The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1504, 23 February 1882, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, FEB. :i i, 1882.

Equal and exact justice to .ill men, Of wh.itsocvei sUte or persuasion, religious or political. Here sh.ill the Press the People's right maintain, Un.iwed by influence and unbiibed by {tain.

Just in proportion to the social importance of him who disseminates it, does falsehood, misrepresentation or scandal bear fruit. The story that .slips unheeded oft' the tongue of the idle tattler assumes a graver importance when boldly announced by one who is held high in the world's estimation. And yet, without examination it is difficult to determine which of the two ought to be believed. Not that we need wonder at this : in the busy worka:day world that surrounds us we have little time for calm consideration, and must be satisfied to take a good deal on trust. We set up for ourselves some fanciful criterion of respectability, and are content to be guided by it, sometimes with safety, often to our confusion. It is upon questions of public policy, especially, that people are led astray in this way, for the reason that they consent to regard respectability and right as synonymous terms. To give these abstract prepositions a concrete form, lot us consiclii 1 how the glaring mih&tatemcnts of the Lyttellon That's on the subject of the West Coast native policy have affected those outsiders who of themselves were unable to form any definite, or indeed any opinions at all. The majority of these opinious have been adverse to the Government and Mr BiiYCis, and -why .' Because our Christchurch contemporary occupies (justly enough iv very many respects) a premier position in colonial jounalism, and that, therefore, its views, always tersely and vigorously expressed (howeve erroneous) are regarded as the echo of the national voice of New Zealand. Whether this conception is right or not we can safely leave for the consideration of the residents in this district, who, having some acquaintance with native matters, can safely form a conclusion. But the fruits of the evil seed sown by the Times, whose bitter opposition to the policy of Mr Buyce, is based solely upon a personal aversion to the man himself, has, like the down o£ our own thistle, been blown far and wide, and has taken root in fair and foul ground alike. We find the London Daily News wisely discussing the native policy of this colony in its leading columns, taking for its sole text-book the Lyttellon Times. And this is what it says on December 26th :—: — "If it had not been for the peaceful character and advice of Te Whiti, the Native leader, war would have broken out long ago ; but it seems that the dispute on the West Coast was brought to a crisis by a proclamation of the Colonial Government' issued on Oct. 19, which, if the Natives did not at once accept the terms offered to them, practically committed the Ctflouy to a policy of repression i not of actual war. Thus far the natives of Taranaki, under the direction of Te Whiti, have assumed an attitude of passive resistance towards the powers that be ; but it^ is reasonable to suppose that a point might be reached at which, his moral influence would be powerless to restrain the people from defending what they believed to be their rights. Heretofore ia New Zea-

land native lauds have generally been confiscated as a punishment for rebellion, but in Taranaki, after the war, no distinction in many cases was made between loyalists and robels ; and indeed it is said that in more than one instance rebels have actually obtained better terms than natives who fought on the side of the Queen. Te Whiti was never a rebel ; why then should his land be appropriated ? This is a question with regard to which we think that if there is to be any political or moral value at all n the connection of the Home Government with the Colonies, the authorities in Downing-street should be prepared to exercise a moderating influence between the two races." And then the News proceedos to quote its New Zealand mentor with the same confidence that we should expect to see reposed in the sacred gospel itself. '•The Lyttelton Times" continues the Daily News, "reprobates the conduct of the Colonial Government towards the natives of the West Coast, justifies and declares that Sir Arthur Gordon's responsible advisors took advantage of his temporary absence to issue the threatening Proclamation of Oct. 19. He had left the Colony for a short time, not on a tour of pleasure, but in order to perform the duties of High Commissioner in tho Western Pacific, and it appears that his Ministers never con.sitlted him on the step they were about to take." The Government of New Zealand are said to have violated their duty to tho Governor because they did not consult, him, but they were very .nearly been caught at their tricks, like a set of mischievous schoolboys, by the sudden and unexpected return of their master ! What balderdash! But unfortunately it is just this balderdash which goes for truth when it is gravely stated in the columns of a great English newspaper, and it is uprooted only with great difficulty. It is pleasant to turn from this nonsense to regard what has been said by another Ohristchurch paper — one which is no toady to the Government, but a free outspoken critic of the official acts of public men — the Telegraph. Speaking of what the Native Minister has accomplished, our contemporary says : — " They (the Ministry) staked their existence, amid the jeers of their opponents, on abolishing the Native Office ; and they have abolished it. ' I do not say positively that I will do this,' said Mr Buyce in his cautious way in 1879, ' because I do not know whether I shall be able to ; but 1 do say that if I remain in office I will do it ; and his colleagues assented to all he said. They havij held office for two years and a half since then ; and they have literally fulfilled every pledge they gave, and done even more than they bound themselves to do. They have not made a single blunder in the conduct of native affairs up to the present time ; although they have more than once been confronted by difficulties of a singularly perplexing kind. Tho secret of their unbroken success lies on the surface. They have laid clown a broad principle in dealing with the natives, namely, to treat them as citizens of New Zealand, without regard to distinctions of race, and to dispose of their affairs in a manner best calculated to advance not their particular good, but the general good of the whole community. To that broad principle they have stedfastly adhered hitherto ; and for our part we are quite content to trust them to adhere to it throughout." The opponents of the Government are eagerly jumping to ohe conclusion that the Government are about to be drawn into the old line of policy, of parleying with and humbugging the natives, and so on, but our contempoi-ary is quite clear that upon this point malice has taken the place of conviction. "Mr Buyce," he says, " will do business if there is business to be done, and, if not, he will go away, and he will leave no legacy of promises or doubt behind him. He can safely be trusted to go to Hikurangi." If the Native Minister does attend the native meeting at Ruahine, which is not at all certain, we have no fear that he will strenuously uphold the dignity and honor of the colony.

A further evidence, of enterprise in this portion of the colony, that says more than new buildings or reclamation works, is a new company to start a mill and granary with a capital of £100,000 under the guidance of G. W. Owen and Co., and a determination to be no more dependent on Canterbury or Otago for our grain and flour supply. All who "hold the belief we do in the great resources of this North Island, and who have observed how we have steadily tried to keep alive the interest in the active improvement and iucrease of • farming, and our protests against the supply for our support being raised anywhere but on the spot where it could be grown most cheaply, taking into consideration the cost of transit, will understand the pleasure with which we foresee the impetus that will be given to raising grain crops in the Waikato. The late harvest in this district, which we may call an experimental one, has proved not only that "VVaikato is admirably suited to the growth of wheat so far as heavy m>ps are concerned, butthat jit 1 will also yield a quality equal to the 'far-famed Adelaide. With ' this "assurance, and the certainty of keen competition which will ensue on thi?

establishment of so powerful a company as referred to above, we shall next season look "for ten acres of land in wheat for every one that was so planted last season. >

A deputation of the members of the Kirikiriroa Tioad Board will wait on the Premier on his arrival in Hamilton, in reference to the question of opening roads through the rural lands lately sold by the Government in the neighborhood of Ngaruawahia. This land is now under the jurisdiction of the board, and the owners have made application to have the roads constructed in order that they may have access to their property. This is natural enough, but it is scarcely fair that the board which has never derived one penny of revenue from this portion of the district, should be allowed to carry out works which will cost hundreds of pounds; for the roads are roads only on paper, and will require not only to beformed.butto be cleared, and in some cases drained as well. As much as £13 per acre was paid by some of the purchasers for these suburban lots ; and looking at the respectable addition thus made to the revenue, it is nothing but right thab the Government should make a grant for road forming. Indeed, to do so would only be carrying out the avowed policy of the Cabinet in dealing with Crown lands.