The Daily Southern Cross.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1928, 21 September 1863, Page 2

The Daily Southern Cross.

J.UCKO NON tJRO. "If I have been extinguished, yet there rlst A thousand beacons from the npnrk I bore."

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1863.

It is an interesting thing to observe the variety of natural products which nature has bestowed on different countries, and sometimes even on different jmrts of the same country. Many can no doubt remember the curious diversity of epithets applied by Homer to the different parts of Greece ; how one was famed for its horses, another for its honey, another for its sheep, and a fourth for its heroes. The same rule- it cannot, we think, be denied, applies in a curious way to New Zealand. Each of our provinces seems to us to have some marked peculiarity of its own, which, had we a modern Homer, might obtain for them some snrh epithets as the golden-soiled Otago, the fleecy Canterbury, or "Wellington famed for superintendents. The last instance wo have mentioned is indeed in some respects the most remarkable of our provincial peculiarities ; Doctor Featherston is a talented man ; the most talented by for. we should say, of the Superintendents of New Zealand at this moment. IJe is moreover something more than a mer,e Superintendent; lie aspires to be an autocrat in his own province, and 1q display hirasejf to the world at large as a gveafc Sfew £fealand statesman : ifl»»i-ov. This is all in perfect consonance and pacing r , , with the locality of the experiment pernaps, but it certainly looks very curious from a distance. In the empire city, and throughout the empire province, it may not seem strange that the Superintendent should be a gfenjj Imperial functionary, making peace or war at pleasure, and speaking with an amazing audacity about the people of the province, as though he were in some sense the sovereign of "Wellington ; ire must CQif fess, however, th at it docs seem strange at this distance, and morp, that so far as reports will enable us to judge of its effects, it seems a thing highly undesirable for the country at large. It ib not long since wo took oooasjpn to yemark at some length upon the conduct of the Superintendent of Wellington, in the matter of the- Wailotara purchase; we then showed how strangely commingled the elements of repk. lessnoss in action and an almost pusillanimous regard of danger when it occurred in consequence of such action, seemed to have formed the foundation of that public ollirer's character. The Southern mail, which has just been received, gives U 9 sundry very curious and suggestive instances of the sami eccentricity of character, in the ea'^e "of Dr. 'Featherston. It ' appears that he is not only a great land purchase commissioner, but has also a striking talent foy managing native • matters, and for general Maori' doctoring. The various pro,grosses qf the Superintendent through different parts of tho Wellington Provineo during the past five or si* months have been marked by not a few curious circumstances, of which certainly not the least curious were his various speeches, which reminded us in a manner more forcible thau pleasing (if we may compare sound with colour), of fho varied and changing hues of the chainclion. At one meeting where Abraham, Moses, &c, &c, were of a very fierce and defiant temper, we find him as mild and lamb-hko as heart could wish ; a£ another, v here the attitude pf Milchisedick and Company wag less decided, the Superintendent camo out; in the truly Imperial lino, and astonished Wellington and New Zealand by the grandeur of his attitude and the loftiness of his sentiments. Things, however, seem to have been growing serious in tho out-districts of Wellington ; tho Milchisedick party seems to have been rapidly assuming tho lofty and rather threatening part of the old Abraliain and Mose? party, and the opportunities for the display of tho Superintendent's British lion aspects"-aro getting few and far between. Tho progress into tho Wairarapa valley was not, we should imagino, very pleasing to' tho Superintendent's feelings, any more than his conduct under the somewhat embarrassing circumstances can bo supposed to have been to the settlors at large. Dr. Feathei'3ton is an eloquent man, as all frequenters of the Assembly House are aware, but tho deaf adder-like attitude of Abraham, Moses and Company was fully proof against the whole wisdom of his charming. Those nativos are of course friendly, that is, they do not think it advisable just now to begin the work of shooting and des* poiling the settlers of the Wairarapa valley, So far, this is in some mild sort of way, a satisfactory result to have arrived at ; this is not, however, tho whole. It is true the Wairarapa Maoris do not mean to murder the settlers yet, but just as little do they moan to have any serious bar placed in the Avay of their doing so on the firflt favourable opportunity. Wo will

not mttfdeir &c • MtjfatoTtheg Uj 1 ) 'no, bull Ye will not have the settlers armed: wo will not have, the Colonial Defence Force men in thi« district, Y[e engage, in fact, to let you live for a time, bo 1 long as you do not render it matter of difficulty for us to put an end to you when treShaU see fit. This was not, perhap3, altogi'thW an unexpected or unnatural viefr of the case for the respectable friendly natives of" the Wairarapa valley to take, leeing that it holds out several very tangible advan'tages^ for them: the only thing that does stimulate our curiosity in the matter is what reply could the great politician of the Empire City, the Waitotara purchaser at all jiaks, make to such a proposal? The reply seems to have been a simple one enough _ on Dr. Featherston's part. He simply gave his "\ native friends all their own way. Was thero an objection on the part of the natives to settlers with means pi defence at hand, the Superintendent has forestalled the natives' wishes, by ordering his people not to go about with arms, and he requests the natives to do the same. Are the natives afraid of the Government really taking some energetic measures for curbing them, and keeping the district in safety— Dr. Feafcherston can assure his dark friends that Government will take no steps without his advice and consent in the matter. Viewed at a distance all this is interesting and amusing enQugh; its complexion, however, changes slightly when we try to place . oursolves in the position of the English settlers in the Wairarapa valley. We say nothing here of the pain which such intensely un-English truckling to the wishes of a few rebellious natives will cause all honest and manly men ; but we do say that wo can scarcely conceive a more dangerous position than that to which such conduct is exposing these settlers, and we therefore hope to hear of some measures to alter this state of things, taken without the advice of Dr. Featherston.