The Press. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1866.

Press, Volume X, Issue 1233, 19 October 1866, Page 2

The Press. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1866.

Tiieke was one man of pre-eminent authority in Native matters who did not at first accept the policy of selfreliance which Mr. Weld's Government gave to the colony; that man was MrDonald McLean, the Superintendent of Hawke's Bay ; and we have sometimes had occasion to call attention to appeals which he has

made to the Government for troops to defend tho settlers of his province from threatened disturbances in his district. But it has fallen to Mr. McLean's lot to vindicate by a noble and practical illustration the talue of a policy which he was cautious to adopt as a theory. The colony will probably never, fully know how much it owes to the Superintendent of Hawke's Bay for his conduct of the operations on the East Coast during the past year. The general fact, however, cannot escape recognition, that, with bodies of Colonial forces perfectly insignificant in numbers, aided by Native allies whose: loyalty was Becured by his skill and ] sagacity, Mr. McLean managed virtually to conquer and reduce to order and submission a district even more extensive than that out of which General Cameron only drovethe Natives with an army of ten or twelve thousand menbacked by an almost equal number J of the Auckland Militia and Colonial forces. The Natives of the East Coast were hardly less numerous than the Waikatos, and the country was incomparably more difficult for military operations than the level valley of the Waikato ; nor was any pa taken in the Northern campaign at all to be compared in strength to some of those which fell before Colonel Eraser's handful of men. The tide of war, it will be recollected by those who have followed the course of events, has rolled steadily southward along the east coast of the island, from Tauranga to Opotiki, and from the East Cape to Waiapu, Poverty Bay and the "Wairoa. The last fight, as we hope and believe, has now been \ fought amidst the very homesteads of the Hawke's Bay settlers, within ten or twelve miles of the town of Napier itself. The battle, of which details will be found elsewhere, is memorable for | this feature, that it is the most comi plete in its results of any which has i. taken place in New Zealand ; the whole Hau-hau party being destroyed or taken prisoners, whilst the Eng-. lish force consisted entirely of local militia, there being neither a soldier nor a military settler engaged. _ It must be understood that the enemy in this case were not Natives of the Hawke's Bay'district. They consisted mostly of a tribe living inland from the 'settlement, with some stragglers from the East Coast. The Hawke's Bay Natives fought on our side ; and it is especially cheering to see the namos of Hapuku, and Tareha Uenata and Karaitiana, mentioned as leading the Native Contingent; because the first of those chiefs "has for many years fbeen engaged in a bitter feud with the three others, arising out of a dispute about land on the Napier jplains. Indeed it is not very long ago that considerable anxiety was caused by the suspicion that Hapuku was intriguing the Hau-haus ~to assist him m recovering land which he lost some few years back in a war with the others. All the sections of the NgatiWiwp.nu appear) l)oweYer> to have

loyally to resist -fcliis lawless sgSression. of zt, Tdelt*<2. of marauders ft-nri.

fiilia up i . wM «J p~.

perous district, in which the Native inhabitants have now almost as much valuable property to lose as their European neighbors.

The broad distinction between the East Coast and the Waikato wars is this, that in the latter we drove into a common hostility all those chiefs who had been for years our firm friends, and finally let the real aggressors go comparatively uninjured m life and land; whilst all through the East Coast, and especially in this last and most gallant affair, owing to the wisdom of the Civil Government our friends have been attached to our side, whilst we have had our arms directed only against ruffians whose punishment is most justly merited. "We sppke of this as the last fight; it may not prove actually the last, for it is to be hoped that the gallant Hawke's Bay Militia, • under Colonel Whitmore's command, have by this time come up with and destroyed the rear of the invading army of which the main body has been defeated in j the late engagement. The remainder! are in a pa about forty mi'es inland, and we have little doubt will be soon disposed of; but we have great hope that when this party is defeated the peace of the whole coast will have been finally and permanently Becured. We do not believe the reports that this attack ou Napier has originated in Waikato, or that it is a part of a general rising of the Waikato tribes; still less that William Thompson has anything whatever to do with it. There has not been published one tittle of evidence to justify such a supposition ; and it is extremely improbable that, had such, a design existed, it would have been carried out by sending so Bmall a body as those who undertook the night attack upon Napier. This band of Hau-haus have been for several weeks threatening the settlement, and it was not from vague rumour, but from accurate intelligence, that their intention to attack the town was discovered ; but nothing

has transpired to show that they were iv league with the AVaikato tribes, by whom it is certain that they were at all events not assisted. It is not to be expected that the remnant of the broken Waikatos are very friendly, and of course they would try and reconquer their country if they had the chance ; but we doubt whether they will make the attempt. The Auckland cry is as usual—" they will rise as soon as the troops are gone." If instead of looking to troops the Auckland settlers imitate the example of the Hawke's Bay Militia under Colonel Whitmore, they will have nothing whatever to fear.

The great value of this recent action to the whole Northern Island is this, that it teaches the Natives that the settlers do not want troops at all, and that when attacked they can defend themselves as effectually, and ten times more economically, than if they had the whole British army at their elbows.

We publish elsewhere an interesting letter from a private correspondent. The writer expresses a hope that the prisoners will be sent to the Chatham Islands, and we understand that the Government has already sent up a steamer to take them off immediately to that island.