Mr Hobbs on the Goverment Policy.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3229, 25 June 1879, Page 2

Mr Hobbs on the Goverment Policy.

His Opinion of th© Eopua

Mr Hpbbs, VM.H.R; for Franklin,, }n bis' speech to the electors at Otahuhu, .said.his .own impressions had been that Sir George Grey was to accept the portfolio of Native 1 Minister as well as acting as Premier, and he might say there, was no one more fitted to administer the Native Department. He was undeceived however, when the Hon., Mr Sheehan went to Parihaka and demanded the surrender of Hiroki^ the murderer, and coming back afterwards looking rather foolish. He was satisfied that Sir George Grey would do nothing like .that. The war which 'now seemed inevitable, and which lie believed would be the last Maori war, might be traced to that Parihaka meeting, for there could be no doubt that the effect of it was to give Te,Whiti an inflated idea of his own importance. He (Mr Hobbs) had gone to the native meeting at Te^ppua, in prder to see and to hear for himself,, and he was obliged to admit that it Had a Very depressing effect upon him. He could assure the Government that they ought to place a person on the frontier to give them reliable information, and to act with fidelity.. True, Mr Grace had been recently sent there. He was a good native scholar, but then his timo was taken up in;givirig orders upon the different storekeepers for goods'of all kinds, and he thought if the vouchers could be got they would find that the native meeting was a frightfully expensive affair. He believed Sir George Grey did quite right in breaking it up, for there was no option. The very natives would not speak to Him. They never recognised him from the time he came until he went away, but treated him with the greatest contempt, especially the more fanatic of the Hauhaus. They seemed impressed with the belief that Sir Geo. Grey was the cause of all their trouble, And of the injustice of which they complained. He had spoken to old Mauuhiri, who used to live at Mangero,jand when he ( asked the old chief the cause of his animosity towards the Government Manuhiri pulled out from his breast a copy of a Government Gazette of 1863, containing a notification by SirG. Grey.ordering the natives to leave Maogere. Te Wahauui was

one of the finest specimens of a Maori chief he had ever seen, and at the meeting he spoke with groat feeling, though in subdued tones. He said Sir George Grey was their friend, and the Queen their mother, but who separated them. Te Ntfakau also blamed Sir George Grey, and the feeling seemed general. Te Wahanui had applied to Grey one of the most insulting epithets in the Maori language, "ho kuri inui toto," which meant a blood drinking dog. The wisest step taken by the Government was in bringing with them the Nj»apuhi chiefs, whose loyal expressions had the effect of moderating utterances of Hauhaus. He (Mr Hobbs) was pleased to find good feeling existed between settlers on the frontier and the natives, and he believed the day was not remote when the latter would abandon their isolation. He had a long and interesting conversation with Rewi at the Northern Club with respect to that chief's interviow with the Governor. Eewi said he was like a bush pig, and that Majors Mair and Jackson had tamed him, and had brought him to the Governor. He was impressed with the sobriety and decorum preserved amongst the Hauhaus, and equally so when he contrasted it with the drunkenness and what not that was going on all the time at Alexandra. It was his firm conviction that no man should hold the j portfolio of Native Minister, or, in fact, hold any important office in the Native Department, whose political, social, and moral character were,not, such as to be:a worthy example to natives. Mr Hobbs then went on to deal with the question of i native lands, and, in doing so, expressed his opinion that the Government was acting wrongly in determining to be the sole purchasers. The natives should not be made subjects of exceptional legislation in this matter, but shbuld;be placed lon the same level as European landholders. Of course the contingency of their becoming paupers might be guarded against by making a certain portion of,ihe reserves inalienable. This was the feeling of the natives themselves, and it was the sore point with all of .them, i