THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT YOUR FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1881.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3751, 5 January 1881, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT YOUR FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1881.

It is tolerably clear that His Excellency the Governor does not " hit it off " at all well with John Hall and his Cabinet. From the manner in which Ministers have treated Sir Arthur Gordon in regard to his making a communication on native grievances to Te Whiti, it would appear that they do not set that value upon the Governor's advice or opinion which is usually accorded (even if only by courtesy) to the Queen's representative in a colonial dependency. As will be seen from the Premier's letter, the Ministers have apparently decided on a course without the advice of the .Governor, and that they have requested him (in a manner approaching the imperative) to carry it out without further discussion or comment. This the Governor has done, and has forwarded the following letter to Te Whiti:— *

Feiend Te Whiti,— This is an.-ann-ouncement to you. You, who are living apart in a far-off portion of thesac islands, whom I desire to see brou&KfcJnlar'tne. I am come to assume,thefGovernment on behalf of the Queen, ancKin her name to administer -jußtice/-to^ >I>pth'':rac£s of her subjects. have existed amon^s^^^^fcpSlabri people have been knfi#tt i t(is i'inf')Bi t'llie past, and now it is my duty to" do my best to remove them. I know what has been done by my predecessor and the General Assembly to settle the difficulties which have arisen, and I desire to finish the work of putting things right. lam told you are desirous of seeing me and representing your view of what should be done to promote this good end. This is very good, and if you will let me know when you will come to Wellington to see me, you shall be received with fitting hospitality, and I will not only listen to. whatever you wish to say to me, but also, if you show wrong has been done, will do justice in accordance with the law and will of the Queen. Should you consider the distance between Wellington and Parihaka too great to travel, then there is another way in which it would be easier for us to meet to discuss matters. I shall soon be journeying round the colony to make myself acquainted with the affairs of Europeans and natives throughout these islands, and in my journey shall visit New Plymouth. Now, if you will come, you can jfQore readily return thence to your ownpeople to tell them the result of our conference. Orfif you prefer, I will meet you at any other place on the way between Hew Plymouth and Hawera, by the inward road. lam told you have heard of what is proposed to be done for the settlement of differences, aud when we meet will make more known to yjMj^f; the provision which will be made fo3j?||p6& settlement of your people, and the $|ans which I have for their future welfare* UF have lately ruled over people very much like the Maoris. I have left them happy arid contented, discussing their own affairs. They make their wishes known to the Queen and to the Governor, in a regular manner, through duly constituted channels. Why do not you and yours in like manner avail yourselves of these I channels, which, though not the same here, answer a similar purpose? Why should we not talk of these matters ? I have heard you are a man of peace, ancj that you have striven to prevent war. The light is still lingering on the mountain top. When you receive this letter, write mo at once, so that I may .know what your intentions are —whether you will come here, or whether you will meet me on the journey, and I will then let you know what day I shall be at New Plymouth. If you explain in your letter <■ what you grievances are, I shall be better able to answer you when w;e meet. — From your friend, Aethue Gobdon. Can it be that the 'above letter was written by a man coming from an ancient stock—the representative of a timehonored family, the bearer of a proud name? Or, was it written*: by a man whose veins are polluted with the-sombre life blood of an aboriginal native, and whose greatest «urn is the development of the Maori to the detriment of the European ? For the Governor of the colony of New Zealand, on whom, the Royal hand has been placed, and who, doubtless, by reason of noble descent, is of infinitely greater value- than the resb of mankind, to have sent such a letter to the playful old scarecrow at Parihaka is a fact much to be regretted. The letter is of itself a pleading, pacifying, supplicating petition from His Excellency to Te

Whiti. and is disgraceful not only to him ItoT to the Hall Ministry, ' who, in despatching such a . letter, have sacrificed the dignity of the. British ..Grown in order to pander to the idiocrasies of a Maori agitator. The^tter will probably lessen the chances of an arrangement of the native difficulties instead of assisting in,a tangibly' settlement. The abject manner in which' the request for a conference was made is not the only point to which grave cause of objection is given, but the epistle does not savour too much of veracity, vainglorious boast of Sir Arthur that "he had left the people he had lately ruled over happy and contented " is slightly different to the real feeling respecting him which prevails in Fiji at the present time, and we should have thought that he would not hare so openly vaunted his successful guberua-

torial rulership of the Pacific while the newspapers of the colony were daily giving utterance to the y complaints his jurisdiction has caused in Fiji. If a conference is to be held, let it be between recognised authority and unrecognised obstruction, instead of on a level of white and black races, and let us not debase the greatness of our nation by meeting the Parihaka Lord as abject supplicants for friendly arrangement of native questions.