MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 May 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

CONFLICTING ELEMENTS. (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) Let us assume that our troops could have captured the Maori forts at a distance from the river as easily as those on its banks which had fallen before the gun-boat, that we could feed our troops without roads, that, we might drive the Maoris from their natural forest home-what then? Where were the 20,000 suitable settlers to come from? ~ . , In other parts of the world labourers were eagerly sought, none were needed here. Each pioneer was his own artisan and workman, pick and shovel, saw, axe, maul and wedges his machinery. Despite the good work of these resourceful men who made a living for their families by their practical industry, the disturbing elements were a few swindlers who robbed the Maoris of their land and destroyed all trust between them and the pakeha. Another element of discord lay in the profitable trading between merchants in the city and 20,000 troops, whose presence was an open menace to peaceful tribes and to the Maori King's many loyal followers. Sir George Grey, had he been permitted to act as a benevolent dictator in the mutual interests of the genuine pioneers and the Maoris, would have produced an entirely different result. He would not have permitted us to introduce grog shops among these easy victims, nor would he have allowed speculators to acquire 50,000 acres each for attractive articles valued at £lOO. Yet what could he do with the conflicting interest of the colonial government, who obtained the Imperial expenditure of a million pounds a year for the maintenance of troops here, and the previous, but now failing, influence of unselfish missions of peace and goodwill.