E—No. lc

TO NATIVE AFFAIRS.

annually allowed by the Maoiies to return to a state of nature, or to become occupied by a lamentable crop of noxious weeds, cannot be estimated at less than 5000 acres. If, instead of this abandonment they were instructed to sow grass seed and introduce sheep, who can tell how soon the plains of Waipa would be a vast meadow, increasing the happiness of the owners, and adding to the resources of the Colony. At present, when spoken to on the subject of the melancholy extent to which the dock is overspreading the country, and when exhorted to commence sbeepbreeding, and the sowing of grass seed on the abandoned lands, the universal answer is, " How can I keep sheep. Look at all those dogs. If there was a law about dogs, then I could begin." Will any one oppose to me as an argument, that if the Maories are thus taught to use their land, they will never sell to the European ? I cannot believe that a principle, so shallow in itself, so contrary to all honourable aspirations, so heedless of the duties entrusted to us by Providence, and so inconsistent with engagements voluntarily undertaken, will be advocated or even entertained. There surely cannot be any necessity for me to combat such a doctrine, even if it were grounded on something better than a fallacy. In the event of the commission of a grave crime, or in ca?e of one of the ' accidents' before alluded to, the Maori authorities, accustomed to the exercise of their functions, will call for the assistance of the European magistrate,* and the matter, deprived of its character a* a question of nationality, will be disposed of, without excitement on the Native side and without apprehension on the part of Government. In towns, where the European element will continue to preponderate, some of the existing jealousy will probably continue for years, but even that will gradually be dissipated. At present, the criminal retires to his people, and regards himself as in a city of refuge. If the Government undertakes a course of humiliating diplomacy, and engages the assistance of the Missionaries,! the result will, probably, be the surrender of the culprit, and the elevation of the chief of the tribe to honour. But surely any opportunity which offers a prospect of terminating these unsatisfactory complications, should be eagerly embraced. The paternal care of Government has enacted laws intended to restrain the Maories from indulgence in intoxicating drinks. How utterly ineffectual these laws are, may be gathered from the fact that this was the only question on which the thirty-three gentlemen who gave evidence before the Board of Inquiry were unanimous. The universal opinion was, that they were so consistently broken, as to be nearly inoperative, and many urged their repeal on that ground. It is useless to place laws on the statute book at variance with the universal instincts of the human heart, thus tempting men to continual evasion, unless such laws originate amongst the people affected thereby, through a deliberate sense of overwhelming necessity. When imposed by a conquering or intruding race they have too much the appearance of partial penal laws, a tyrannical distinction of caste, to be regarded with favour by the inferior people, or to engage for their observance any power from public opinion, (vide evidence Board of Enquiry.) The pride of the whole nation overlooks the sin of the few, and sees only its own humiliation. But the matter becomes different when they are solicited to consider the question, and make regulations for restraining the evil themselves. Waata Kukutai, the president of the farming institution at Kohanga, has stopped the use of spirits amongst his tribe, by a firm administration of a law which they made themselves. And amongst the subject matters for cho consideration of the rneet'mg at Whatawhata, it will be remembered that " the law about spirits" was one. The Maories generally, I believe, are anxious to arrest the vice of drunkenness, and, if empowered, they can and will do so. In perusing tbe evidence taken by the Board of Enquiry, I was much struck with the fact, that those amongst the witnesses, who apprehended that sooner or later, a collision between the races must happen, agreed that the immediate cause would be the use of spirits. However this may be, the impoitance of the subject cannot be denied. The establishment of law and order would also rapidly tend to secure those prime requisites of civilization on which I enlarged in my previous minute; —fixity of residence, and thickening of the population. Cognate tribes would assemble in the peighbourhood of the where the greatest tranquility existed ; and the quarrels and insults, which are now the fruitful origin of the dispersion of tribes, being terminated by the ready adjustment of the resident Native officer, would not be the cause of a subsequent separation. Moreover, these bye-laws will require plantations to be well fenced, and houses to be decently built, and the owners will hesitate to leave a property that has become valuable, especially if the paitially exhausted lands are laid down in grass. It is unnecessary again to allude to the civilizing- influences of a large population permanently settled in one place. When the people are thinly scattered over the country public opinion cannot have an existence, for there is no public ; and no social check to negligence and sin can have any force, for there is no society." "In

♦Tire Resident Magistrate should, under this plan, travel about, visiting periodically every settlemeit. The weightier matters will rhen be reserved for adjudication until his arrival. He should also interest himself in the social and material advancement of each village. f The Government owes a deep debt of gratitude to the Missionaries. Most dilemmas have been solved, more or less, by their interference. When Sutton was assaulted, the agent sent by Government to obtain the surrender ofthe offenders was insulted and defied. The chief, Te Katipa, who was present, declared his wish that they should be given up, and pleaded his total want of power. Ultimately they were surrendered through the influence of one of Mr. Maunsell's Native teachers. The powder stolen by the Manaia Natives was, I believe, returned th.-ough the agency ofthe Missionary clergy. J Wiremu, chief of Whaingaroa, expressed his readiness to settle the greatest part of his tribe near Whatawhata, on the Waipa, if I thought it advisable, proposing to sell land and raise money to commenct a farm like the one at Kohanga ; but the residents here do not place any faith in this Maori.

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