THE OTHER SIDE.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 654, 29 July 1876, Page 2

THE OTHER SIDE.

Si*, ---For the last few weeks cartain portionsof the Waikato have hnn busy iv getting up meetings at tin dttf rent town; ships, and passing resolutions, nearly all •? them condemning tht Native Minister and Impolicy; in fact the whole tenor of them indicating a desire that the Nat ire Department ahouid bo abolished. Would it not Jj be well, before comleiuning'fliiiadUcpimin-^ ately, to pau-e and look back a few years, even sine* the conclusion of hostilities, and eomnist the Waildto.of the preaeq^ wi;h tha .Wiiikalo of lhab time. la ths> period to which I refer, the Waikato *as unsaf o to. lira in. We had panics in every direction, and no man.. of aense would think of investing capital in it, yet, through the policy which senie among ut are so loudly condemning, the . Waikato has picgrested more rapidly than .perhaps any part of 'Haw Zealand. Settlers are spreading, all. over it, to that, in a short time laud will be difficult to obtain, and. wo hare a railway in progress to within a few miles of the frontier. Would this hard been tho cam if » war pal'cy, or any other than the present temporising policy had b^e-i purtued ? It h tatd tlie pxcient policy n too expensive (no doubt it is cojtly), but did we find war cheaper, or half to cheap when, durinjr Mr Stafford's administration, it cost tho Colooy £1,000 par d&f? We may •ttaoic Sir Donald McLsan, but, he hat merely lo point over our ihouhlers to the Wuikuto asjiis answer, lie haa played -a wnitiug g»iue, and with good results. There are tlnse wlu would rattier spend & pjund iv pG-jrder and shot to kill a natire, tlun ten shilliafjs in fljur and augar to keep him. alive and so maintain peacd. dealing witli tho Maori is diflerent to dealing with Europjani. . If a p.-iftite mdiridual wishes >o negotiate with a natiTe, will he go and ask ihiin what ho will take, righs off? No., jie will sit and smoke with him for hours, perhaps day,?, before <ha appro.iche.-i tiio subject. Yo% we expoct tlio Native "Minuter to net dilferently to tlii*, when he wishes to gain hi* cu r l. At thi lust meeting, we hare i heard those who coude uno i tlie policy of jjhing thuico pioces of Imid to the- friondly natives to livo upon and eultirate. They forget thab we are dfcpliic ng thj natiroi, not the native* ih, and we liare a sacred dutj tovrjids thorn, to assist, thsm to lira happilj and carafartib'r, even if at a tAi'wfice tj ourselro3. '."Tue *dveno resolutions p«?3ed upjn the Native Minister would lifiTe had uiii'-h more ftei^ht if tliey acknowledged his fsrt-icei to the couu'ry in xh-< pa^t, but tlii* tuey do- uebdo in the* •lightest, and ie thovrs .that, it is the spirit of oppwitioa, not of justice thnt animates u#, and, at a Waikato tettkrj I say tbis.i* to be regr-etteil. — I am, &c , iKQEATITUttI. Waikato, 24 h July, 1.876 [Agreeing wiih the very seniihle. letter of our correspondent, in the nuin, we cannot allow Ins remarks v* to the giving back of land withm the,, present European boundaries, to pits unnoticed. There ara few- Waikato settlers but foe!, and justly so, that any «uch cession of land would be as uujuit to European sellers « it would be impolitic in the iutAcrais of bolh rm-es alike, ai oertain to end in«ea^aless di-jker* iugi probably in bloouVhtid. — Ed W.T ]

•.Kmsihg Custom*.— The breithoflha tobacco tinolser or chewee it not ple-icant, but w« almost fancy we could put up with it inconnection with the very nur.cible o»cul»torjr^u»!ora»vftlic inhabitant! referred to in the lolloping nkotch on manners aid habits in Para^uij : — ' Erorybody in Paraguay imokcs, rand every femtile above tho a>ic o! 13 chewt. I atn wrong. Tu«y de not enow, but rut tobtcci in their oiouthsykeep it there fonstautlr, eioopt when eating, and instead- of chewing it, roll it about* and «uck it. Only imagine yourtelf about to jalute tha red Ijps of a magnificent little ' -'Hebe, "arrayed with satin and. flachinp with diamond^ a» «ho puts you back «itU one dulle«te< hand, while, with thob^er «ho dpA.wi from hrr mouth a brow^i'ili-blnck roll of tobacco qui'e two-ifciches lo ng, looking; like. a monster grub, and then depjutiog the •avory . lozenge on the b«m of.ycui* ■ombrero, puti. up bar face, and ii ready for u talute,. I hsro jooietimes icon on OTer-deHcato-forei^nor turn away with ft ■hudder of loathing under such ciroum•t«nce», and get the epithet of ' tht iarag>' uppiied to him bj ths offended beauty lor squeamuhneei. Howerer,' un« soon gits ■ mod to this in Paraguay, where you *r«, perforco of custom, obliged- to kiit erery lady you are introduced to, tand one-half you meet are really tempting enough to render you regardless of th» consequence!, and you would »ip the dew of th* proflcrod Jip» in the face of a tobicco factoi-y-r-area in the tlouble-diitilltd honejdew of old Virginia.