TOWN EDITION. Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1881. MAJOR ATKINSON ON THE NATIVE DIFFICULTY.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 88, 12 October 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1881. MAJOR ATKINSON ON THE NATIVE DIFFICULTY.

? On Friday last, in referring to the new shape assumed by tho Native Difficulty through Te Whiti having directly incited his followers to resistance and rebellion, we said: — "When the Government make a definite repressive movement it will not be at all of the same kind as that advocated by Mr. Bryce, or under circumstances at all similar. The Constabulary will remove the fencing as before. If the Maoris oppose, they will be arrested. If they resist sufficient force will be used to overpower them at all costs and hazards, and Tb Whiti, having distinctly incited the lawleß proceedings, will be held responsible, and will be treated accordingly, whatever this may involve. Having once sanctioned and incited lawless resistance to authority, he has at last placed himself outside the pale, and will have to take the consequences, whioh will probably be his personal imprisonment, and the final breaking up of the Paxihaka

settlement, now that has become a nest of rebellion. Such, we anticipate, will be found to be the policy resolved upon in regard to the present phase of the native difficulty, and, if bo, it has our entire approval." Thiß view as to the intentions of the Government is now borne out by the very outapoken address of the Colonial Treasurer to hiß Egmont constituents, of which an extract appeared yesterday evening in our Taranaki telegram. Major Atkinson puts the matter very plainly in the following words: — "I now say emphatically that the time has come when an end must be made of this strong threat to the peace of the colony and district, and that it must, and I believe will, be effectually disposed of thia summer." We have said that we heartily approve this policy, and we have previously shown that this approval is entirely consistent with our strong disapproval of Mr. Beyce's historical proposal, as the policy itself is entirely consistent with the ref nsal of the Government to adopt that proposal. It is here that we compelled to join issue with some of our contemporaries who have contended — ono as lately as this morning — that " the time has long since coma for the assertion of supremacy," and that "having the power to quell disturbances and punish transgression of the laws of the country, the Government have foreborne to put forth such power until forbearance has almost ceased to be a virtue." We utterly dissent from this view. There are many features in the policy of the present Government which we have strenuously condemned, and shall always condemn, but their Native policy has had from the first our cordial approval and support. That policy is none the worsa for having been originated by their predecessors in office, who, however, failed to carry it ont in practice, as they did in regard to the "Liberal Measures" about which they talked so loudly. But the Native and Defence policy of Mr. Sheehan and Colonel Whitmore was thoroughly sound in theory, and it is really that policy which has been steadily pursued ever since. Ita originators, however, failed to give it full practical effect, for, after a bold, vigorous, and judicious commencement, their hearts or heads failed them, and nothing was done. The arrest of the political ploughmen, the despatch of a strong armed force to the disturbed district, the opening of negotiations with'l'E Whiti through Mr. Mackay, all were distinctly the rig"ht step 3to take, and moreover, wpre Btrictly on the lines since followed by the present Government. Bufcth« late Government halted half-way.' Nothing more came of their excellent beginning. Nothing at least but idle talk, empty vapouring, scandalous and aimleßS native orgies at the public expense, and gigantic bills for Mr. She khan's travelling expenses. Still the policy, however muddled and abused by its originators, was a sound one, and we observed with great satisfaction that the present Ministry, on assuming office, frankly accepted it and, unlike their predecessors, carried it out with energy, boldness, and determination. Earnest endeavours to redress all legitimate grievances under whioh the natives might labour went hand-in-hand with a resolute and persistent assertion of the law's supremacy, and a vigorous promotion of Eurepean settlement on tho disputed territory. This was, is, and must still be, a work of time and patience, but it wa3 and ia the right course, if not the only one that could lead to any permanently good results. No strong measures of repression could with any show of reason or justice 1 aye been adopted against Te Whiti and his followers, so long as ho used his remarkable influence to the utmost and with complete success in preserving the peace, in discountenancing, and in fact preventing any resistance to the law, and confined his adverse action to the mere harmless little protests against the occupation of land claimed by him similar to those so frequently adopted among ourselves, as the only means of testing a question of dispnted title. Therefore we maintain, as we always have maintained, that however vexatious and troublesome Te Whitj's course of action might be, it was utterly preposterous to assert that it warranted the use of active military operations against him. He was not a rebel. He did not incite hia followers to resist the law, but commanded them to submit to it, and to go to captivity without a murmur. Ho simply continued to insist on his claim to the territory, and to proclaim tbat title by varions formal acts of peaceful occupation. He said, " The land is mine," and to that position he calmly and imperturbably adhered. He fenced and cultivated the land regardless of roads or surveys, because he held that the land was his. His annoying, but mild form of practioal protest had to be created an offence by a special Act before his followers could be imprisoned for obeying his commands. His headquarters wore, as they still are, in an ordinary native village, the mere residence of an agricultural population, and quite undefonded against attack. A military campaign against such a foe and such a citadel as this would have been a manifest absurdity— a blunder worse than a crime. But now, a3 we recently pointed out, Te "W hiti appears in quite a fresh character. Instead of restricting his protests to harmless and peaceful formalities and prohibiting all resistance to the law, he directly orders forcible obstruction, determined resistance, and violence if this is used on the other side. Te Whiii, in short, stands forth no longer as the peace-pre-server, but as the inciter to illegal actions, and to armed resistance to the law if it is sought to be resolutely enforced. In short, he has at last committed himsolf to an act of open rebellion, and it is this alone which at last affords an opportunity for the adoption of strong measures against him. If his followers obey his orders, and forcibly resist the Constabulary when the latter remove the fencing illegally erected by the natives, then not only will those natives themselves bo defying the law, but inasmuch aa they have been directly incited to this act of rebellion by 1b Whiti, acting by virtue of his unlaw-fully-assumed authority, which he has openly declared to be superior to that of the Government, he must be regarded and treated as a rebel. No matter what hia future course may be— and he is astute enough to make an attempt to " back out " of this difficulty, aa he has before— he has been guilty of a treasonable act iv inciting resistance to the Queen, and this must, above all, be carefully remembered in any future dealings with him. While, therefore, the time had not come until now for the adoption of severe measures against Tb Whit 1 and his followers, that time has arrived at last, and tho occasion must not be allowed to slip. A proceeding which hitherto would have been wholly indefensible, now becomes an imperative duty. The Government must " make an end to this threat to the peace of the colony," and the thing must be done effectually and finally If Ministers carry out vigorously the resolute policy announced by the Colonial Treasurer, we have no hesitation in asserting that they will have the hearty and loyal support of the whole colony. But there must be no halting, no faltering, no indecision. The opportunity has at length offered itself for crushing ont once and for ever this incipient rebellion, and it must be used with the utmost rigonr and determination.