The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 745, 27 March 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, MARC S 27, 1877.

quietude, and fchis will be money uselessly, and worse than uselessly spent. Were the cost of maintaining the Armed Constabulary "money thus sunk and lost to the Colony, we could understand the desire to economise m that direction — but it is not so. Of this, wo have ample evidence m the work done by the Waikato Contingent o£ the A.C., on the Cambridge and Taupo road, d'iriuor the present samrner. A party of forty-five men has been engaged on this work just four months, within a day be two, and the work done is not only well, but cheaply done. The distance from Cambridge to the Waipa is some twenty miles, and of this road ten miles are already completed, and m six weeks time, it will be possible to go all the way from Canlbridge to the Waipa with a dray, The cuttings are all eight feet wide m the solid, two sawn timber bridges and four rough bridges have been erected, and at the present time the party is engaged m putting a bridge of sawn timber, • 10 feet wide by 70 feet m length, with 35 feet piles, over Sandy Gully. When this bridge is finished, the road will be open for dray traffic to the Waipa. Froaa the Waipa, .which is a fordable mountain stream, with never more than two feet of water, except m freshes, there is a good bridle road to Taupo. A bridge of 30 feet would span it, but this is, of course, out of the question, until the native owners of the land, or the King, or whoever the obstructionists for the time being may be, shall be graciously pleased to withdraw their objections to the roid being further proceeded with m the direction of Taupo. Meantime, we owe to the working road party of the Armed Constabulary the fact, that a good trunk dray road of twenty miles m length has been constructed, and that, too, at a cost which would show, were the work measured up at full value, something like ten or eleven shillings per head per diem, as the average earnings of the whole party. We mention the above as an instance, to show that the cost of the fighting contingent of the Armed Constabulary is not, and need not be a drag upon the country. Heaven .knows we have, m the North Island, enough of these public works — works which legitimately fall upon the Colonial Government, not on counties or road boards to perform — on which the men of the force could be profitably employed, w hile all the time they are quietly playing the role of an insurance policy on the peace and prosperity of the Colony, North and South.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political

Here shall the Presi the People's* righ maintain, Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain

Some three weeks ago it was telegraphed from Wellington that the polica and constabulary were to be amalgamated, the whole force being enrolled for one year certain from the Ist of July. This force will consist of two separate bodies — the constabulary m four divisions, numbering altogether some 350 men, and the police, whose number will be that of the aggregate, whatever it may be, of the several police forces throughout the late Provinces. The Government expects by this change to reduce the expenditure by ■fall £30,000, And so, doubtless, it may, but we question very much whether the reduction is a wise one. Et is true that the police, who are not required to Berve m the field, may, m case of emergency, be concentrated to defend any threatened point of attack until other forces are organised ; but virtually the defence of the country will fall on the 350 men who form the four divisions of the constabulary force proper. This reserve of the police for cases of emergency looks very well on paper, but what would it be put m practice 1 Imagine the centres of population, such as Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch,ahd Dunedin called upon to give up their guardians of the peace that the East Coast, Taranaki or Wanganui settlers might be made secure, and a thieves' holiday proclaimed m all those several cities. The truth is, the necessity would indeed be an urgent one that should demand such a sacrifice; and the authorities would hesitate to resort to it until the usefulness of enforcing it was past and the opportunity for the good it might have been had passed away. The policy of internal defence is one rather of prevention than cure. By keeping up au active state of preparedness we may save the necessity of action altogether. But such a reserve as the Government contemplates m the concentration of the police force means nothing. It i might be resorted to m an extreme case of peril, but the authorities would scarcely brave the popular discontent of the towns to make use of it for any less occasion, and as we have said it is just for less occasions, to save the occ rrence of greater ones, that the constabulary force is needed at all.

The available force for defence purposes is therefore narrowed down to 350 men, and we do not hesitate to say that such force is insufficient. We can appreciate as well as anyone, the desirability of the Government's economising an annual sum of £30,000, but it is possible that the saving is attempted m the wrong place. To us, it seems very much as if a ship-owner, driven to straits, were to attempt to economise by ceasipg to insure or inadequately insuring his ships. It may be that they might come safe to port, but if not, his economy would prove a fatal mistake, Ihe time has nob yet arrived when the Colony can safely reduce its insurance. We have pointed out on a previous occasion the peculiar character of the tenure on which not merely the Wai^ a *o lands, but large tracts of confiscated country throughout the North Is^nd are held by Europeans. We hold them simply by right of conquest, but the title, good m the eyes of the Maori, is one that may be equally good on the other side, if reversed. Are we, then, acting wisely, if we give the other side, those dispos sessed, the temptation to try conclusions once mors, and risk that they have to get back the homes pf their ancestors % Yet, this is what the proposed reduction is calculated to do. As we have before pointed out, it needs nearly one half the proposed entire force, efficiently to •garrison this part of the country, and there are other parts of the North J'sland whose necessities are quite equal to ours. If the outlay on the Armed Constabulary force is reduced by trie expected amount, the Government may make sure of this, that just so much more than now will be required to bribe bouncabie natives and tribes into a state of