LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 328, 29 January 1863, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

January 24, 1863. Sir,—As Governor Grey is entrusted with the whole management of native affairs, 1 think it quite right that his conduct with regard to public matters should be carefully watched and criticised to see whether, he is deserving of the confidence reposed in him or not. On his first arrival in this country to relieve Capt. Fitzroy things were in a dull and bad state. The British Government intrusted him with any amount of men and money that he might require to get things settled on a firm basis. He found the natives at that time divided amongst themselves, and a large number were always ready to give the Government assistance in putting down any lawless characters or tribes that rebel against it. He found the Missionary party were very strong here, and that they had great power with the Home Government. He found that the white settlers in the country had no power of making any grievance known, or having it redressed, on account of the opposition met with by them from the Church Missionary Society, which society had used all its influence with the people of England and the, English Government to persuade them that the colonists were a worthless and despicable set of people, and that they wanted to rob the poor innocent natives of their land and get the military to murder them. Sir George Grey, after examining the above state of things, saw, in the first place, that if he availed himself of the profferred assistance of the friendly natives to put down rebellious ones, he would be sure to have power over them, and be enabled at all times to enforce British law and order even to the most remote and unaecessible parts of tfie island. The chief who was afterwards the first native King of New Zealand offered his services to put down the Wanfanui rebellion, and if the vigorous means had een adopted that he recommended we should hear nothing of a native King at the present day, or of nearly the whole of the native tribes being'joined together as they are now. The Governor had all ancient history, as well as the knowledge how things were managed in India (namely, by keeping the natives divided among themselves), to see that by these means a very small European foree can keep them in thorough subjection. If he had adopted that system there is no doubt but that all the bona fide Settlers would have been on his side ; but their influence was small compared with the Missionaries. The thing appeared just'to rest here. The Governor says to himself, What will be the best for my private interest, all things considered ? If I do what is right, and settle the colony on a solid basis of peace, I shall offend

the Missionary party, and they will exert all their influence against me, :.and' I. shall be', ruined. I will therefore throw myself into .their hands, as I feel confident that their power, can ;protect• me from. all-. harm. Sir. George.. Grey kneyr that/ the experiment he was trying never had succeeded, but he felt confident that the Missionaries would protect‘him. . He accordingly allowed the natives* in all cases of war, to leave off fighting with the impression that they had beat us, and as a general rule gave the* hostile natives large presents after they had robbed and plundered a whole district, and when there was nothing more for them to get. Sir George would never insist -upon ; them returning any of the goods that they had taken away, but he used to send' his great commissioner, McLean, to give them a further present of money iri addition to the property they had stolen. Another of his plans wa3 to have no law for a native, but if possible, in any case between a white and a native, to punish a white man, to convince them how much more the Governor loved and respected them than what he did a white man, and to allow! those natives who had murdered white people to escape unpunished as much as possible. To break his word with white people, but never with natives. The Missionaries looked upon his proceedings with joy, but a great number of the old settlers were satisfied such work would not end well, During the time he was carrying on these things, he got the highest praise from the Home Government for his great abilities in managing the natives. It answered his purpose well, which was to keep, things smoothed over by bribery and all kinds of treats till bis term of office should expire ; but just before his time was out the new institutions came in force, which put him into so great a state of alarm that he ran away without. permission. But as he was praised up by the Missionary agents in England, and the true state of things kept in the dark, the Home Government gave him the greatest of praise, together with an appointment of great importance at the Cape. The consequence of his way of managing the natives was to cause them to combine, and to set our laws and military power at defiance. During the time that General Wynyard acted for Sir George Grey on Sir George Grey’s plan, things were just on the point of breaking out; but after this Governor Browne came to take charge of the colony. He appears to have been an honest straightforward man, and had no notion that the ground he stood upon was liollow ; but when a breach of the' peace was made by the natives lie attempted ■ to defend the- law with all the. force at his disposal, when to his great surprise .he found the natives were all under a combination to resist the law. He found the Missionaries bitterly against him, but he had Mr. Stafford and his friends honestly supporting him, and Mr. Fox and his office-at-any-price men opposed to him and the war. The Home Government sent their approval of his conduct in commencing the war, but, after all, Missionary influence prevailed, and he was superseded. • . . - . - After this Sir George Grey returns. Sir George, in an evil hour, again accepted the government of these islands, to try to undo the effects of his own mismanagement. No doubt he thought, by bribing the natives on a large scale, he might succeed in patching things up for his own term of government, and again leave the effect of his bad policy to burst out .with double force' on his- successor, and so get the impression spread 'abroad that he is the only man that has got the abilities to govern the natives of this country. People in England will not believe the low trickery that he condescends to. The Governor has put a stop to the Taranaki war, and has allowed the hostile natives to keep all the plunder that they robbed the settlers of, together, with some land that was under cultivation, and had been purchased from the Government years ago. And he does not insist upon giving the land up, or the murderers of the women and children. He applied to the General Assembly, and got them to vote him supplies of money for two years, to give him a chance to work his scheme ; but he does not tell them what his scheme is. He then travelled round to different parts of the island, and agrees to pay large, numbers of natives as policemen and magistrates, but in reality to buy them over to his side of 'the question. lii Wanganui he locked himself up in a room with natives, and did not, wish any white man to hear what passed. In his great meeting he pledged himself riot to go up to Kaiwhike, where the King natives were, and where the King’s flag was flying, but when he found that the natives would not come down to him, he slipped round the back way through the bush and sneaked up to their place, and thus broke his pledged word. When he got there the natives would not enter into any business with him, so he was obliged to return the same as he went. After that the natives started up the river, and he determined to follow them, but when he had got about three miles up the river, the King natives ordered him back ; so he was obliged to come to town again. The natives here all looked upon his proceedings in a most contemptible manner, and the meanest among them now think themselves equal to the Governor, after he had promised one thing and done another. And since that time they look upon our magistrates as quite below them. Even the white people look upon the Governor’s visit as a failure, and think that he lias disgraced the British Tag. The opinion received amongst the natives is, that Sir George Grey is afraid of them, and that his attempt to buy the natives has been a decided failure in all places. There can be no doubt that his plan, as far as the well-being of the colony is con cerned, will be a decided failure ; but he may succeed to his own private good, by keeping in with the Missionaries, and being able to shuffle things off during his present term of office. And to do this to the best advantage he will use all his endeavours to keep in with the General Assembly, to get his supply of money for bribery and such like matters from them ; but if they disapprove of his system he lvill break with them rather than the Missionaries, because he can now see how poor Governor Browne was served by them. The consequence of his policy is to encourage the natives in insolence, and to convince them that they can do as they like in every matter, and the ultimate consequence will be the natives taking possession of all the out-districts, together with the sheep and cattle they are stocked with. The Ngatiruamri affair will set them a good example of success,’ as they have "ot lots of sheep and. cattle that were stolen from New Plymouth, and for which sheep and cattle the Governor ought to have taken their land, which has a nice sea-frontage extending about two hundred miles along the coast. But the Governor’s plan appears to be, to let them destroy one district, and allow them, to keep all the plunder, and instead of taking their land for payment of the plunder, to borrow two hundred thousand pounds to pay for what the natives have stolen, and keep the natives under the impression that we dare not fight them again, and so encourage them to break out in a fresh district where there is plenty of plunder, instead of fighting it out where all the property has been destroyed that they can get at. This is the plan which Sir George - Grey always adopts, and so holds out every inducement for them to begin again. It is not too much to expect that the whole colony will be destroyed under such a state of proceeding, and that England will withdraw her troops, and we shall incur an enormous debt.

John Jackson. January 27, 1863. Sir, —If Mr. Field’s letter was an answer to the complaint I lodged, through your columns, against the churchwardens, there might be some excuse for his having taken advantage of the hour to treat me passingly to a lengthened commentary on the right divine of church wardens generally, and that of those of Christchurch,

Wanganui, in particular ; but as he appears to jUve lost sight of the original - question altogether, I rnusjfc bring him back-^OJt^gain..... > . In>tjie*firstlplace,|l do 'to’pa/jfihg' church especially when Mr. Field informs nie where-' they go to, of which‘ I was not aware. : Neither- do-I object to pay the fees iri this of a pauper, provided the Government wfll indemnify ine for so doing. But at present I fib nojt ( yet know whether any ‘of the expence’s. I hayS incurred will be remitted to me ; when 'I- rlceive/Cthe reply from Auckland, and the ambuntfor the funeral expCnces, I shall be most happy to hand over the fee to the Church —but, not until then. If the burml fees is a purely commercial ■ transaction, aii| a legal demand for services, perfornred, I needhardly tell Mr. Field that the same are recoverable in a court of justice, whither Air. Field-and:.his colleague ought to have gone, instead of ?|),utting up a notice they had no right to do, tending to damage me in my business., - r ' . ■■■: " If such a case existed, that on the survey of property it became the duty of the surveyor to register a plan of the estate, and a fee was due for the registration, the surveyor would think it rather hard, if/he’ took Up a case doubtful of getting paid for it, and declined paying the fee in consequence, the registrar was to issue a notice jdfft effc employ him ; and Mr; Field, limSg a biutlier. craftsman, would probably cry lout, as loud as anybody. Air. Field, however, flavours me, in conclusion, with the comforting "assurance that if I pay those fees ho: will pull down the notice. He ought to 1 have been satisfied on this point bsfoi e he put it up.' He makes the most of his ease against me by publishing my expressions in the heat of passion and argument on what I. considered an unfair demand .on me, oaths and all —which he might •' as well have left out. He has, however, managed, to say the least, to create a great diversity of opinion among the members of his own church respecting the matter, which, considering the important divisions at present existing* might as well have been avoided. Your obdt. , servant, , . ■Joseph Townsend. . January 28, 1863. Sir, —Can you* or any of your "subscribers, inform me by Whose ( axithority the road under Shakspeare’s cliff > iri always rendered impassable ? During • the/,;winter., it was so covered with firewood rip,-dray could pass ; ana now it. is so covered witii/stories. that neither dray or horse can getibjr 'Without exposure to ’great danger. I daresay ,1: shall b.e>told that if lam annoyed by this nuisance I can summons the offender* but as I expect I help to pay someone to see the road kept - in order, I do not think I am called on to doffiis work. I am, &c. A Drayman.