The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4460, 21 April 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1883.

The Native Minister is to be congratulated on his success in passing through the King country unmolested, but too much significance should not be placed upon the fact that be met with no resist* anpe—that is, by force. The experience of the native is that forcible resistance is " played out." Various bodies of Natives have endeavoured to conserve their privileges by such means, and they have found that they are too weak to succeed in so doing, so that their passive demeanour upon the occasion of Mr Bryce's passage through their country is at once accounted for; they have seen how previous attempts of the kind have been put down with a high hand, and with a wisdom—which they are not usually credited with possessing—they quietly submitted themselves to the inevitable, and allowed the harmless cavalcade to pass over their lands, contenting themselves with once or twice entering a mild protest against the procedure. It is idle for Mr Bryce to assert—as he has done—that the King Country is now open. None but those in authority, With a well-known and fully recognised power behind them could, with impunity, travel over the same ground that he traversed. Even he, the invincible, when travellingover certain portions of the country was warned not to look to the right, the left, or look back. This was very conveniently twisted into a consent that the party should go ahead ; but bad even Mr Bryce and his followers attempted to diverge from their path through the country, their march might not have been so triumphant. There can be no doubt that the native race is peaceably inclined; they don't want war or even trouble; they only desire to preserve their rights, retain their heritage, and prevent trespasses on their property. They have seen in the past how they have, piecemeal, been deprived of their lands; how the possessions which have been theirs for generations have passed away from for ever. As has been written over and over again, the various land grabbers have been the first great cause of the trouble experienced in opening the native lands, and the facilities given to these sharks by this and other Governments have made the Maories distrustful, and have put them upon their guard in connection with the lands remaining in their possession. We have no desire to attempt to dash the cup of happiness from the lips of Mr Bryce, nor to lesson the measure of wild enthusiasm indulged in by his admirers in consequence of his bloodless battle at Farifaaka, and his intrepid tour through a peaceably disposed country and people; but it must not be forgotten that much more remains to be done. We have no hesitation in stating that surveys will not be permitted throughout the King country during the present state of the law regarding native lands and its. procedure, and in facilitating the opening of those lands for settlement, the voice of the owners, should be listened to. The fact of a few chiefs entering into the views of the Native Minister con amove does not give in the adhesion of the great numbers of Native pleaders throughout the Island. It is therefore necessary that before all those self* gratulatory addresses of the Minister be delivered broadcast, something more tan* gible should be done and shown, than a four days' ride through the country— where no forcible resistance could under the circumstances be reasonably expected.