THE LATE NATIVE MINISTER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 351, 10 February 1881, Page 2

THE LATE NATIVE MINISTER.

The Evening Post has lately published a leading article dealing with the question of the resignation of his portfolio by the lute Native Minister. From the state ments made, it appears that Mr Bryce did not recommend the arrest of Te Whiti. His notion was to secure the murderer Huoki, who has long been sheltered in Parihaka. This project seems perfectly correct, but it is argu'd that Te Whiti and Tohu would resist, and probably refuse to allow the arrest of his savage, and by so doing place themselves in a position to be arrested themselves, consequently it is deemed hr. prudent by the aiguers to arrest the criminal. Such an utter forgetfulness of law aDd order it is difficult to account for. It would appear that, in the minds oP Ministers, Te "VVhili is, at any rate, a power in the land, and the weakness, b.trayed for them in not conceding to Mr Bryce's proposal to ablest a notorious criminal, will not lose its effect on the Native mind. One might as well pause before arresting a white criminal getting into a stronghold where his capture would probably entail injury to others obstructing it. To say that the seizure of the murderer Hiroki would possibly involve Te Whiti iu a resistance, placing him in the power of the law, is childish in the extreme. Should Te Whiti or any other man, black or white, break the peace, he or they should be shown that such cannot be done with impunity, and they should be punished accordingly. The temporising policy pur sued by the present Ministry, and by preceding Ministries belonging to the same party, leaves a solution of the Native difficulty as firmly fixed in the womb of the future as it ever was. The vigorous action of the late Minister waa about producing results likely to bring about a conclusion of trouble between the races ; but such is not " a consummation devoutly to be wished," it is thought, by the other members of the land-controlling Government.