“The Press” In 1864

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30480, 30 June 1964, Page 12

“The Press” In 1864

JUNE 30, WI TAKO AND W1 FOX We are free to admit that Mr Fox, in his interview with Wi Tako, the account of which we published on Tuesday, behaved in a manner with which his quondam friends can find no fault Whethei the extreme of the war party in the North will approve of the tone he has adopted, remains to be seen It is, however, impossible for the most casual observer not to be struck with the change of style and tone which comes over the Minister when he is breathing the tainted atmosphere of the Algeria of New Zealand, and when he returns to old scenes and revives the

associations of his political youth. Not Rob Roy in the Taibooth, and Rob Roy with his foot on his native heath, could exhibit a more marked difference in bearing than Mr Fox at Auckland and Mr Fox at Wanganui. Mr Fox seems to have recurred to the idea that a Native chief may after al) be treated as “an English gentleman,” and that to hunt him down like a wild beast, in order to get him to give up his gun is not. after all, the best mode of securing his loyalty “The conditions," he says, “require that you should give up your gun, but I shall treat you as J would an English gentleman You are a great chief, and the principal man in your tribe. 1 am satisfied with the tender

of your arms; 1 accept your word, as the word of a chief, that you will never use yous gun against the pakeha, nor turn it to any unlawful purpose. 1 shall not, therefore, degrade you by depriving you of it” This is wise and politic language But the most important point is that it condemns the disarming policy more than anything else could It does more, for it admits, whilst calling the Natives rebels, that theirs is not in fact rebellion at all. Wi Tako has not been actually to the war himself, but he has been a King native from the first, and a rebel in all but the-act of fighting. Mr Fox is content to treat him as the chief of a foreign state who has been conquered in war.