The Waitkato Times. THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1084, 5 June 1879, Page 2

The Waitkato Times.

THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1879.

Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; Here' shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by inflkuencA and unbribed by gain.

The later intelligence from .New Plymouth which we publish this morning is full of grave interest to tho colony. No further act of aggression has been taken by the natives except that they have returned to tbe ploughing of land on Mr Courtney's farm and continue m its occupation, thus defiantly claiming possession. This, however, is a position which they cannot beallowed to maintain. They must be put off from such illegal occupation whatever may' be the consequences, but there is no need to use unnecessary haste or violence m doing so. Just as the European surveyors were quietly removed from the Waimate plains by the natives, must the attempt be made to quietly remove these natives from land held by Europeans, under the Urown, and it must be made too, by the civil process of tho law. The Government are acting wisely m not precipitating matters. They aro evidently delaying, with the object of strengthening tbeir position, so that when the step of ejection, by civil process, is undertaken, tbe folly and uselessness of violent resistance on the parb of the natives may be unrnisbakeably apparent, and thus bloodshed may be avoided. And but for the element of fanaticism aaid to exist, we sliouUl have no doubt whatever ot the result. As it is, we attach but lietle importance to the so called inspiration of Te Whiti. Ib is a very practical purpose to which he is now putting, this alleged fanaticism. There is a vast amount of method m his madness. It seems to us, at a distance, and undisturbed by the prevailing excitement which settlers on the spot must feel, that the natives fully assume that we shall not fire the first shot—and, dreading war quite as much as we do, are but practically raising the question of tho legality of confiscation, incited to such attempt by mischievous Europeans, and notably by such a one as a certain Indian Judge, his name has slipped our memory, who our readers will remember was on a self-imposed political mission amongst these very natives not many months ago. If this be so, and we believe it is, the Government are taking the wisest possible course m tbe emergency. Their duty is clearly to allow the occupation of Mr Courteny's land to continue until the district has been placed m snch a condition of defence, and until the civil executive of the law is so unmistakably backed by the military power, that to any but a downright fanatic resistance and violence are hopeless. This apparently -is the course which Ministers are taking, and m doing so they are taking the ' wisest measures to meet either alternative. If they do not succeed m obtaining a peaceable submission to civic authority on the part of the offending natives, they will, at least, be m the best possible position to meet the inevitable result of violent resistance. If, on the other hand, as many on the spot would doubtless have urged, they had proceeded at once to remove the aggressive natives by force of arms, the act would have been received by Te Whiti and his followers as a^irect

challenge, and would have been a virtual appeal to arms. Whatever may be the result, however, of the present difficulty on the West) Coast, ib will be a local one. The great body of Kingites are not prepared for, neither are they desirous of war. Rewi's litest utterances, which we publish to-day, breathe only of i eace, and we believe Bincerely so. There is an air of truthfulness about them which is unmistakable. He speaks as for the whole people, but of course neither ftewi nor Tawhiao can speak for a madman nnd those under his immediate influence, ib is as we have said, this element of fanaticism alone which contains any real danger, bat it is, we believe, very much open to doubt whether Te Whiti has not just so much of madness as suits his purpose to use, and quite enough sense to know that he cannot safely use it beyond a certain point.