The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED "The Evening News," "The Morning News," and "The Echo." FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1878.

Auckland Star, Volume IX, Issue 2605, 23 August 1878, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED "The Evening News," "The Morning News," and "The Echo."

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1878.

Foptiiockcse that beta trMhinc*, fUt fee wrong tbat needs r«lstanfn. For tbo fmture In the distance, Aad th« good that w« can do.

A number of important cablegrams appea* in another column. A special from o # London correspondent announces that ;jS Austrians, strongly reinforced, have r ttacked and captured Travnik, the capital of Bosnia, which is a small town in a narrow valley on the right bank of the Laschra, about 615 miles N.N.W. of Constantinople. It is very poorly built, and consists of narrow winding and dirty streets, lined by very indifferent houses. In spite of these facts the conquest may be an important one, and will, no doubt, do much to subdue the spirit of the insurgent". Another interesting item of news is contained in the special to the Press Agency, which states that the English Government have determined at all hazards to prevent an alliance between the Russians and Afghan?. The reason of this move is, of course, obvious. Afghanistan is the only independent State between the southern limits of Russia in Asia and the northern frontier of India. Its mountainous character has rendered it an inaccessible barrier to any invasion from that-"quarter without the assistance of the inhabitants. Obviously^ theretere, it is of the utmost consequence that Russian influence at Cabool should be very narrowly watched and checkmated.

OUR telegrams from Wellington to-day give considerableprominence to a Judge Thomas, thanks to Mr Fox who complained that some person bearing that name had been subject to police surveillance when attempting to obtain an interview with RewL The first time we heard ot this gentleman, was during the meeting of Sir George Grey -Trtvi.-i2 J =,» II i.. J j.t Waitara. A short time ago, it appears, he naor pri«wi--h*- A^aklandi in English, and Maori a pamphlet entraea "Ryotwarryj; a solution of the [Maori Land Question, by E. C. G. gThomas, A. S., ft. A. S., H. M. Indian C.S." In. this brochure, copies of which we have, he gives this, account of himself : " Being about to retire on a pension from the Indian Government, and not to commence life as a farmer or runholder, he trusts his views may be received and weighed as those of one who has no selfish interests at Btake." Having thus introduced himself, he goes on to set forth his own particular views on the Maori land question. He premises his subject with such phrases as these :—" There is still an Imperium in Imperio in the North Island of New Zealand, "There is no Buch improbability as amounts to an impossibility in there again being warfare between the two races,*' " A noble race is passing away—a race whose chivalry and courage have tested the prowess of the pakeha as no other race has done, and one whose uncultivated intellectual faculties also give fair promise of being fully equal to their own;" and other platitudes of a childishly harmless kind if circulated merely among English but which may prove exceedingly pernicious when distributed among an ignorant race of savages already too prone to measure their capabilities against those of the white population. "Englishmen," he tells them, "have at one time bought large tracts of land of the Maoris for ridiculously small sums, and the Maori afterwards repenting of his bargain, raised endless obstructions." " Bloodshed and war have been the consequence ot land transactions." He then goes on to prescribe his remedy for this state of affairs. He proposes tnat" there shall be set aside as inalienable for ever except to pure Maoris, a sufficient quantity of land for the king, the chiefs, and every Maori individually," to be administered by a Native Council. That the balance of the land shall be managed by a Government Commissioner, "as the agent of a large land owner," half the rental to be paid to the Maoris, the balance for the government and improvement of the land." And he suggests that the Ryotwarry tenancy of South India shall be made applicable to the administration of this estate. By this brilliant proposal, forty thousand savages are to remain pro* prietors for all time of the six million acres of land which they now hold, and the white folk are to be their tenants. A more nonsensical scheme waa probably never formulated outside a lunatic asylum ; but its author, with a persistency worthy of better things, iias made extraordinary exertions to press it upon Eewi and other natives. The actuating .motive in this censurable course of procedure seems to be nothing more than vanity and that incorrigible habit of assumption which sometimes attains a development that defies all control. Mr Thomas,no doubt,desires to shed the light of his Indian experience on benighted colonists. In the present state of our relations with the Maoris, however, his mischievous meddling may exercise an injurious effect, and we would strongly advise him to accept the friendly advice which, according to the "Post," has been tendered by the Native Minister.