TUESDAY MAY 14, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 919, 14 May 1878, Page 2

TUESDAY MAY 14, 1878.

To us iv "Waikato the offer made by Sir George Grey to the Maori King *i one of even more significance and importance than to the colony at large. There is little that is novel m the principle of the pro-

Iposal, thougli it goes a step farther fcihaa has ever been attempted by DteTioos Ministers seeking to meat t&e Assembly with a plan acceptable to the Maoris for settling the native difficulty. • And liare we may pause to allay a feeling of uneasiness which is Vide spread m Waikato. The Premier himself has no power to conclude a treaty with Tawhiao, and bestow uponhi-Eiandhis people Government lands and pensions.' He may make fchs arrangement as he has done, but ifc must be dependent on the will of the Assembly for its ratification and conclusion. it is hard, however, to judge of the character of the negotiations from' the reports of the meeting which -have reached the public throuo-h 1 <&c medium of the Press. Nor can tae be fully understood unless read by the light of what really occurred at .the subsequent meeting* wUJi Rewi-oa Saturday laiijfc. Tlie wsiotisof the anaiige-

merit hitherto published are not such us to have recominendod the Ministerial arrangement to onr ffSfind, It appeared to be a "purely; ono - sided affair. The and espesially the jVVaikato, asked to make very great concisions, but the quid pro <]i(O. to ba. received m return was nowhere alluded to. The arrival of the.. Native Minister m Hamilton last night, and the opportunity afforded us of gaining 1 some further insight into. the character of the arrange- 1 ment puts an entirely new com- , plcxion on the affair. If, as we havo reason to believe, the concessions! agreed to , by. the Premier will lead, to the almost immediate openinglup of the conntry between Waikato and Tftvanaki, if Hewi and the Ngatimaniapoto chiefs shall be found willing to give the land for I a trunk line of railway, and bo willing to sell blocks along tho line to tho Government for the purpose of European settlement, then we say that those concessions offered by. Sir GeorgoGrey.on his part, capable of certain modification m detai 1 . to meet the wishes of both the, Maoris and the European settlers, to which we shall presently refer-'-are not too , great, and it will be our duty as ' colonists to wave many objections \ we migkt naturally have felt \ to the scheme, and reckon " them as nothing when put in r i the , balance against the : interests of the public at large, and the great advance m colonisation that such concessions on the part of the natives as those above referred to: would confer upon this district m particular. r J}he principal objection to the' scheme m the minds of the "Waikato settlers is the location of natives on lands contiguous to ' European settlements, 'aa#tfaeiniaking over allotments m our townships to the natives as perpetual endowments. The first means a fruitful source of annoyance to the settlers m, the fatter r of wandering cattle and* pigsy ia'ltjve master of fencing, and inj various, other ways — the latter wsuld fall hardly on our strtiggsKiagf^Dknsltips, which, with th.c duty of self-govern-ment thrown newly and largely upon them, could ill afford to 'i^H'jf ®fife improvements, y^t ; . b^^cpmpeilea 1 . (6 forego' tS^ 1 L pdylibftity of rating valuable areas within their bounds.* And this, too, woiild apply to country distiijts also. These, however, are difficulties which we believe may readily be obviated. The Maoris themselves will scarcely care to occupy a few hundred acres here a few hundred acres there within the borders of our settlements. From Karakaraki to the mouth of the Waikato on the west bank of the river the lands are little if a* all occupied by Europeans, but are m many respects well adapted for Maori settlomeut, and especially towards the. Waikato heads. A large tract there, would be far more preferable to the Maori than small isolated sections m our midst adjacent to European settlement, and at the same time would not interfere with the latter. Nay more, they would be far more advantageous to tlje Maori, as enabling Tawhiao and his chiefs to carry out the education m cobnisaion and good government of their people without fear of the evil results of too close an intercourse with which has been the doom of so mtmy coloured racos. As to the town allotments, our argument is that th 3 scheme of conciliation is a purely colonial, not a locals ono, and that "the colony therefore, not the Waikato, should bear the cost of it. • Why make Waiirato townships the scape , goat for all New Zealand ? Wo can understand that the lands required^ for residence by tho returned Waikatos, to bo of any value, iv their eyes, must be their old ancestral possessions, but not so the township lots, granted solely asasburco of revenue towards llioii maintenance fa the future. Let these lots be selected from the townships generally of New Zealand— from Bunedin and Christchurch reserves, equally with those of the North. The loss would be as nothing spread over the numerous cities and townships m all parts of the colony, and such adjustment would only be a fair one since the result is for the benefit of the colony as a whole. As to the money payment, that no one will cavil with. To break up tho King movement is worth, not £500/ but £5,000 a year. That is no objectionable feature of the scheme, and if, as we have said, and as wg have good reason to believe, though such has never yet been published, that on its 'l ratification is dependent the opening up the country south of Waikato to colonisation, and if the objection-, able character of the scheme as' regards Waikato lands be obviated/ as we haye pointed out may be done, w« shall feel that a great and beneficial work to the colony and this district has ■ been brought about m the late meeting between Ministers and the King, and more recently with Rewi and .the Ngatimauiapoto chiefs afe Puniu.