The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, The Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17,1881.

Auckland Star, Volume XII, Issue 3546, 17 December 1881, Page 2

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

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17,1881.

Tor the cause that lacks aulilanca. For the wrong that needs resistaac For the future in the distance. And the good that we can do.

Mr Bryce was entertained at dinner by the leading residents of Wanganui last night, and the people throughout New Zealand will look with eager expectation for the light which the leader of the movement against Farihaka can throw upon that eventful page of New Zealand history. They will, however, ba disappointed. Unless the Press Association's summary of the speech is a travesty, the Native Minister did not shine as an expositor of the policy which he has administered. Considering the momentonsncss of the movement, the explanations of its director are ridiculously feeble. Mr Brycc has been reading Buckle ; and in the fragment which that laborious author left he has made a wonderful discovery. Among the causes which affect the mental constitution of men Buckle names the physical a«pect of nature, and proceeds to enumerate, as his custom is, a large number of cases apparently supporting his opinion. While Buckle dealt with countries like Peru and Chili, where earthquakes startle the inhabitants every day or two, and with localities where volcanoes are a perpetual cause of terror, he seemed to make out a strong case; but he never descended to such puerilities as ascribing the frenzy of a ■ soi-disant prophet to the vicinity of a mountain of perfectly peaceful habits. Mr Bryce has been unkind to the author of the "History of Civilisation" in associating his name with such triviality. Un Mount ttgmont Mr Bryce lays the blame of Te Whiti's vagaries. And though he did not say so, it is a fair inference that the shadow of Mount Egmout falling miraculously over Waikato, Wanganui, and the Chatham

Islands also accounts for the spell which the prophet has cast upon natives resident in those districts. This is the summary explanation which the Nativo Minister has been pleased to commuuicttte to the world ; and with gaping mouth, wonder-stricken clowns will marvel at so simple a solution* of a problem 'bo complex. But Mr Hryce's utterances, it must not bj forgotten, were post-prandial, and considerable latitude is generally allowed to a speaker who rises from well-laden tables environed with neighbours who have dined as well as himself. This morning perhaps Mr Bryce was not so enamoured of his revelation as he was a few hours before; and calmer reflection has possibly convinced him that To Whiti's idiosyncrasies caunot be Buttled in such an oft-haml way. The most ordinary intellect presents a variety of complicated psychological problems ; and Te Whiti's intellect is no ordinary one. Many causes have combiuOd to make the Maori prophet What he is, and a Rreftter genius than the Native Minister in required to unravel them, l'he Koyal Commission, which continued ita investigations for more than two yeafS) discovered a i».uch more intelligiblo theury than thf.t Wlered by the Native Minister, awi oiio not so ilattenug to European Vanity and peace of mind, But Mr liryf.c's precious discovery would scorn to explain his recent cutrgetii: action with regard to Te Whitl, He considered tlie influence ef tho mountain was getting too strong tot the prophet, and was inducing a species of lunacy more severe thau usual; and so, for the peace of the colony in general, and the wcllboing of the Tamnaki settlers in particular, he carried him oil, and place«A him further from tho source of excitement. Removed southwards, ns no doubt Tc Whiti will bo presently, and the mountain being thus beyond his ken, he may be expected to relapse into passive mediocrity. It is a pity, however, that the theory did not work out so well us one might, from its profundity, have expected, in the case of the pnsoivors lodged in gaol before.

The mora we cVamluc Mr Bryce's discovery, the more are wo struck with its political utility. It should be patented at once for the exclusive benclit of the present Cabinet. Its application is unlimited. For instance, instead of Che excitement and stir iv (jovcrninent Buildings prior to 'ho issue of the famous proclamation being instigated by a suspicion that Sir Arthur Gordon was on bin way back, as Mr Stout insinuates, it was obviously duo to the alarming earthquakes that have recently occurred in Wellington. The tenacity with which ,the Canterbury and Utago squatters stick to immense tracts of territory is easily fouud in the stubbornness that is begotten of rcsideucc in close proximity to Uie snow-capped Southern Alps. Is not the proverbial obntinacy of the Highlander couTinciu^ proof of this? In fact, the thi»g widens out co amazingly when one looks at it as to become absolutely appalling. Given time and tho Darwinian process of development, and we shall have the stable-boy actually transformed into the horse.

Mr Ikyco's explanation of his habitnal disconrtesy to tbo press representatives at I'arihaka, aud his abortive attempt to prevent them—ami tho public through them —from obtaining an independent and impartial nccouut of the celebrated advance, is much ltss ingoi I nis aud original. Ho said ho would have boon "the meanest of men" had tlic fear of criticism been his instigating motive. We are sorry he should have chosen co harsh a term, because there cannot be the slightest iloubt on the mind of any reasonable man that prevention of critici-m was the sole animating purpose. To say that ho feared danger from tlie presence ot the press representatives is A statement which he cannot expect us to accept, despite his own modest (issunuicc in tho House iast «e.csion that be and Gcot«e Washington are conspicuous exceptions to the rest ot the lium&n upecicß vu vnaUets oi votacUy. 'Ac course he adopted was one which did creiUo a real stale of danger, tot the reporters, iv consequence, were driven to surreptitious atu\' questionable movement*. Their secret expeditious from the A.C. camp to l'atihaka might have led to serious trouble. The Maoris, however, were less icatful of public opinion than Mr Brycc, and tho reporters were actually indebted to Tohu for a place of concealment ou tbo day when tho Native Minister and his army entered the pab. If Mr Bryce had accorded the special correspondents the ordinary courtesy given liy commanders of the Kussiau aud Turkish armies he would have had no cause of gpprcheusiou, Mrßryco'fl spsech confirms the impression created by his general career. His character ismorc conspicuous for determination aud fair honesty than for broaduess of intellectual view aud amiability of temperament, ttc has done the work entrusted to him with remarkable steadiness of purposo, but it will evidently remain for his colleagues to explain and defend it.