The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1848, 4 December 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1874.

Tb MoAKANtrc's telegram and letter to Sir Donald McLean, as published in the AdvertUer this morning, have been the theme of considerable comment to day, and the wily chief has come in for a certain amount of blessing. It has been currently asserted that the documents sent to the Native and Defence Minister were written by one of the pakeha* interested in keeping the Ohinemuri district closed. We should not doubt it, especially considering the reference to snakes, of which Te Moananui can know nothing—the word in Maori expressing snake being, we believe, but a corruption of the Saxon. It is evident, too, that the Native Minister did' not think the telegram worth a reply, or he would have sent it, and Te Moananui would have handed it for publication to the Advertiser with his own copies. If the Government are inclined to do the ri^ht thing inthe matter, they will undoubtedly respect the rights of those Natives who do not wish to sell their Ohinemuri land; but they are few, and could be easily disposed of. Te Moannnui, it has been frequently asserted, does not own an aero of land at Ohinemuri— that he is a mere squatter. Yet he has the most to say on the question of selling the land, and can bounce and threaten as if he were lord of all the soil. It is also stated that his journey to Auckland was not stopped from inclinanation, but under advice from his professed friends, who thought that once within, reach of the Native Minister, the real reason of Te Moananui's opposition Would have been divulged and quickly disposed of. The case as it now stands is one of perplexity. If Te Moananui's opposition is more powerful than the acquiescence of two or three dozen equally influential chiefs and their whole tribes, Ohinemuri will remain closed, and the land which should pass into a public esiate will be gradually alienated to speculators. On the other hand, should Mr Mackay receive encouragement to proceed in his work, the country will be opened, or, at least, such portions of it as will allow a practical test of its 'character as being gtldproducing or otherwise. WhateTer

moral force the- Thames community can exercise should be put forth now to aid Mr Mackay as against the obstructionists. If not opened now Ohinemuri will be indefinitely closed to public enterprise.