THE Evening Star. SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1916, 26 June 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1869.

Amongst the papers laid upon the table of the House of Representatives, is a memorandum by Mr Stafford, in ■which he justifies the dicision arrived at by thgjatejlxecutive, and replies to kt'despiiro from the Duke of Buckingham, pointing out that the superiority in number of the ' Colonists over the Maoris renders Imperial assistance unnecessary. Mr Stafford’s reply is no

doubt a well-sustained argument refuting the heartless innendo of the Secretary of State for the Colonies ; but it also supplies material for condemnation of the policy followed by the late Ministry themselves. It shows that the proportion of the population of the North Island liable to serious danger from the savagery of the Maoris is comparatively small, and proves incontestibly that no force within the capabilities of the Colouy to sustain, can by any possibility effectually protect all the white inhabitants. It seems at first glance, useless to bring before the people of the Colony itself, facts concerning the distribution of the European population, with which most are, in general terms, familiar ; but as there are some who are inclined to doubt the propriety of the ground taken by Otago, in opposing the late Ministerial war policy, it is only by considering them in their relation to each other, that a right conclusion can be arrived at. Mr Stafford supplies them clearly arranged ; and it is strange that while writing his memorandum, it did not strike him that the Government of which he was the head was aiming at an impossibility. He graphically describes the distribution of the Colonists, and in order that there may be no

charge of suppressio veri, we will print the passage in its entirety, although much of it is not necessary to our present purpose. The fallacious inference contained in the statement that 220,000 Europeans, aided by loyal Natives, are “able to defend themselves, if they make proper arrangements, against a few thousand disaffected Natives o? whom only a few hundred appear to be at present in arms,” has often been pointed out to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The statement is true enough literally, and the European population have for three years past been so defending themselves. But the reproach implied, that the colonists are cowardly, and remiss in their exertions, is unjust. It is as if, supposing a force of half a million armed rebels to occupy the centre of Scotland or Ireland, making muulerous raids in all directions, the industrious and peaceful inhabitants were, upon asking for a few regiments in Edinburgh or Dublin, to be taunted with the statement that the British Islands contain thirty millions of souls, who with good arrangements ought to protect themselves. Such a taunt, thoughtless in itself, ought not to be cast against a Colony which, under Imperial leaders, has incurred a war debt larger per head of its population than the National Debt of Great Britain. Nor is tbe Colonial Office excusable if it is ignorant that of the 220,000 Europeans iu New Zealand, two-thirds occupy the Southern Island, safe from menace by savage neighbors ; that of the remaining third, one-half occupy the large towns of Auckland and Wellington in almost equal security ; and the rest, whose lives and property are at stake, are a bare sixth, living scattered along a coast line of 1.000 miles in length j whilst the disaffected tribes are inland, unencumbered by property or by civilised habits and wants, and their movements covered by dense forests and mountain ranges. Other facts which should be well known at the Colonial Office, as to the proportion of adult males in the two races, magnify the injustice. Those who sneer at tho defensive arrangements of the Colony should recollect that when one of England’s best generals, at the head of 10.000 British soldiers and 5,000 Colonial auxiliaries, besides Friendly Natives, encountered the same foe whom the Colony has now to face (but at a time when that foe was less experienced), the result was neither brilliant nor conclusive, If so, a Colony, exhausted in purse, yet straining every nerve, may be spared sneers for having preferred so modest a request for aid.

The portion of the above extract to which we would direct special attention is the fact stated that a bare sixth ” (and this is beyond the truth), whose lives and properties are at stake, are living “ scattered along a coast line of 1.000 miles in length. The remaining portion of the populatian of the North Island are almost equally safe as the people of the Middle Island, and it is for the security of those pioneers of civilisation, whose adventurous spirits have led them to dwell in isolated spots along that long line of coast, that all this vast expence and loss of life have been incurred. It is plainly impossible under such circumstances to extend to them adequate protection. It is as plain that the temptation presented to the disaffected natives to pillage and destroy those isolated settlements is so great that the “ permanent peace ” so dazzlingly held up as the end to be achieved by the late administration, is a mere chimera. The great faulthas been permit ting too many small settlements in positions so distant from each other, that they are incapable of giving mutual support. It should be for the North Island to say whether it would not be the better plan to induce those settlers by grants of land, and other aid to withdraw from their perilous positions, and locate themselves near towns, where they will dwell in security. It is high time this practical view of the matter should be adopted. The value of property so exposed to attack can be merely nominal, and any exchange to the occupiers would be better than the continual alarm to which they are exposed. The re-occupation of the territory may be a question for the future, but for the present, the cost of defending it will prove immeasurably greater than it ever can be worth, and it must, from the nature of the case, be a continual charge, until Maori animosity dies with the race, or is swallowed up in civilization.