Tawhiao's Visit to Waikato. BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1409, 14 July 1881, Page 2

Tawhiao's Visit to Waikato. BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.

There can be no doubt that a very great change has been experienced in tiie feeling! and plans of t!*e natives in regard ;fo>' their relations -with their white brethren. By .whomsoever brought about, and it is no doubt the result of long and anxious debate amongst the wiser members of liie race, the change is as pleasant as it is unexpected. The natives seem by their manner to have cast aside all their prejudices against us, and become imbued with a desire that henceforward we should live,as pne people. At the last, if one may place reliance on the opinions of people acquainted wi£h the intentions of the riatiyesj, the£ were a little apprehensive that we, on our part, would not be over-ready to meet them halfway ; indeed, 'the party were not altogether persuaded that they would be welcome. Great delight was therefore manifested amongst them, when on reaching the Alexandra, bridge they discovered the members of the Alexandra Band drawn up ready to play them into the township. This act made, I am told, a great impression on the native mind, and has tended in a considerable decree to cement the bonds of amity in the forging of which the king 1 himself has at length come to assist. What followed when Tawhiao, Wahanui, Manuhiri, and their followers anived at Finch's Hotel, where Major Mair had stationed himself to receive them, has already been told ; the act performed by the king and, following: his example.his adherents meant practically the ending of tlie ancient leud between the rnceh — in &horfc the buvviag of tho hatchet. The eighty stand of arms presented to Major Mair, were not a mere formal offering, but a bonajidr gift to the Government, arid they will in due couise bo forwarded to the Government at Wellington. Tawhiao describing the situation afterwards, in the figurative style of his people, drew two parallel lines on the ground with a --tick, '-aying that was the relative position of the Maori and pakeha formerly. Then uniting the ezuls of the lines, he said, "Now 1 the circle is complete." The king was in anything but good health, having been suffering for some time from a severe bronchial affection, but although on this account pressed to delay his visit, he would not be deterred and is determined to go through. After these formal proceedings the natives, numbering with the women and children over 600, set about making preparations for encamping. The members of the two tribes, the Waikatos and Ngatnnaniapotos, divided, the former, the met numerous, taking up ground m front of the Alexandra Hotel, and the latter locating themseh es in the Government paddock. The Public Hall was placed at the disposal of the.Ngatimaniapotos, but the majority, as well as the whole of the Waikatos, passed the night, which by the bye was an exceptionally cold one, in the open air, with their blankets alone for a covering. All the food neces&aiy had been bi ought down by the natives. During the evening the Alexandra Baud again contributed to the pleasures of the native visitois, and tho greatest harmony prevailed, no di inking or dihoiderline<*s of any kind being noticeable. The king and his immediate attendants had apartments at Finch's Hotel, whence after tho evening meal they eros« hed over to the Po&t Office, Mr G-entil the officer in charge of the telegraph btution having fixod a telephone in his piivate room and connected it with Hamilton, where Mr Logic and a few other gentlemen kindly contributed to the amusement of the king by singing and talking through the instrument. Afterwards the microphone was attached, and this mci eased moie aud more the wonder of Tawhiao, tho ticking of a watch being distinctly audible from Hamilton. The king gave repeated toke.is of enjoying the entertainment thus provided for him and retired for the night well pleased. On the following day, Tuesday, Tatvhiao continuiug to suffer from his complaint he removed from the hotel to a room in the house foimerly occupied by Mr J. D. Hill, and placed himself under the care of Mr Aubin, chemist, whose treatment did much to relieve him. A guard of about a dozen young men of the tiibp, all armed with double-barrelled fowling piece* was posted in front of the house, in which, at the time I visited it, was also Wahanui, aud several women of the latter engaged in culinary occupations Wahinui is a remaikably fine man of immense stature, with fine intelligent features. Ho i- an influential cbiof of tho Ngatimanipotos aud has not before Monday crossed the confiscation Hue since the war. His settlement lies between Kawhia and Mokau on the "West Coast, and it is only very recently that he left that locality and came to roside a1;a 1 ; Hikurangi with Tawhiao. He will be remembeicd by some as the host of the scientist Professor Hookstetter,' when the iatter was prosecuting bis' work along the coast. Mauuhiri had gone on Tuesday to the re idence of Heta Tarawhiti, and I did not see .him. Tawhiao appears to have aged considerably during the last rive or six; years, but ho is still a flue looking man. Tv Tawhiao, his sou, who is with him would be account pd «'i personable young fellow judged even by the strictest European standard. Dming the early part of Tuesday tho male adults of the two tribes assembled, and in return for the efforts of the Band on the preceding day gave a war dance, in true native style, on the road leading past the Alexandra Hotel. After the dance, Wharerata, a Ngatihaua, announced that the war dance was to be regarded more in the light of a farewell to war, than as an indication of any desire to engage in any more fighting. Several hakas followed. • In the afternoon a general gathering took place in the Government paddock, to hear the Alexandra Band, which, although numerically weak (some half-a-dozen members, including the leader, being unavoidobly absent), played a number of selections in a very creditable style. Two of the bandsmen, including the big drummer, are natives, and they 3eemed (o take the greatest prid,e in thus exhibiting their musical talent to their own people. Great merriment was created by Wharerata joining the Band with a tin-whistle. Newspapers containing accounts of their movements were eagerly sought after by the natives and translated to them ; and they one and all expressed the greatest disapprobation of the yarns to which the Herald has given publicity, as well as of the stupid alarmist subleader which appeared in the same journal on Monday. It may fairly be anticipated from this that great results will follow from the new policy which Tawhiao, with the concurrence of his ablest advisers, has adopted. His laying down his arm? and presenting them to the Government may b§ taken to mean his acknowledgment of the sovereignty of Queen Victoria, and the virtual abdication of his royal pretensions : but lam much mistaken if the initiation of a policy of conciliation be all that is intended. The Kiug party ought by this time to be fully aware of the fact that we on our side had finally given up- all thoughts of a renewal of hostilities with the natives, and hence they coiled, have no object in going to the trouble ,of making a peace with us, What ja far

jtnore probable is that "the chiefs have cotne "tCthe tletefiTfination at length to throw open their country to European settlement, I cannot say with onch'dence that this is their expressed intention ,3 ' bub" Tt js'.what , may, Tie gathered from much of the conversation between the natives themselves. I have it on very good authority that the project of extendiug the railway system for Waikato.to Taranaki has. ciopped, up in, iheir councils, and hus been by no means unfavorably received. The natives,, and more especially those in authority among 1 them, are by nature reticent, and it may be some time before we can with certainty learn what their real intentions are, but of this we may at any rate be assured that the step tfhieh has justj ust been taken cannot fail to prove an important one towards the removal of those obstacles which have for so loner a time opposed a settlement of the native difficulty in New Zealand.