The Press. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1879.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4288, 28 April 1879, Page 2

The Press. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 1879.

i It may be inferred from the absence of any definite news from the "Waimate Plains district daring the last week, that matters there remain! unaltered, and that active aggression upon Europeans is improbable so long as the Government yield, as they appear at present to be doing, all that the Natives require. That any particular success has so far attended the complicated negotiations, which hare recently been going on, it would be idle to pretend. The surveyors have not been reinstated ; Hiroki, the murderer,'has not been and does not seem likely to be surrendered; no apology has been offered for the insults to the Native Minister last month. ■ .- The only thing that appears to have been gained is that Tβ Whiti has consented to a reference of his grievances to a Commission. That any satisfactory settlement will be arrived at by such means is extremely doubtful; but it is manifest that whether this is so or not, the appointment of such a Commission is tantamount to an abnegation of their proper functions by those whom the colony has charged with the management of Native affairs, to an admission of their ignorance on subjects on which they have repeatedly professed te be thoroughly well informed, and of their incapacity to carry out work which they had undertaken. .Meanwhile it may be remarked that the construction of a redoubt at Opunake, and the conveyance to the district of & considerable number of armed constabulary are measures which do not create the impression that the Government, or their delegates in this district, have any great faith in the good intentions of the Natives. Such steps may be, and we believe are, highly judicious, but it is absurd for Ministers or their upholders to pretend, while they are taking such precautions, that they are absolutely unnecessary. With respect to the sudden withdrawal of the Waimate land, after it had been so unadvisedly advertised for sale, the effect produced in Australia is just such as might have been expected. The inference was unavoidable, and it is correct, that the Government were prevented by Tβ Whtti'e. opposition from carrying out their first purposes. "The chief qnestion," cays the Sydney Morning Herald, " to be settled is not whether the "Waimate Plains are to be owned by " the Maoris or the British, but whether " the Governor of that part of New "Zealand ie to be Te Whiti or Sir " Hercules Eobinson." Uet us suppose for- a moment that the Commission suggested has been appointed and reported, and that {he report does not in all respects coincide with Te WTuti's views, aa it is most improbable that it should, what guarantee has the colony that he and his supporters will submit to European dictation any more then than they do now P Further, it must be borne in mind that, according to the information which. Mr. Sheelian has supplied recently to the | Press, all former promises to the Natives have~%eenr "fulfilled, nOtwith- \ standing the statement that the whole difficulty arose out of unfulfilled promises. Consequently the commission will not really have to investigate any qnestion of right at all, but will have to address its enquiries solely to finding out at how cheap a rate Native opposition to the sale and occupation of the plains can

be bought up; what concessions the Europeans must make for being allowed to utilize without the employment of armed force, that which is already their own, but which the Natives maintain has been abandoned. r " ;

. -■ The Waimate question being in the unsettled and unsatisfactory condition above: described, for the present the heads of ihß Native Department appear to hiive abandoned it altogether, and to have applied their minds to a totally different matter, to which, also tho attention of the colony will no doubt be somewhat closely directed in the course of the next fortnight. It is expected that;to-day the great-jaioeting ,at-.Te -JBHopua>. summoned .by ..Tawblao, will, be .commenced. The object p£ this .meeting i?. ostensibly to decide finally npon the acceptance or rejection qf the terms ofEered to Tawhiao 4>y the "Premier at IDiurangl on May 10th, 1878.; As the precise - conditions of that offer have probably been forgotten by the majority 6T readers, they are reproduced at length, in .another column. Tfpon the general character and exact terms of the proposed treaty we commented fully'at the time, and it* is unnecessary to go over the same groundagain. A session of Parliament has intervened, during which , they were not condemned by a vote of the House, the Government having succeeded in shelving- the full discussion of them on the plea that the, negociations were incomplete, and that such discussion would impede their .pro-: gress. At the same, time it was evident enough thai in making such an offer the Premier had largely exceeded his constitutional functions, by assuming the power to * recognize a self-established potentate in any part of her Majesty's dominions, whose veto or consent were to be of any validity as to the construction of iieceasary public works. The postponement of this matter by the House was, we think, unwise,, ac constituting a tacit recognition of the terms ofEered, and leaving Tawhiao to understand -"that the treaty still remained open to liinf to reject or accept as he listed. For this purpose, as. we have said, the meeting to be commenced to-day is actually gathered.- Wβ do nek, however, anticipate that the Government offers will be discussed at any, great length, or that any, definite decision/with regard to them will, be arrived at. Since May a great. change for the worse has come over the feelings of the King Natives: They hold that the Government itt'tefriending and coquetting with Itewi has neglected them. Their estimation: of Mr. Sheehan has greatly fallen, and their opinion of Sir George Grey, as expressed By Manuhiri, is that they do not wish to see. him again; they know him of old. How far these Ministers have lost, if they did not originally invent, their asserted influence over Tawhiao and his advisers, is made eyident by thd fact that they have not been invited to the present meeting. In this connection, and in confirmation of the telegram which was published in these columns on Saturday it may: be well to cite, the following from Auckland, which appeared in y Tiinaru Herald, a subscriber to the Press Association, on that day:—" A Herald tele- " gram from Waikato says that both '-'Tawhiao and Manuhiri declined sending "formal invitations to the Premier and " the Native Minister, though solicited by " many leading chiefs to do so." It is not to be questioned that this refusal of an invitation is intended as a direct snub to the Ministers. It will be of much interest to observe whether having gone Korth for tho expressed purpose of attending this gathering they will now carry out their intention, and further abase themselves before Tawhiao by attending as uninvited guests, or stay away and abandon the long sustained pretence of exercising an all-potent influence over the native mind. The telegrams published this morning state that the Premier's movements are still uncertain.

If it is asked whether any and what result will be derived from this meeting, the reply mast be that.in the present temper of the King natives it is almost , impossible that there would be any beneficial result. The discredit into which the. Government has fallen with them is 'so great, the jealousy with which the Ministerial alliance with Rewi is regarded is so bitter, that it is in the last* degree improbable that any determination by .wihich, they can be remotely supposed to abandon their independence will be tolerated. They may not and, we believe, will not advocate any Mud of active aggression so long as they are themselves let alone. A poor fulfilment, this, of all that was to be effected by the Grey Ministry in regard to Native matters. Even up to the present time and without prophesying as to the result of this Kopua meeting, the outcome of recent policy has been as follows:—That instead of doing away with the King difficulty, it has strengthened Tawhiao's hands, and drawn the bonds between him and his adherents more closely; that instead of tending to the acceptance of the Queen's rule, it has confirmed the Kingites in their abhorrence of it; that it has reawakened dormant jealousies, and given a new lease of life to moribund prejudices; that it has in fact recreated the belief, which many years of uniform contempt had almeafc destroyed, that King Tawhiao is somebody, and the European Ministers his courtiers whom he may use or abuse as he will.