WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH THE REBELS.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 320, 10 August 1868, Page 3

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE WITH THE REBELS.

The Wellington Independent is very outspoken in its opinion as to dealing with the Maori rebels ; it says : " It is clear that on the West Coast we have already a war on our bauds, and that on the East fighting may begin at any moment. The time then has come for action. Impoverished and bowed down with debt, as our adopted country may be, we must punish and if need be exterminate those turbulent and murderous savages, who render its progress impossible. There must be no maudlin sentimentality a'oout the matter—no more account taken of what Exeter Hall or the Aborigines Society may say or do. When the Imperial Government first hampered, and then altogether put an end to the policy of war and confiscation of July, 1803 ; when it left us saddled with a load of debt, which had been incurred in vain , • —when it finally withdrew all aid, either in money or men —then it left us to deal with native outbreaks in our own fashion. We are content to do so ; and on the head of the natives be their own blood. The operations to be carried out must be short, sharp, and decisive. Within the rebel districts no mercy should be shown ; no prisoner should be taken. It should be a struggle a Voutrance. Let a price be put upon the head of every rebel, and let them be slain wherever the opportunity is afforded. We must smite and spare not. Kindness, conciliation, bribes, and threats have alike failed. We have tried to civilise these people; we have given them magistrates and schools ; we have filled their bellies with flour and sugar; who have clothed their backs with blankets. They accept our kindness, and murder the donors. They are determined to fight, and we. in self protection, must treat them as a species of savage beasts which must be exterminated to render the colonisation of New Zealand possible."