unjust to previous creditors of the Colony. It may accept the Panama contract, and. in that way do a little towards getting back the good name of ths Colony. It may enter a strong protest ap-aiut the unconstitutional conduct of the Governor, and it may call on the country to be patient, and bear yet for a while the heavy burden of the Maori War, but we much doubt whether the question of loans will be finally settled this Session, or next either. If ever a country was in want of a statesman, it is New Zealand at the present moment.