The Waipukurau Press. Tuesday, February 27, 1906 THE MAORI WAR.

Waipukurau Press, Issue 22, 27 February 1906, Page 2

The Waipukurau Press. Tuesday, February 27, 1906 THE MAORI WAR.

—o—- — following, taken from a publication called The Southern Monthly published at Auckland in October 1865, will be read with interest at the present time ■ —The Governor has, on the 2ud September, once more issued a proclamation to the natives in rebellion. This time he informs them that he has made peace. The war is declared to be over, and no harm is ’.o be done, to anyone, with the exception or a few of the perpetrators of specially brutal crimes, unless they take up arms once more. The Waikato confiscation is at the same time concluded, and all the lands are now formally taken possession of by the Crown which were indicated in the former proclamations. The expedition for the East Coast effected a landing at Opotiki on the Llth of September,,, after one or two delays, principally caused by the grounding of one of the steamers employed upon a sandbank, when she had about two hundred men of the expedition on board. The East Coast expedition will, in fact, begin a new campaign of the Maori war. It will be directed against the tribes who either murdered, or aid and abet the murderers of the Reverend Mr Volkner, and of Mr Fulloon and his companions. The main peculiarity ot this campaign, however, is that it will be the work of colonial forces alone. The troops employed as yet amount to nearly six hundred men, about one hundred and twenty of whom are of the Native Contingent, under the command of Major McDonnel. The prospect of an active campaign and plenty of severe fighting is probably as good as it has been in any warlike undertaking of the present struggle. The colonial troops are held, it is true, in more respect by the natives than the regular troops, who have never been allowed to cope with them on equal terms, and are consequently held in some contempt by the Maoris, who yet admire the evurage usually displayed by them. This feeling of respect is not, however, likely to damp, to any great extent, the ardour ot the natives, almost all of whom have embraced the Pai Marire fanaticism, and are full of confidence in their own prowess and the divine protection they are to enjoy. Tne sharp skirmish by which Major MacDonnel celebrated his landing with the Native Contingent is likely to be succeeded by many more on a larger scale, and if prudence is made to keep pace

with the enterprise of the troops, there can be little cause to doubt the success of the expedition in teaching a very severe lesson to the fanatical murderers of Opotiki and Whakataue. It is so impossible to, form a true idea of the strengh of our enemies in any one district of the interior, that it would be vain to guess either at the probable force to be encountered on the East Coast, or the length of time likely to be consumed in the operations. One thing is certain, however, the present campaign . was imperatively called for, and if it is found that six hundred colonial troops are sufficient to obtain the desired objects of punishing the rebels and taking some material guarantee for their future good conduct, the discovery will be one of the most important yet made. No idea can yet be formed of the results, if any, likely to be produced by the Peace proclamation on the natives of Waikato, Taranaki, and Wanganui, although it is probable that the less looked for, the safer we shall be from disappointment.