TOWN EDITION. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1881.

Evening Post, Volume XXII, Issue 97, 22 October 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1881.

Those •motional persons who — their feelings being stronger than their heads— are always disposed to side with the natives on any dispute arieing between the latter and Europeans, will find but slender gtonnd on which to rest objections to the present action of the Government in reßpect to Te Whiti. Unless they take up the disloyal and treasonable position that Te Whiti is independent of the Queen's authority, and holds in his own right authority equal or superior to that of her Majesty on the West Coast of thia Island, they cannot honestly escape from the admission that Tb Whiti hais not a leg to stand upon, either in law or equity. If Te VV hiti has any real grievance, he has had, and still has, ample opportunity to obtain redress. Not only are the law Courts open to him as to every other subject of the Crown, but there is aho a Royal Commissioner specially appointed to hear and determine all such matters on the broadest equitable grounds. The Government have intimated to Te Whiti time after time, in the most friendly and conciliatory strain, that if he will state any grievance under which he imagines himself and his peeple to be labouring, it shall be redressed ; that any claims shall be not only fairly, but liberally entertained ; that any reasonable demand shall be readily acceded to. Exceptional facilities have been provided for, full advantage being taken of these offers by Te Whiti and hiß followera. The Government have in effect said to Te Whiti and the Parihaka natives—" Only tell ua what you want, and, if legally possible, it shall be conceded. We wid redress all your reasonable grievances, and satisfy all your ju»t claims, placing a very wide and generous construction on both adjectives. We will make ample reserves, for tou, Grown-granl, your land to you, do all in our power to make you happy and glorious — only you must submit to the law, recognise the Queen's authority, and allow order to be maintained and settlement to proceed peacefully, and without obstruction on ' the part of yourself and your followers." But thai; is just what Te Whiti iconft do. Ha 7 persists in defying the Queen arid the law, in asserting his own supremacy, in vexatiously interrupting settlement, and, lastly, in openly inciting to sedition and violence. He insists on being recognised a? the equal, if not the superior, of the Sovereign — as Lord Paramount on the West Coast — nay, he even claims to havo superseded the Creator himself in Divine authority. He preaches the establishment of an absolute theocracy vesting in his own person. Now this sort of thing has been tolerated quite long enough. It is impossible, consistently with the maintenance of any law or order at all, to recognise two independent ruling powers in New Zealand. 1e Whiti cannot be negotiated with as a rival Sovereign, but must be treated as a subject, living under the laws of the land and amenable to the sway of the Queen, that ia to say, of the constitutional authorities which exist under the Royal Sanction, or, in other words, of her Majesty's Ministers in Ne.v Zealand and of the Governor acting under their advice. He has to be told that his legal or equitable rights shall be respected, his grievances investigated, '

hs wrongs redressed. But if he is to enjoy j the benefits of British law and justice, he must implicitly submit to the rule of that law, which alone has protected him from having Mb claims and pretensions disposed of long ago in a very decisive and summary manner. Let him submit to British law, and the law will give him all his rights, while British generosity will concede to him much more than in strictness he can legally claim. This ia the attitude assumed by the Government toward 'J E Whit i, and it must be admitted to be a thoroughly just and moderate one. Ministers hare the united and hearty support of the colony at their back in this matter, and if Te Whiti and his followera do not realize this, it will be to their own loss and misfortune. It will be well also that any few injudicious partisans they may have among the well-meaning bnt somewhat muddleheaded class of sentimentalists to whom we alluded at starting, should likewise realise the fact. We have studiously abstained, in our various comments on the question and on the action of the Government, from using any strong language or indulging in any of the sensational appeals to popular enthusiasm which are so often and bo indiscreetly flourished on such occasions as the preeent. We regard the difficulty which has arisen as a-grave public misfortune, which has to be firmly and resolutely grappled with, in no temper of boastful vapouring, but with unimpassioned, judicial calmness. We are glad to observe that this is the spirit in which the Government are now meeting the present emergency.

THE GOVERNMENT AND TE WHITI.