The Waikato Times SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1879. NATIVE. SCARES.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1094, 28 June 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times

SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1879. NATIVE. SCARES.

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 influence and tmbribed by gauu .

There is always a tendency m the minds of men to ruu into extremes of terror when any danger threatens. To a sentinel stationed at the extreme outpost of an army, the rustling of the wind through the lea res of the trees, conveys the idea of the approach of hostle footsteps ; and m a mind,, wrought to, a pitch of nnnatural excitement by the expectation of a sapernatwral appearance, the creaking of a door will conjure up a hostile demonstration from the world of spirits. No more forcible illustration of the fact could be fonnd, than m the exciteable telegrams that appear from timo to time m the columns of ihe press of the colony, caused by the Parihaka difficulty. Two instances have come under our notice recently, and as they intimately affect the people of this portion of the island, we have deemed it necessary to refer to them.

The first is the so' called "Te Puna outrage." Te Pnna is a dis-^ trict situated to the westward of the township of Tauranga, and is occupied by a determined tribe of formerly hostile natives, known as the Pirirakaus. The chief of this small section is known by the name of Rawiri Tangifcu, who held a high command at the famous Gat© Pah. After peace was declared, these hapus refused to recognise the authority of the Queen, and did not hesitate to assert that they had never been conquered, whish was, indeed, to a certain extent the case, mas much as the last shots exchanged m the late Waikato war were fired at a military survey party on the land claimed by them. In 1864 the territory lying on the North-east slope 'tff the mountain, popularly known as the Aroha rauge, was confiscated and subsequently returned to the natives, -with " the exception of fifty thousand acres on which the military settlers were located. Almost immediately thereafter the then Governor (bir George Grey) and his Ministers purchased a large portion of the returned country from the JN gaiterangi tribe, which purchase was J henceforward known as tho Kati Knti, Te I'lina, purchase. The boundary of this pnrchaso was never defined until qnito recently, and has been a source of constant grievance to tho Pirirakau hapus, who declare that , Ngai'erangi had no claim oyer tho

land within it. The trigonometrical station, at Minden Peak, which commands the whole country side has been repeatedly polled down, and although standing at the present time, owes its foothold to private arrangements with the natives. Concurrently with the defining of the Kati Kabi-Puna purchase bonndary and the establishment of the trig station at Minden Point, tho Taurauga 'confiscated line to the westward was defined, and the Pirirakaus came into Tauranga, attended the Court, and to all intents and ptirpoaes abandoned their former lawless course of living. Tangita, himself went over to the King country on a visit, and was present at the Kopua meeting, returning to Tauranga about three weeks ago. Three-fourths of his people are present m Cambridge, attending the sitting of the Native Lands Court, and have not the slightest disposition to' take part, m any lawless demonstration. The real trouble is, that Ngaiterangi sold land to the Government, which was partly the property of the Pirirakau, and these ' latter want compensation. The whole matter could have been settled for £1000, some three or four months ago. There are certainly now not twenty of the disputants who have not come m and made peace with the Europeans. Yet, through gross ignorance of the real . position, this trifling difficulty is magnified into an affair of colonial importance, and meetings are to be called, and Volunteer Corps raised, and settlers armed, as if Te Whiti and his ploughmen were knocking at the door. There is no more danger to be apprehended m Tauranga than m Queen street, Auckland, and this has been .the case' for twelve months at least. We have no patience with suoh alarmists.

The second 6ase ia a statement m one of the Auckland journals that i danger was to be apprehended from the hostile natives beyond the i Waikato frontier; and barrels of powder and instant descent of bodies of armed men npoia unprotected settlements are spoken of, the cause assigned being the removal of a few Constabulary (some thirty m number) to Taranaki, w.hoae places have since been supplied by an equal number of recruits. Does our contemporary want us m Waikato to believe that wo are surrounded by a ring of bloodthirsty savages eager for our destruction ? Is he so ignorant of native custom, as to suppose that the Ngatihauaand thehauhaus(who by the way, were described m his, own columns as affording a welcome to the Governor at Cambridge, which was considered a guarantee of lastinglpeace) would have their women and .children attending a native Land Court ®v the eve ot an outbreak. What about Rewi and Ngatimaniapoto ? What about the 8000 white population m Waikato ? Does our contemporary suppose that natives are madmen, that he ascribes the actions of madmen to them ? The fact is, these reports, which are calculated to do an im« mensity of mischief to the Waikato district, are the outcome of that popular hunger for excitement which compels certain portions of the Press to pander to it, regardless of the consequences. If any rear danger should arise, we should be the first to give warning, and to assist m organising preventive measures. We are,, perhaps, m the best position of any newspaper m the Colony for hearing canards startling to those who are ignorant of the real state of affairs, but we hold that the duty of the Press is not to frighten women and children by oryiDg "Wolf ! wolf j" when there ,is no wolf, but to give timely warning of any real danger. At present, this does not exist m Waikato.