Rewi's Telegram.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3034, 5 November 1878, Page 2

Rewi's Telegram.

n The following appeared in the Dunedin Morning Herald as a letter to the Editor :—

Sir,—-The Wellington correspondent of the Daily Times tells us that " theNatire Minister has received a telegram from Rewi, say ing that had he and Sir George Grey gone out of office, not a European man, woman, or child would hare been allowed to enter the Waikato till they came back." Certainly a most extraordinary piece of news. If the Native Minister actually received such a tele* gram, he ought to have been ashamed to publish it.! It is bad enough for a Minis* ter of the Crown to be insulted in his character of Minister, whether by a white man or a black, and especially when the insult has apparently been provoked by himself—but it is a thousand times worse for him to put an indignity upon the whole colony by glorying in that insult. Does not Mr Sheehansee that Rewi's congratulatory message is virtually a defiance. of the authority of the Crown ? If he does not he must be the most obtuse of mortals; but if he does, what are we to think of his publishing the treasonable telegram ? It is a most disgraceful business, and looks as if the Ministry were actually trading on the petulant disloyalty of these Waikato Natives. Mr Sheehan ought to have telegraphed a severe rebuke to Rewi without a moment's delay. He ought to have assured him that he was highly indignant at receiving such a message, and that it was his (Rewi's) duty to respect the Queen's authority, no matter by whom her Government might happen to be administered. The Maoris know the meaning of a firm and respectful policy as well as the whites, and for any Ministry to give them to understand that they only are their friends is to do that which I beg you will not ask me to put into plain English. I had hoped that the present Government would have succeeded in reconciling the Waikatos to British rule; but if it should turn out that they have only reconciled them to their own administration, they will have done infinitely more harm than good. There is nothing I should deprecate more than an ungentle treatment of the poor Natives, and I honour Sir George Grey almost to the point of veneration for, the noble manner in which has befriended | and protected them, but I do not hesitate , to say that such a policy as seems to be indicated by this telegram of Rewi's is just the kind of policy that will, sooner or later, issue in rods and scorpions for Bewi and his people. In mercy therefore to 'the Maoris, no less than out of regard to the honour of the Colony, I beg to protest against the correspondence which appears to be carried on between Rewi and the Native Minister.