The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1878.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 922, 21 May 1878, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, MAY 21, 1878.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever Btate or persuasion; religious or political. * ' '*.'•' * *. ■• . * Here shall the Press the Peom>e's right maintain, ' Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain.

The telegram we publish to day from Alexandra, wliicb. states that m future, by order of Kewi and othei* Ngatiinaniappto chiefs, no natives are to be arrested for thefts committed at Alexandra, as such crimes will be matter of arrangement beween tho chiefs and the Govern, meat, reads like a burlesque upon the negotiations which have lately ■ taken place between the high contracting parties at Hik.uraajgi. W^hat our correspondent probably means to say >#-»-that dii future, when arrested foi' <&fcfc m any of the frontier towns, Maoris, instead of being tried m our Courts of law, aip to be banded over and left to T^e dealt with by fcUeir own native chiefs or rulers — ■ an^ this surely is bad enough.! When we verum^hav tjie firm tone token with Tukokinp t\\& Other day by itba Native Minister, we can scarcely beYwQ that the Government is a party to ajoy $$1 arrangement as that referred to by our Alexandra correspondent, Anythiug of the kind would be a most mischievously retrogressive sl»p, and calculated to lower the respect for European law m t^e ,eps of the natives. Years ago, wheu w.e .vy^e a handful of settlers iv the 'midst of stron" nnd powerful tribes au Aiit was "passed which allows petty larceny to be condoned by the native thief (ov <*P payment of so many times thevalwterf stolen ■goods. We can uflierstattd php •dwirablenes" of such a s-tatnte in ' those da \ a Vuen almost at any. time ■t, have fetched the prerogative ot ,he law iffiiigibit hfive led to serious embroilment;; but tp j^yayp to even a PQiicession than diat; }p 1 , ,iW Ihe i'%fa* fxf law to a>rest- ■ .mf punish the guilty, and to. I'■''' I> . ; ■ ■■■ '■'■.■■

m the protection of property to wholly irresponsible persons is a retrograde movement m Executive Government and an admission of weakness which wo feel certain the col^nia^^^^iS»>Zealand will not •be fo^n^^pKl^ ,to v; blush for ; no» f , indeed,! a^ e some n^ 6r vinformdti^as^^he exact meaning of the 'te^ran^pill we consent to * believe :tha||anyi^bvernment can be a party to^ucbjpf: arrangement.

The solclieW graves ab Kangiriri are to be fenced m, the Government >jba,xing.*.£laoedsj^c.er.taifesum4».».khe y hands of Mr H. R. Hunt for tnafc # pui'pose, aud tenders are called for, *>yhicb. will be nu.til Wednesday, (to-rnorro\v), for fencing m the grave yard according to specifications to be seen at the Waikato Steam 1 Company's Office, Hamilton, and at Mr J. Shirjey's, E-angiriri. It it time something was done t J '.presei've the memorials of the brave men who fell m the stqrming of the. Eangiriri Pa; nor is it this one graveyard only of the soldiers and others who fell iii the war m. Waikato that neerls seing to. In that at Whatawhata, on tha river banks, the earth is fast being removed by the stream, and soon the coffins of the dead will b^ exposed and carried away. Tho grave yard? at Rangiriri now^ to be set m order has fallen into a sad state of neglect. The fences were down, and the wooden head-boards of the graves bM| become so broken and defaced with" exposure that ki names of the dead would scarcely 1 have been made .out; m, many cases , but that they were familiar to some of the.settlersl ■ . •'• '>'•'<'■■• r lhe present outlay is a necessary one, but we trust to see something more substantial and permaneut done m the matter. There, are seveial of sugli burial grounds m Waikato, and their preservation m anything like 'order will be V continual care and expense, while there is too much leason to fear, as m the present case, that they will be left < to become a scandal to thje community before ' the necessity' for taking steps for their repair is forced upon tho mind of the authdritie?l The preservation of these graves is a colonial concern which touches the credit and honor of the colony, and we wou^d. -fain see the Government settle the matter once aud for all by causing the com us to be exhumed, and removed to some central graveyard — say at Ngaruawahia — where the remains could be re-infcerred, fenced m "with a strong iron railing, and a suitable monument be erected, recording the names of the dead. Should this' proposal meet with the approval of the Defence Minister, we do not doubt for a moment but thai the Assembly would willingly vote the sum necessary for the purpose if asked by him to do so.