SIR GEORGE GREY.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 423, 12 November 1861, Page 3

SIR GEORGE GREY.

The departure of his Excellency Sir George Grey, by fI.M.S.S. Pelorus on Monday the 4th, accompanied by the Colonial Secretary Mr. Fox, on a visit to the Bay of Islands and Hokianga, will prove to be, we hope, the commencement of a series of peaceful campaigns in the Maori territory which will end in restoring the friendly relations between the races, and establish once more law, order, and security in this lately distracted colony. It was, we understand, in consequence of an invitation personally delivered by our old ally Tamati Waka Nene (who no sooner heard of Sir Geor»e Grey's arrival than he hastened to Auckland), that the Ngapuhi tribe has been honored by his first visit. Influential chiefs from other districts, including the Lower Waikato, have also been to see his Excellency, and have urgently requested him to visit them, which, we understand, he has promised to do as soon as he returns from the Bay of Islands. It is said that it is Governor Grey's intention to offer to the Natives a system of civil institutions similar to that he introduced at the Cape of Good Hope, and which led to the settlement of difficulties of far greater magnitude than any which exist here. The Cape Colony was, we believe, divided into Districts, over each of which was placed a European Commissioner, Resident Magistrate, and other officers, who were assisted by a District Council of leading Chiefs, and subordinate Councils, similar to the Runanga of the New Zealanders. To every Runanga or Council were attached a chief policeman and a certain- number of subordinate constables, all being Natives. Tiiese officers as well as the members of the District Council, all received pay, varying in amount; judicial powers, within certain limits, power of local taxation and of constructing public works, were conferred on these bodies. Bonafide settlement by Europeans on lands within the Native districts, on certain terms, and always with the consent of the Native authorities, was encouraged, and thus hundreds of Europeans soon became dwellers beyond the frontier, to the mutual advantage of the races. This system, somewhat costly in the first instance, was inaugurated only about seven years since, yet, before Sir George Grey left the Cape Colony, it was, as w« have heard, actually not only paying its own expenses, but leaving a surplus,-—the fundt being provided by the local, voluntary taxation of Caffres and other Native races. We have no doubt that when Sir George Grey's plans for New Zealand shall have been laid before the public, whether in print or evidenced and explained by the practical introduction of the system, their aptitude for the emergency will be admitted by all who really understand the'Nafive question.' There will of course be some small critics and some of the worshippers of the l British Lion,' who have predicted that the sword alone can solve the native difficulty, who will fail to see any merit in Sir George Grey's plans. The fact, however, that this system has been successful at the. Cape, will induce all reasonable men to afford it a fair trial here, and to give their best support to the experiment. The Governor's exertions will be backed up by all those who have the welfare of the colony at heart. I The annual cost of active military operations in New Zealand, with such a force as that which we have now in the colony, would not, we believe, be less than one and a half million sterling: of this sum one half may be taken to represent the extraordinary war expenditure; the other half will be the cost of maintaining the same force in time of peace. The difference between the cost of troops now here, it used merely as a protective force, and their cost as an aggressive force, will therefore be three-quarters of a million annually. We do not. suppose that for a long time to come Sir George Grey will advise her Majesty's Government to remove a single soldier from the colony; and if by a wise and pacific policy a sum so large can be saved, we suspect that fact will go far towards ensuring the approval of that policy by the loan burdened people of Great Britain. The characteristic from which we argue most favorably in Sir George Grey's proceedings is the quietness with which he has gone about his work. He has been a month maturing his plans; receiving in the meantime personal visits fr>m such leading chiefs as have come in to Auckland to see him. lie has launched no protocols; neither threatened nor cajoled; and now he is off to the Bay of Islands* accompanied by a single responsible minister and an interpreter, for the purpose of taking the first practical step towards the solution of the problem before him. ' A third class clerk { and a sealed letter' are no longer to be the medium of communication between the Native people. f His woiks will follow him/ will tell their own tale, and, if we are not much mistaken, the thing will be done before it is talked about. The Natives of "New Zealand have lost faith in the barren generalities and unfruitful promises of the Representatives of the British Government; but when they find that something is being done, and done with their own assistance and concert, they will learn to value the hand that guides them in their search for 4 light,' and aids them in the great work of self-elevation on which the national mind has been intent for several years.