NATIVE MATTERS IN TARANAKI.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVII, Issue 4355, 31 July 1871, Page 3

NATIVE MATTERS IN TARANAKI.

The Opunake correspondent of the Taranaki Herald writes under date July 10 :- "The Telegraph Office was opened this morning, and messages with Wellington, Whanganui, and Patea will be exchanged. So we may now regard our district greatly in advance of yours in civilisation. It is certainly 'wonderful the advances this part of the country, and indeed the whole colony has made during the last three years. The native difficulty, that hitherto great stumbling, block to all advancement and improvement, seems to be fast disappearing. Oh this coast the feeling of the natives towards the Europeans is daily becoming more friendly. The establishment of flax companies in this district has greatly tended to improve and' wean these natives from the sullen, sulky state the effects of the war had produced. The running of Cobbs coach has also had a most beneficial effect on the natives, as a .gentle yet firm way of demonstrating that the Government mean 3 to keep the road open ; the coach may be regarded by some as an expensive luxury, but, taking into consideration the good it has worked in other ways as a political 'stroke, it is well worth the subsidy. There may be a few valiant individuals (men by the way who never fought in our New Zealand struggles) who perhaps will deride all this as a flour-and-sugar policy. Experience, however, has proved that this ia the only policy we can afford to pursue. We have tried eight years of war at a serious cost to the country, with' out being enabled to subdue the natives. Farming and other local improvements had for the most part to be abandoned, while a heavy debt was being contracted, and this island was producing nothing to meet the necessary expenses. Under the war policy very large sums were indirectly spent on the natives in paying large bodies of men to fight them ; under the present policy less than half those sums are spent in paying natives to make roads. The last is a permanent and reproductive work, that will benefit our race long after the Maoris have ceased to exist as a race, for it must be apparent to all that natural causes are fast wiping them off the face of the earth. Under the present policy we have also these advantages : Local improvements are encouraged, the farmer can farm his land, immigrants can be introduced, and we see that districts are fast being opened up and settlements formed that a few years ago were only peopled by disaffected and sullen Hauhaus. Although the natives are fast decreasing, they are still too numerous to be overlooked or dealt rashly with, while we have so many infant settlements scattered over the country. There is little doubt that a very few years, with a little patience aud forbearance, under the present policy, will entirely remove, without further sacrifice of life, that hitherto great obstacle to the advancement of this island— the native difficulty."