The Press. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1879.

Press, Volume XXXII, Issue 4408, 16 September 1879, Page 2

The Press. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1879.

The sanction of the Opvernmenfc to the enquiry by the Hauraki chiefs into the recent shooting at the Upper Thames, is,' perhaps, the most outrageous of the many objectionable proceedings of the present" administration. It is to all intents and purposes, a supersession of the whole system of European CJourts.,and laws for: the sake of gratifying the> vanity of a' few semi-barbarous persons. It waa a course which the safely of the colony in no wise demanded, and if has established a precedent which will assuredly involve us in future complications whenever a Maori offender is to be-brought te justice. It may be that the intervention of TniuHno will ultimately result in the surrender of the culprite, although this is open to great question, and the official telegram on the subject rather leads! to the belief that the tribe, are merely temporisißg.in order to find, as opportunity of getting Pakara and Epiha inland ont of reach of arrest. Bat this surrender, supposing it to be made, will by no means re-establish the majesty of the law, or dissipate the impression amongst the Natives that they are entitled tojbe.consuited beforeauyUativeoffender is arrested. The whole proeeedinge of the Native Office in this matter have been nothing l-jnore than an exhibition of the most miserable poltroonery. Immediately - upon hearing of the outrage the Native Minister hurried up from Auckland, and during the day which he was hardy enough to spend at Ohinenmri he interviewed Tukukiiio, and breathed pat dire threatenings about roads, railways, and teleJ graphs through Ms. 'lands; /he also in.. specfced the- Volunteers and promised them .a parade ground. Hedid hot think >it-necessary to go near the settlement of the perpetrators of the' probably too vivid, a memory .of his reception at Farihafca on a former occasion of the kind. He thought it better, lon the whole to entrust that delicate I mission to Messrs Puckey .and kinson, who accordingly went up and were confronted by the tribe, who appeared cool and indifferent. The aggressors -said they would not betaken, and -would not be tried by European law unless they were firafc tried by the' j HanxaM tribes. latter ordered that ihey -should, be so: tried theyj might consent, but not unless. It was then arranged that a detachment of the Armed Constabulary force under Superintendent Thomson should go to the settlement by daylight and arrest tho culprits. These orders, however, were countermanded, although there was little doubt that at that time the arrest:would hive been effected without difficulty. It seems however "that a rumour had been put abroad that the Piako and >other tribes would help Ngatihafco in resisting any capture, and the report, although quite unaothenticafcei, was sufficient to frighten the Minister and his subordinates. All action «n the part of the authorities was then suspended. Mr. Sheehan left the scene and -betook himself to Hawke's Bay to contest the Clive seat with Mr. Onnond, although he had already been elected one of the members for the Thames. Then the chiefs of Hauraki commenced their bogus court under the implied sanction of the Government, the result being thai announced in this morning's telegrams.

Meanwhile tie .Government and its ergaas hare not been idle in their endeavors to pat as pleasant an appearance upon this outbreak of Native lawlessness as possible. Seme most extraordinary semi-oflEoisl telegrams were pat i&to circulation, and the most marvellous explanations vouchsafed of the highly inconsiderate .conduct .«£ the Natives in converting surveyors into targets. Perhaps the cost wonderful of these -was that in which it was alleged thai the whole affair was a pure aecidentfe, resulting apparently from color blindness on the part of ike Natives, which, caused them to mistafce 3f cWil-1 liaxns for a h*if-caste. Aceerdmg to tins tale, the aggressors only intended to shoot some of the 2?gat£koe, wteom they regarded as hostile. Supposing this iad been so, ifc ia a decidedly novel view to take of th* law ia insinuate that ihe crime of shooting a Maori in cold blood is leas than that of shooting a European. Further, the explanation is somewhat marred by the remark of Bpihawhee pointing hut musket at Mc Williams. < Pakeha, yon must die!" Is hardly the phrase in which a Maori would address one of Ids own race, or even a half-caste. II the want to explain away

Aβ palpable izeXh, they sfc«ild at least shew some ingenuity in tbefar fabricatioßS. fanofseture of each hopelessly hnIβ etories as tlart referred te leads •occlusion tiutt Ministers sfid their ttts are failissg eren in their hitherto power t>f perverting the troth, astl yni ultimately bring themselves into ©etjpdifc even in this their last snd sorest stronghold. . : Tb» resatts of the wbele business at titgjftlTpper appear to be simply -CilWoV That the offenders are stall free and it is extremely probable ilhat theyjj will remain so: that the hesitation oft the Government, and its evident' cowardice has emboldened the offenfiLin£ the law: and lastly, that a apec&es of recognition has been extended to aa tuiupo* itself to decide whether persons who attempt the crime of, murder shall or shall not be surrendered to justice. The affair end its sequel afford one more'telling illustration of -the invariable policy of the present Government in any 'question between the two races, namely, to humiliate the Europeans before the Natives. So far as such questions are concerned, the colony has chosen to entrust their management to two P&eha-Maoris of the most dangerous class, able but hopelessly bigoted in favor of the Maori, having white skins but wholly eoppercolored hearts and inteUecte. So long as the colony continues that trust, so long will the Maoris be eonfSoried, and the Europeans unjustifiably tormented - r so long will the' credit of jthe colony be in hourly peril, the industrial advancement of whole districts paralysed, and the homes and lives of setters in those districts be at the mercy 61 the disaffected and desperate amongst the Natives.