THE "TIMARU HERALD" ON THE NATIVE TROUBLE.

Waikato Times, Volume XX, Issue 1678, 7 April 1883, Page 3

THE "TIMARU HERALD" ON THE NATIVE TROUBLE.

The Timaru Herald of the 28th March, thus apeaks in the lending colums :—: — •^nother little "native difficulty" has been nipped in the bud, much to the surprise, and we fear the disgust, of that Mnalljjlique pf?colomiit| who > would- al-. liios^atjle/- jpfrefetf tp jfeee aift^hir j^wjir,. between the settlers aud the Maoris than that Mr Bryce's policy should prove asucce.-s. Their hopes must have risen very high intleed iwlien' the ifirat 1 intelligence of the capture of Mr Hurathouse and party reached them, and we can imngine,their glee ,at the prospect of the ''Whjittf Horsb £nfcn,V wt noxM of ; *ttiep describe the Native Minister, ' finding his efforts to obtain a survey of the railway line from, Alexandra to New Plymouth, ; through 'the King Country, likely 'liol prove < futile. We ourselves did; not ? floubt for a moment that the whole affair would er.ri in the discomfiture of the obstructionists' and; the' triumph; of Mr Bryce. We have studied his policy carefully from the >very first, and; the more we ha\e donp so the more we have felt convinced that it is speedily putting out of 'the bounds of possibility any serious trouble with the natives in the future. It may be said in the case of the arrest of Mr Hursthbuse that but for Wahanui and Te Kooti and other chiefs in the Waikato, his release could only have been obtained by means of an armed force of Europeans, and at great expense ■ to the country. Even were we to allow this to be the case — which we do ,npt— would it not establish more clearly than < any writing or speaking . could do, the utter collapse ol the so-styled Maori Kingdom, and the sundering of all the ties which bound together the' Waikato and other tribes forming the foundation of it ? Who, six months ago, would have been rash enough to prophecy (hat the arch -rebel Te Kooti would ere long be found lending a putty of natives to release a couple of Government surveyors from the hands of a band of their own countrymen ? The fact is that ever since Mr Bryce's memorable interview with Tawhiao and his ministere and his subjects at Whatiwhatihoe, the natives as a whole have seen the utter fallacy of attempting to withstand the encroach men ts of civilization in the direction of surveying the King country with a view to running lines of road and railway thruiigli it. Had this not been the case, it is hardly likely Tawhiao would have left the Waikato as he did and entered on a tour from which, if lie ever returns, he will find, himself anything but the important personage he at one time imagined himself to be. We should not be surprised to learn that the statement that he was travelling to consult the tribes, throughout the Noith Island as to what reply he should give to Mr Bryce was only made to cover the fact that a strong hint had been given him by the pillars of his throne that it would be better for him to clear out a while so as to allow the Queen's writ to run peacefully through his tcnitory without his sanction, and so without bringing his ma»a into contempt. If such was not the case, the result will bo the same, for a Maori King no longer exists. It is possible j that for some years to como, a turbulent sprit like Mahuki may from time to time distinguish himself by interfering with a surveyor's party, by cutting the telegraph wiies, by prophesying the immediate extinction of the pakehas, or by sonic other demonstration of an even less trivial kind. His notoriety, however, will be very fleeting, and ere many years are past the "native difficulty" that will trouble the minds of our politicians will not be how to keep from killing the Maoris, and how to prevent them becoming extinct.

"I BESOBTtowine to stimulate ray wits," fluid a youug spendthrift to iin old one. " Ah," replied the veteran, " that is the way I began, but now I havo to resort to my wits to got my wine." " Have you nny original poetry in your album ?" asked one youug lady ot anoi her, " No," was the reply ; but some of my friends have favoured me with some original spelling."