ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN ON THE NATIVE QUESTION.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 246, 6 December 1873, Page 2

AN GLO- AUSTRALIAN ON THE NATIVE QUESTION.

Tub nrvrs of the material piogress of New Zealand brought bv the i:is-t mini is tuglilj satisfactory, but it would seem Unit while the Vogel ministry are potent m the matter of n>ail and i!ij way contracts, they have not the power to weiure tlie n.ur.iereis of poor Sullivan, or to bivak down tlu> b.iirur winch •pcpiiruics the rebl portions of the native race from the colony, ftiweoiii-ed witliln his own dominion*, it s-eein« the so-called king is enabled to Im 1 defiance, at the li -i.ds ol Her Britannic Majesty's rppre.Miit<iti\es by sheltering with nnpun tv fc-ie niui-dei-ers of one of lier subjects If lliere is to be pi nee in New Zealand t he murdeiers of Sulliv m .-liould be iin-e.-tec! a' all costs, for it. is not to he tolerated that t lie rebels' w ho have isolated themselves on a large blu(kof t-pendid country in the southern extremity of the Wsnknto district, should thrive, while the* def\ U, upon the Fov-Voirel " Hour and sugar" policy. Il is impentive, imleerl, tl ut th- question of uia-tery should be set at re.-t, anl I hut. ttte rebel natives ilionld be made uiiienablc to the saui • law as 1 lie European. Had Sullivan fallen bv t'>e hand of a (ei|on -country man hi* murderer would, loiitj ere this, hnve hud to answer to the law for his crime, and the force and majesty oj the law would hare been vindicated, but here we hme the pitiable sight of a umitßlr.v based upon a J£u opean model being impotent to make the law respected in the cine of a miser tble band of marauders w'io prowl about the colony at will and in defiance of every principle of ju-ti'-e. While this (tort of thins ii permitted what guar intee have we for the safety of t!ioso enter) rising pioneers who hav<« t alien their labour <yon to tin- vi r^e of t lie native line of isolation ? Nme at all, an I hence I hear- of the pninr-strirkr-n s tilers deserting their liome»U»a Is and Hocking into the to ns'lips of Cambridge and ilamdton, and that there-binding of^iedoubM pMures^es apace! Mr Vogcl shoul I sic t > this. Tl ese 11 bel natives are the A-*hnntw of New Z.-alund, and. should he di-alt with, when they defy our nuthoritv, us we are about, lo den) with the Ashantees. " I expect, therefore, to heart) at th- G-dvemment has acted with linn lies'- in this matter, for the peuee-nt-ai y-price policy nmv be carried too far. We mu-t 4t be cruel only to be kind," in order thnt where "bad begins" "wors " may not " remain behind." It must be apparent, e\en to the iuo«t purblind, fiat e.mdon:ng a cold blooded murder is not the way to establish pi-rmanent teaee.orto make eoiidtitu:cd authority re3pec>ed. The " Kni{»" inu-t be brought to book, and as he can doubtless b« taught "a lesson" without fighting — if only he be de ilt wth lirninef.s— he may learn that it is against the view ot the Queen of England that he should constitute himself a po.nt for the murderers of her subjects to gather round. Thiit the time has nrrirod for a final settlement ot t he Maori question is evidenced bv the facts to which I have referred. Why, bj btter is the feeling en^nd *red bv this murder, and so uncertain is the tenure of exu-tence near thi« border line, thnt we inav heafal Bny hour of a -live ho^tdin*** having ( a ommi*need, when the cry would a«uredly be "No quarter!" Hid the Ministry " talen tlie b ill hv the horns" t»o years »q», when Todd was murdered, the Q ioeii's writ would nov\ be runmnu; berween AnckUnd and Wellington, anl the Maori difli.-ulty, like the Moa wou d have to be traced on the -an Is ot time. The " flour and su^ar" policy having laded, I may liojxj the geniu* of the Vygol Ministry is i-qual to something th it will succeed. It is. not' a litilf-Mimular, Air Editor, that the want of firinnes* to which I hnve drawn a't^ntion, and the evils resulting therefrom, were remarked upon by a correspondent signing himwll " F. II T." tn your issue, of April 21,1871 The remark? there made shown vwr correspondent to ! aye been no mean judge of New Z 'aland all'iirs. In speaking of the " Nnj^VD OUlce," which he con lemned for its interference with the" 'N-itive Lands Court," and thr murder of Todd, he »nys : — " To this dep.-irtinent.and the Colonial OifiVe. may he frankly stated, are nttributo I most of the ills that New Z 'aland has uui'ortunatel^ be< n heir to. By >i temporieinsr policy, in comparison with which thnt of M. Thier% is severe in tiio extreme 1 , has this native department too often frifetrnted the enrN of justice ; nnd I leirn thaf, in thn present ca.-e of Mr Todd, it has exhibited a want of firm tics which pist experience of the natives ought to have shown to be m >*t clan»ci ous to our pre.-ti^e amongst them. S> luiu m Uir colonial G-overnment allows justice to be frustrated in the case of natne offfiiders by a sympathising minister at the nnti\e utlice, and sj Jong as they permit the so called Maori- C uu to draw an aukati, or line of isolation, b«twixt him.sell and the loyal natives and t- uro| cans, I repeat, so long as this is permitted, New Z -aland can never expect to be at. peace within hersell. Tie Native Lund:* Courtis amply bulliuient for all the civil requirements of commerce in limH (ll.e chief commodity ol *-«!<•) betwixt tlio Maori and European ; but as rejrnnN criminal otlences, w« c mnot permit, any dillereiice to be made between the native and th.roloniat. The whole Wand must and ought to be open to the passage of both races; they are subjects of the fane Q leen. and as s-uch must abi le by her laws, and hers only." Th se views, I venture to think, are identical with tho»-» of the leading thinkers of New Zealand. Subsequent events h.ue slom them to be almost pioihetua, au<l uiless a cliange take", place in \ our native poliej . 1 fear they m« ■be more tha*i. r all -en. All t at is w anted u that the natii es should a 'jure the title ol "rebel," and allow free and safe egress through their country to the traveller and tho explorer. N» one deiiiq^Miuygjit to live, and to J .ive on the best thov can get, prov.dPTTThey coma by it lionestly. Lot the boundary I. no be as walked as it is now, bu^ let them consent to the pieseiK-e of h British Commissioner among them, to whom a'l matter* between them and the G-oveniinent could he re-

fi'rred, anit in tiie event of any vi" th^ui wishing to come 'into the colony^n piuuuitjjfof labour — I fear they arc toa proud, if not (oo- incfinrnt, to ..labour — this Commissioner might be empowered to grant them " pnswi." Of course, if 11 X rebel" tvas found in the culoivt without n "pass," everyone would knpw that ho wito there for no good purpose, ami he would ba liable to be Votmn>tte>l to prison ask "rogue nnd vopjnbond." In Ihis wny the detection of inur (U'rer? und robbciM wmid b-comp/irituvly o\*v, and without Nome suu'i ro-triotion t!io life of u bor ler f ruier must be one of incc^aiit doubt ami irritation.