OUR HOME LETTER.

The colony of New Zealand is in the turmoil of a general election. The suffrage is now of the most democratic character, as every man who has been in the country for a year and the electoral district for six months is entitled to the franchise. By an Act passed last session it is provided that the pollin" for all the districts in the colony shall be held on the same day, and that has been fixed for the 9th of December. There are a great many troublesome and complex questions at present being agitated in polities, but there Li no distinct political issue before the country, so that the election resembles rather a confused melee than a drawn battle. The Ministry are not strong, but, on the other hand, their opponents have no organisation. There is no bond of union in the Opposition. The Government can point to the fact that they took charge of the administration at a time when the Grey Government had permitted affairs in almost all the departments to fall into confusion ; they can claim to have made large reductions in the public service, and to have economised public expenditure so as to maintain the credit of tho colony; they can also claim to have dealt firmly and successfully with the natire difficulty, and to have done much towards the opening up and settlement of the country. There will no doubt be a good many changes of men, but the constitution of parties will probably remain pretty much the same. Mr. Hall, the Premier, hns addressed the electors of Selwyn, a district in Canterbury, but he refrained from stating, except in a very general way, the course of legislation proposed by the Government. Sir George Grey, who is the virtual, although not the recognised leader of the Opposition, is a candidate for Auckland East, one of the electorates of this city, and has several times given addresses in public. He is opposed by Mr. J. M. Clark, the Mayor of Auckland.

When our last summary was published the most exciting topic throughout the colony was the advance of the volunteers and constabulary upon Parihaka and tlm arrest of Te Whiti, Tohu, and I-liroki. The object of Mr. Bryce's movement was to break up the settlement of Parihaka, which had become a refuge for discontented and criminal natives, and so a hindrance to the settlement of the adjacent country, and a menace to the peace of the colony. Opinions were much divided as to the prudence of Mr. Bryce's action, a great many contending that he would precipitate the country into a war. The result has been an entire and perfect success —a success so groat that comparatively little attention is now directed to the subject. Te Whiti and Tohu have been before the magistrates at New Plymouth, and have been committed for trial for the seditious language used by them in addressing the large native meeting which assembled at Parihaka in September last. Hiroki has also been committed for trial on the charge of the murder of McLean, a surveyor. Titokowaru, the leader of an outbreak on the WestCoast some years ago, has also been committed for threatening to bum down some settlers homes. Mr. Bryce has meantime been busily engaged in dispersing the natives assembled at Parihaka. For several years natives from different parts of the country have been gathering there, till the majority assembled were strangers, having no claim on the land of tho district. To separate these, and send them to their homes, was a matter of great diiliculty, but of the utmost importance. The Maoris themselves would give no assistance, and would not tell what part of the country they belonged to. Mr. Bryce had to bring men from different parts of the North Island, who identified a number of natives, and these were selected and sent away. Some few left voluntarily. Most of the strangers have now been sent away, and measures will be taken to prevent them collecting again at Parihaka. The native difficulty on the West Coast of the North Island is now, to all appearance, at an end. Tawhiao, the Maori King, is still in the neighbourhood of Alexandra, and maintaining the most friendly relations with the Europeans. Mr. Sheehan, the Native Minister in the Grey Government, has stated his emphatic approval of the measures adopted by Mr. Bryce, and has asserted that the Government of ■which he was a member had made every preparation to carry out the same programme when they were prevented by a dissolution, and an adverse vote in Parliament.

The annual show of the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association took place on the Bth of Norember, and ■was a great success. Settlement is making rapid progress in the interior. The discoveries of gold at and near Te Aroha will, within a very brief period, induce a rapid inflow of population to the Upper Thames district, where there is a wide and fertile country, watered by fine rivers, and giving clear access to the interior of the island.