The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1882.

Temuka Leader, Issue 911, 31 January 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1882.

The reception, which his Majesty the Maori kin g, Tawhaio, has met with in Auckland must be very gratifying to him, and is likely to prove advantageous to the colony. He has been cheered to the echo, feasted by the civic- dignitaries of the town, taken oh board the German, man-of-war, shown how to fire a gun, shown the schools, and everything that was worth seeing, taken to.the theatres, to the opera, and in fact treated with the consideration due to ins royal position. The people of Auckland have donewisely in treating Tawhaio and his chiefs with so much consideration. For a long time he and his people have held aloof altogether fr nn Europe ms. He has resisted all the influences brought to bear on him to come out of his fastness, to witness the spread of civilisation through the land over which his ancestors held regal sway. Even the sagacious Sir George Grey, who, at the time, was held in such high esteem by the natives as to be dubbed ' “father” by them, was unable to get civility from his Majesty, and he had to return home discomfited in ins attempt to induce Tawhaio to come out into the light of civilisation and accept certain proposals, including a seat in the Upper House, ami representation for his people in Parliament. The meeting at which,.Sir George Grey attempted to interview Tawhaio took place in May, 1879, at Te Kopua, and it was said that it was the largest assemblage cf natives that was ever seen. Tawhaio then announced that he was king of all New Zealand, and that all people living therein were his subjects. He was so vehement that most of the native chiefs condemns! his policy. Sir George Grey made sever .1 furtive attempts to reason with him : he eveo wrote a letter to Tawhaio which the Press, and most public men at the time, condemned as humiliating to the Government, but his majesty treated it with contempt, not even deigning to reply to it, and he, returned to his own country evidently more irreconcilable than ever. Three years, however, have wrogulit a great change iu him, A few months ago he gave the first evidence of his desire to be raconciied to the Europeans by sending a quantity of arms to ami now he is.the lion of the day in Auckland. Nothing could tend more to reconcile Tawhaio than the reception which lias been .given to him, and the sights he lias seen- during bis visit to Auckland. Besides that the reception muse be gratifying to him, he cannot fail to see that intercourse betwen Europeans and his people would be advantageous, and the probabilities are that we shall soon hear of the King Country being as open to _ Europeans for settlement as any other part of New Zealand. The King Country has been shut against Europeans, in fact, it was death for a white man to enter it. A short time ago a Wanganui man went into a part of the King Country looking for some gold he had hidden there years ago, and was murdered by the natives, on the ground that the land was tabooed against white men. This taboo will surely be removed now, and free access to the country given. It is said that it is rich in gold and minerals, and if opened it will, doubtless, prove a source of great wealth to the colony. The visit of Tawhaio therefore may be regarded as of considerable importance,, as it indicates, taken together with the peaceful way in which natives are behaving since the capture of Parihaka and the imprisonment of To Whiti, that the native difficulty is forever at an end.