“The Press” In 1865

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30676, 16 February 1965, Page 14

“The Press” In 1865

February 16. THE WANGANUI WAR We have none of that sympathy for these Natives which we have so freely expressed for those of Waikato and Tauranga. Their actions show them to be a brutal and bloodthirsty people, cruelly multilating the bodies of those whom they kill. A quick and sharp campaign might tend to the ultimate pacification of the country, if it left on their minds the distinct impression that the Colonial Government is able at any time to check their violence and to punish any outrages that they may commit But according to the plan of the campaign we are teaching them the contrary; we are teaching them that

their country is impregnable except to an army of three or four thousand men with artillery. But that is precisely the lesson which we ought not to teach them. ... Of course they know as well as we do that we can beat them with four or five to one in numbers, and a still greater disparity in arms. But they also know as well as we do that we cannot afford to maintain such a force in permanence, and that it will hurt us more than them to attempt it. . . . It would be far better if the present Ministers were to stick to their original resolution: to signify that the troops were not wanted any longer, and at once to commence the organisation of a force of rural police, sufficient to carry the law into operation.