The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1914. THE COOK ISLANDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 71, 14 March 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1914. THE COOK ISLANDS.

Discussing the recent reported unrest in the Cook Islands, the “Lyttelton Times” says it is not easy to understand why there should be trouble in the Cook Islands under the administration of Captain H. W. Northcroft. This gentleman, who took up th> position of Rresident at Raratonga,' at the request of tiie Government, two or three years after he had retired on his pension, was a worthy sue-! cessor to Colonel Gudgeon, and, like 1 that veteran soldier and administra-j tor, lie already had a very practical I knowledge of native ways and charac-j tor as the result of a lifelong acquaintance with the Maoris when he went to the Islands. Those who know Mr Northcroft will agree with the “Times” that as a Magistrate in New Zealand, Captain Northcroft was

'sometimes too downright to please jeveryone, and he had a fashion of nn- ! fastening legal knots by slashing Cnm tlu'ough with the sword of common sense in so unceremonious a fashion that the lawyers looked aghast, i Possibly ho has offended some of tin', “bush lawyers,” brown ns well as

!white, in Raratonga, but in Xew Zealand he had a reputation for tact as well as firmness in dealing with natives. It is difficult to believe that the first of these qualities has deserted him in his new office. On flic other hand the “Times” thinks there is much less difficulty in understanding the disappointment and resentment of the Raratongan chiefs who travelled all the way to Now Zealand only to find that the Hon. Hr. Romaic, the iM inistor for the Islands, was too busy to meet them, and concludes: “Hr. Roma re. no doubt, is overweighted with State burdens and responsibilities, but be might at least have spared ten minutes to receive those fartravelled delegates of Ins own blood. Complaints, of (his sort will continue no doubt until the Cook Islanders are granted some reasonable representation in New Zealand.”