NEW ZEALAND AFFAIRS.

Press, Volume XIV, Issue 1888, 4 May 1869, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND AFFAIRS.

Xf n tesß tilings take a better .turn than the last advices seem to indicate, it is but too probable that help from home will be applied for. And we cannot expect that any Government turn a deaf ear to a call mMc in earnest, with evidence before it that the fate of lives and property to a very gerious extent may hang on tlieir determination. Supposing, however, that the Colonial Goyernment is equal in its own judgment to meet the emer-< gency, the best course in all -probability which they could,' take! is' one which we scarcely count, on ihe comm uiuty i.possessing civil;: courage submit td. The Island should be placed under a temporary dictatorship,';;7TtaV resources employed .at .the absolute discretion of the Executive created' for the occasion. That Executive should be Hindered, as nearly as .such a word can be with safety used, irresponsible until the "emergency is over. It should enrol a military-force, calling it. by whateveriiame miglit'seem adapted* to the case. Beliance= on volunteers in such a matter is.idle. Volunteers will fight hard enough in defence of their own homest"eall^; ! anci to 'punish injuries inflicted on themselves, or in the general, enthusiasm of. national self-defence'; or, again, where substantial advantages are to be earned by fighting. But they will not serve steadily where none of these .objects ate V within ' view,' and L> the only purpose is —to . protect a number of otrtlyiiig settlers against an enemy continually at hand, : Jjy the exercise of Constant' arid' troublesome watchfulness even more than of valour. Tbati? th(ft:businesß,Qf,.armUifcia)-Qr an armed police, strong in numbers and under absolute direction; not a plaything for "responsible " Ministries in the colonial sense. -But the dictatorship, which appears, indispensable under present" circumstances for the Northern Island, is," of course, not requisite for the Southeri.. Improper function would be the self-denying one of contributing liberaJly.to .theespes£e of the general government, without impeding unity of action by interference with its military or police arrangements. .;..;.„. The substantial c6-6peratib'n of all New Zealand for the purpose of suppressing disturbances "which endanger only a small part of it Willbe extremely difficult to secure.- If it cannot be secured, separation;of the Jfewo islands is the only alternative, and it is by no means certain that in the long run thiß arrangement will not be the most advantageous, as w6lj '°as satisfactory, to both. But;;in the meantime the taction,s£ the is to make the liesVoi eircumBtances. If any assistance in troops is to'Wgfvei. to Kew, ..Zealand, 'the' contribution of the Southern Island, to the full extent of its" means,'mueft' be insisted ,xoa.- asu an t . indispensable accompaniment. - "We must 'take care i that the Colonial Office does not allow itself to be seduced into' the proverbial tendency of its '; mother ■ country " make things pleasant" by bribes to noisy pffspring. b Already the. old cdonial cry oeglns to make itself heard through the of i some of our contemporaries' Already we are told that the waht of defensive preparation in New Zealand is owing to poverty-— that the islands are " dreadfully indebted over-taxed;" that this result is mainly owing to the "vacillating, now petting*,,and, -pow again jx>licy of the Colonial Office;*' the lesson deduced therefrom befng that we are to lend or give more money to one ot the most thriving VOiirig, communities oil the surface rof we.globe. The reasoning is 'as, unfounded as the conclusion is dangerous,: Ihatthis policy of theColonial Office has been most vacillating in relation to New Zealand is true enough, - f but the net result of the vacillation has simply beenthe expenditure of a most-unne-cessary amount? of British money, not to mention British lives, for the benefit of tlie colony. If we had been 'firmer at home, the colonists would have met With less s extravagant indulgence. ™o make this a reason for claimiag further indulgence is a little too bad. ; It ds. like, the case of a spoilt son, who importunes his parents for further advances,' on the ground that their "vacillating policy." in threaienihg to close the purse then opening them again to his has led him into difnSMp*, If New Zealand absolutely needs the help of the stronger arm; given it must be; but not, we most sincerely trust, in the shape of money, fp Ifeast of all as an acknowledgement .uuMj^bjLdue Jtom us. ' ?* Q?? possessed ofareally witi* an \arinei iits raised by levy, *ost endured it-fcXtfto impossible that the settled parts of the

Northern Island can b '<* in serious danger from a few thousand Maoris, brave men and born taclicians as Ihey have shown themselves, especially when it is evident that we have a number, probably a majority, of the fighting natives on our side. On the eastern coast, indeed, the savage mas sacre committed .by the Hauhaus, stirring to vengeance not only the Europeans, but our native allies also, will, in all probability, have brought down ample retribution before the next advices are despatched to us. In the west, and especially the neighbourhood of Wanganui, as far as we can understand the account! before us, things look more serious " Titokowaru," though his proceedings have as yet been unmarked by the ferocity exhibited by Te Kooti and his "bandits, is in all probability a much more formidable enemy. He is apparently in close connection with the jremnant of that old Maori organisation which has given us so much trouble already. A very, slight success on his part may bring the fiercest spirits and most experienced fighters of the race into collision with the European in one. last desperate, strug- | gle • for if it assumed the proportions, |of a rebellion,, it; would, assuredly I prove the last. Insulated outbreaks : and massacres there would be for s6me time to come, but wars no more, unless, indeed,, we sent out more British regiments to ; render war pro 1 j Stable to all parties concerned except j ourselves; •Mp - ■■>.•■..:, ; ! ' As for the retribution to be exacted, wevshrink from its contemplation with a <n_o3t painful sense.of impotency to ayerHt. Our shortcomings may have b|een great,- oui*:injustice towards these people, committed to our tutelage in sbh-6.' cases indbfensiblej we hope, i&j|ee<f f ijie accbuiit does : ; inpt stand so heavy against us as some allege ■; but, Whether or no, we; cannot, enter into that discussion The blood of our own kindred, our industrious and inoffenaive, settlers, butchered ill' itheir homesteads without, provocation and without warning, calls 1 : for punishment ;• ;and ample security against the repetition of such horrcis'must he at whatever coat;to those who have occasioned them. But it is a happy circumstance, and the 'only one on ; which we can congratulate 'Ourselves: in-the Whole prospect before usj, that this is not a feuil of Europeans against natives/ but of Europeana and friendly; natives against bands of fanatics. ! At Poverty Bay our friends were murdered by dtir«ide : in t|he proportion of tl lirty of them to tjwenty-five Europeans; and (if we ihay believe the accounts) not a few of these died as martyrs, choosing death in preference,to renouncing the.faith implanted in them by the missionaries in those happier days when Christian hope seemed to dawn for New Zealand. y?e are that most miserable of spectacles, the indiscriminate and unsparing animosity of skm against skin v predicted for this unhappY race may appear but too probable. But before it arrives,, if ; it. musib.arrive, at j least, the duty before us of rewarding j and encouraging those whohave fought by ; our side, and of protecting those who have fled from, instead of abetting, the sanguinary'fanaticism of the invaders.--" Ball Mall Gazette."