ALEXANDRA. April 7th, 1876.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 606, 8 April 1876, Page 3

ALEXANDRA. April 7th, 1876.

•So your" "Own Coriebpoiideut " com plimeuts me upon " goiner far ahead of hira in native news" I must return the compliment to- some extent, by acknowledging that he complotely puzzled m? lately, when-Le reported that there were two thousand natives at the meeting at Kawhia, at which, fronvthe most reliable aouices I conld barely muster three hundred ; and again when he now finds Winiata at or near- Kuiti, whea I am obliged, after making the most -searching inquiries,' to acknowledge that fop the present " he has vanished » irom view like a beautifnl dream." Some Hauhau priests' have within the last few weeks -made each a detei mined miaed effort to establish a church of their o^n i ersuasion in the lower Waikato, at Kohe Kohe, lhat they were with* the greatest difficulty expelled, and positively refused to leave till ihoy-were kicked out by order of the chiefs. The large building from which'- Kuiti tekes its >nanie, has been undergoing thorough repair of lute, for religious purposes, and the report of your Whata Whata correspondent about -the efforts the Hauhaus are making to build a church at Raglan, rather confirms, thftt-v.hich I gent you about -their building churches. It appears to me- to be a matter ot feo little consequence to us whether a dozen churchtß are put up at Kuiti or elsewhei c that 1 have sent, you the report which was then current here, without inquiring as cloetty into the truth 'oi it, -as 1 should have done if it had been of any consequence. Several parties of natives have passed through, on their way to the meeting at Kuiti, 1 which they seem to expect to take place in about a fortnight. When I maintain t.hat -the time has come when we may safely reverse oni dealings with the natives and, instead of neglecting the liiendly tribes, ' while we lnuuour our onemies, rather try and strengthen the Kupapas at the expense of fchef'iebels, let no one suppose that I auj ■wishing 1o endanger the peace of the colony ; but I certainly think that Sir Donald- McLean's policy- has been so far successful that' we may now safely begin to treat the natives more like' British subjects, and let them know that we must i henceforth draw a broader, line of distiuc- j tion between the loyal tribes and thosa j who,- -by encouraging crime, persist in ] setting our Queen and kws at defiance, and hindering, by every means- in their power, the. progress of the colony. It is rumoured that a well-known Mangere chief is about to try and capture Winiata if he can find him, bat no dotobt it itf only a 1 feitat to amuse the pakehas. — From a Correspondent.