The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1889. The Te Kooti Problem.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3138, 25 February 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1889. The Te Kooti Problem.

People are looking at the Te Kooti difficulty just now from two different standpoints, and are respectively calling upon the Government to leave the man.alone and to stop him. Sir Harry Atkinson, as representing the Government, appears to have sympathised with both views, because while lie Las distinctly declared that it would be illegal to stay the march of the Maori fanatic, lie lias promised the excited settlers to arrest it, and has taken the necessary military precautions to keep his word. The question, the burning question, is the right of the Government to intervene. The Te Kootites urge "let the law take its comm" Te Kooti is pardoned, is a free subject, has a right to go anywhere, and if he be stopped, all the power and influence of the colony must be exerted to vindicate his right and to resent tho outrage. On the other hand there is a possibility of Te Kooti recommitting the frightful outrages of tweuty years ago in. the Poverty Bay district, The possibility may be remote, but it is still a possibility,' and.at a distance it is probably not easy to conceive the alarm and excitement which prevails at Gisborne. In the presence of a large armed native; force, led by a fanatic, the philosophical forbearance, whioh is perhaps: readily entertained and' advocated honestly at a distance, is apt to break down., Prom the evidence of an official who has interviewed Te Kooti, it appears that he is under some religious spell, and acts as ono who does not care what becomes of his bodyifhis soul be saved, In other words, Te Kooti is a madman at the head of a couple of hundred of armed cranks. If this be a correct view of the situation the arguments ofihose who cry "let him alone,"are not very reassuring. If there is reason to believe that he is of unsound mind, and that this unsoundness is a menace to the. public safety, the Government ought certainly to arrest him though he be d pardoned, offender against whom no legal offence can be levied. His mania may be a peaceful and harmless delusion, but then; oil the other hand, • it may be exactly the ppposite. The,best manin New Zealand for dispelling native allusions is undoubtedly John.Bryfie and were he up at Poverty Bay with his white horse, the fanatics on one side and the exoited settlers and natives on the other, would calm down wonderfully. We had thought that the question whether the Queen or a Maori fanatic ruled' in New Zealand had been settled, for all time, but if necessary another lesson must be 1 givpu to bring' home to some; minds'the feoJi 'tW the British power is paramount. We trust the lesson may be a bloodless one, but even at the cost of blood tho right of large armed native pfe to traye} through peaceful and populous ooainiiinities 2}USt be challenged. /