A LONDON OPINION ON NEW ZEALAND POLITICS AND POLICY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 29 November 1884, Page 2

A LONDON OPINION ON NEW ZEALAND POLITICS AND POLICY.

The following is an extract from a private letter received from London by the last mail and handed to the Few Zealand Herald' What a political turmoil you have had] There Ministerial changes in a few weeks 1 As I write, the cablegram informs us that the irrepressible Vogel Ijeads the list again—a pretty looTc out for our future! Taxation already unbearable; more borrowing, and consequently fqrtijer burdens looming in the future, and population but very slowly filtering into the colony, Passage money and freights fully 25 per cent, higher than is good for legitimate trade. My impression is that unless .borrowing ceases these political gamblers will' make a mesa of it. Tllere appears to be on utter absence of the serious sobriety Btriotly necessary for the occasion. I

pan perceive no stability in the present political position, How can there be, when it presents nought else but an undignified schoolboy scramble, such as occurs after d handful ofcnuts throwii;.in s the air ?at the Very, time, too, when/the eyes of the world' a'rti on the Colonjj. when numbers,of people New "or not, and notwithstanding the drawback of it beginning to- be getting, abroad 'that we- are a well-taked people. The willbe that Canada, backed-Hp by the Queen's son-in-law (the. Marquis of Lome), and also by our late New Zealand colonist, Sir E. W. Stafford, who is ti director lof the Manitoba (Canada) Investment.. Company; and America, already gorged with population,- will get the benefit, -We really must turn over a new leaf, and after | the North Island main line is complete stop borrowing for ten years at the least, and cry to get a living -.out of honest trade, be it ever so small, and not on borrowed money. We must also put in, and keep in, a serious and Stable Ministry and representatives. Another, question is the appointment for Agent-General. to be given to a smart young New Zealand born politician. The appointments up. to the present have been quite unsuited to our .requirements, We require a smart bustling man, and not the usual wornout political horse, only fit for afterdinner speeches. New South Wales shewed discretion in her appointment, Sir Saul Samuel being a native of Sydney, and consequently the -pablic know a great deal of New South Wales, whereas the English newspapers hardly see anything about' New. Zealand, except it be a that " we want to borrow another million."

A MAOKI dALXITE AND ITS ' 'CONSEQUENCES. A tribe,'of natives, wlio'lived near the heads oftho Hfokianga river, having by some means recovered-two cannons froni the wreck of a - vessel that had been cast away, were'in high glee at their prize. What indeed were Tttpara's (double barrel guns) and Ngutu parera's (duckbills, the name they had given to flint lock pieces), to these Pnripo's (guns of thunder.) 1 This tribe determined to force an op-. portuuity for displaying their treasures to their less fortunate neighbors, and trusted to make them play second fiddle in the matter of salutation. They would in future be known as the tribe who owned the thunder guns. To accomplish this much-to-be-desired,noto-riety, it was requisite to give a feast and invite the neighboring tribes, They had plenty of powder, and set to work to put these guns in position on the sand, using a log of wood to elevate the muzzles. But at the trial discharge, | it was found that the gun 3 would jump up in spite of various contrivances to keep them down; so, as carriages were unknown to the natives, a couple of ponongas (slaves) were told off to sit straddle-legs across the guns I while they were discharged, and the ears of the multitude were ravished by the loud reports that woke the sleeping echoes in the opposite ranges of hills. The fame of these two guns got spread abroad, and the tribe became the envy 1 of the river in consequence, The eventful day of the feast arrived, and the visitors came from far and near in' their canoes, The two cannons were nlaced in position about ! twenty, feet from the palisading of the pah, and were loaded to the muzzle' with powder and stones to dischargeinto the river. The two men told off for the duty now mounted one of the. cannons, " Fire," ciied the chief-in, the pride of his heart. Flash T bang! and a tremendous report, followed by a shower of stones on the water, astounded the natives, and doubtless the visitqrs all felt small, But the gun had bounded up after the discharge and the two natives were sent sprawling, but tjiis was taken to be part of the performance by tlje lookers-on. They now prepared to fire off the other gun, a long nine pounder, cast goodness knows when, Several pounds of powder had been well rammed into it, | and some soores of rontid stones were packed on tfcq top of the powder. One native sat in triumph upon it with his ■face towards the -touchhole, holding alighted firp stick in bis hand. .. The. word to fire was again given, and the I light wag applied, and a mighty explo r sion took pjaoe. As might have been expeoted, the old honey-combed gun "had burst into fragments I None of the bystanders were hurt, but where was he who had fired the gun. Portions of him were found and gathered into baskets; a woman picked up» piece of the front part of the skull. But it was only a slave, who had been killed, the sorrow was for the poor dear gun the departed glory of the tribe, " Where are the eyes f cried a native lad, when ut woman-exclaimed, pointing at the same time to the palisading of the pa, on which was seen one temple, cheek aud eyebrow of the unfortunate wretch who had been blown up, " Ane I a-na na 1 chara i te liauga! e kama mai aua ki au katahi oui!" (Alas 1 well, well I was ever tho like seen! it is winking at me, upon my word!) The quivering of the muscels of the eyelid had been mistaken by the woman for a piece of facetiousnoss on the part of the dead man's spirit as represented by his eye and "he is winking at ma," was passed about for several days afterwards by.the native of the settlement, [The late judge Manning related the above incident, to whioh he said he was a witness.] ■ !