THE MAORI KING TO VISIT THE WAIKATO TOWNSHIP.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1404, 2 July 1881, Page 3

THE MAORI KING TO VISIT THE WAIKATO TOWNSHIP.

Indications ' havo ' not been wanting for some' time past, that the barriers which the King Party had, unsuccessfully enough in some respects, endeavoured to rear between the Wo races were in danger of being thrown down by those very people who had at first thought them necessary . to their own safety as a people. The "Let 'em alone, they'll soon come home" policy adopted by " Little 80-Peep" upon a certain occasion has been followed by the Governments of New Zealand with some success after all, and its fruits have appeared earlier perhaps than the most sanguine of those who endorsed the plan believed. We saw the first sure signs of a coming change in the King's policy of isolation wnen he called his last great meeting to consider the question of dealing with the lands, and its further development may be seen in Tawhiao's friendly visit to Alexandra. Now, we have the intelligence that the King, accompanied by Rewi and some forty of his principal adherents, intends to make a tour of the Waikato, visiting the different townships and settlements, and eventually proceeding to Auckland to be present at the reception of , the future King of England. Such a determinai tion on the part of one who has hitherto kept himself strictly apart from all intercourse with Europeans must be regarded as an augury of thp increased progress of this part of the colony. If the obstructionist party can only be brought to regard us in the light of friends desiring the welfare of the native race, and not as enemies thirsting for their blood and their territory, the settlement of the vexed native question will be very near a solution, and civilisation will be pushed far beyond the limits of the confiscation line. The vast extent of grand agricultural country lying beyond the settled districts in the Waipa, got under any terms, will be a welcome addition to the • area of cultivable land. It is the opening of this country by leasing that we will regard as the best result of the present greatly improved aspect of native affairs.