THE WAIMATE PLAINS DIFFICULTY.

Evening Star, Issue 5014, 29 March 1879, Page 1

THE WAIMATE PLAINS DIFFICULTY.

Those who most believe in the Ministry and' have been inclined to place implicit dence.in their repeated assertions as to' the ' practical settlement of the Na*tive difficulty, which only awaited, we were told, thearrangement of certain matters of detail, must have ' experienced during the last few days rather. ' a rude awakening. The abortive visit of the< Native Minister to the Parihaka meeting,' and the arrogant insolence with .which he was* treated by Te Whiti, were a fitting preludeto the next news telegraphed—namely, that * the survey parties engaged upon the Wai-v / mate Plains had been ordered off by a party of Natives, and their camp and instruments carted off to the nearest township on the Waingongoro River. The principal i» this outrage was Te Mart, who some time ago, being on his way to New Plymouth in custody for acts of violence, and trespass, was rescued from the ' coach 1 "by some of Te WfirrVs people, and has'smoe" "'"* been amongst his devoted followers. There ' is, of course, no doubt that the' affair has been planned at Parihaka, possibly under the very nose of Mr SHEEHAtt ; and that the bounce of, TeWhiti. at the late interview-, y was founded on the so-called prophet's knowledge of the power and influence he was able to exert over the discontented West Coast Natives, and possibly'from the conviction, which will probably play him false, that with, a Government the essence ! of whose policy is temporising and talk he could do very much as he pleased with-im-, puuity. It has been well understood" for ' many years that the confiscation of the Waimate Plains is a very sore point with Natives. The settlement of this magnificent tract of country by Europeans must utterly" n I destroy the hopes of the ' disaffected'' 1 '- hapus of ever regaining a position wherein their independence would be formidable ; and- objects other than political no doubt actuate many of the more sagacious chiefs, Mho know the great value of t -the land and would' fain have the pick bf'it.s by means direct .or indirect. We i have consistently, since the accession to omce'of Sir Gemiuu; Gkev and his colleagues, whilst willing to 'give them every credit for good intentions, objected.to the degrading position wliic'-i as Ministers of -the Crown they have occupied in their' conduct of Native"' a!fa ; rs ; placing themselves on term's- of" ' ! * equality with rebels and tipsy tricksters, and-' ' ' recognising diplomatic relations with that. -, king of threads and patches, Tawiiaio, and' ' that exceedingly disingenuous party by the. ", ~. name of Rewi. Any man in his senses* $ whose palms were not oiled, could.have .bufcU'l" one opinion ' with regard to the "great,'' meetings".last year, namely, that no practical ' '■' results could follow except the lowering" T of European prestige and the danger • of native insolence and aggression arising '*- naturally therefrom. Parihaka is the head- : quarters of Te Whiti, and there, like unto' -.-. : the cave of Adullam,. do resort the criminal- I 1 scum of the native. West Coast population. "'" Tito Kowaru, Kis'hands red with the blood: of scores of European, settlers savagely-.--;, slaughtered, is there in high feather, and' was a few months ago, if he has not been lately, in-confidential communication with'"' the \Natjve Department. Hiroki, murderer of poor Sullivan in cold blood, ?v is under the special protection of the prophet,.and the White Cliffs murderers are, without doubt,' not far'off. It was to this den "of iniquity that'Mr Sheehan'•. went last week, and, after putting- up with" an amount of impudence which we wonder did not make his Irish'•: blood boil over, had .to beat "an ignominious" .treat on, Monday afternoon literally with a flea in his ear.,, .Now it should be known that- --• m this matter of the Waimate Piains survey the Government have been especially shillyshallying and weak-minded, and have thus, '"" without doubt, unintentionally encouraged the idea in the; native; mind':that they'.were not in tarn est, if indeed it was not within the bounds of possibility that the dearly beloved Sir George would restore every acre that had ever been confiscated. Something very much to this effect leaked out in the negotiations with Rewi some months ago, although tiie particulars of the demand of that chief have been up. to. this hour very carefully suppressed; Almost the first act of the GREir Ministry with regard to native affairs was to stop the survey of the Waimate,, ~JT which was'-then proceeding in accordance"'"'«' with the orders of the late Native-■••'-Minister; and it may be remembered that- ' : this course, caused great dissatisfaction ' amongst the whole population of the Coast, f :; and was especially protested against, not■■' ■'■ only as seriously checking settlement, but as • = involving positive danger to the districts *- already settled. It was not 'until the commencement of last session that the survey was ordered to proceed ; and in order to show how thoroughly Mr Siieehan was be-uiled how misplaced was his confidence either in the integrity or the influence of ,Rewi, we will quot • a few paragraphs from the Native Affairs Statement, delivered on September 17 last :—-" The House will remember that ' shortly after this session was opened it was determined to undertake the survey of the Waimate Plains. Representations were made to Rewi by certain Maoris with the' view oi getting him to use his influence with the Government to have the survey stopped. Well, Rewi telegraphed t* me ... that he entirely approved of the survey of :' the plains, and told me not to stop on any ' ' account whatever. These plains are land that was taken from Natives in rebellion, •' ana for years past the Natives' have refused '. •to allow them to be settled unless we gave them back Waitara. Evidence of the result of these meetings (Hikurangi and Waitara last year) is furnished, I contend, by the undername fact that a spirit of law and order has spread over the whole face of the land '" The Hon. Mr Fox, who has had very large " experience in Native matters, whenspeaking '" to the Address in Reply, did not hesitate to , express grave doubts as to the effects of the. • policy of Ministers in the very matter of the West Coast confiscated lands. " One of theparagraphsintheaddress," hesaid, "says ■ that steps are being taken to provide for the sale ami settlement of the confiscated? lands along the West Coast of the North' island. Why, Sir Donald M'Lean arranged that years ago, and. so far as Wai-' mate is concerned, T can only say that negotiations were opened in regard to it by the late Ministry, and many peojile believe that those negotiations were nearer completion twelve mouths ago than is the case at r present. -It is the opinion of some that the action which has been recently taken by the Government —I mean the recognition of the remnant of the. King party —has". '•"'■? greatly impeded the acquiring of the Waitara:' country." If the 'New Zealander' '• ,: taken as expressing the mind of the Ministry ' "■ —and it is generally understood that this '.'." favored journal is directly inspired—they"" ' would apoear to be altogether irresolute and undetermined how to act in this crisis. ."The • land must be re-occupied and surveys pro. - ceeded with," but there would seem to be the .very vaguest idea how this is to be effected. < The scheme of detached military settlements ■" • - through the length and breadth of the con- • fiscated country does not much commend . itself to the minds of those who see safety only m grasping the nettle danger, and who, having knowledge of the native mind, are aware that the time for temporising and half-measures is past, unless the Colony is prepared to abandon the finest' part, of the West Coast territory and strengthen the hands of the King Natives by the impunity" *> >yith. which they are allowed to commit rages. : The whole Colony awaits with deep. r- ! •"•' interest an indication of the course which. rv '

the Government "may under' the ciroum!\The. position \ is. a very difficult one, and ß 'requires both strength and delicacy of treatment. brought about, we are constrained to; believe.} by the "sack of Avhich has men a*'subject' rather of.sorrbwr than of anger, we can but sincerely hope that better counsels ..wjll r aow_,.prevail,""and .that, the trouble will "be but'passing, and evanescent.' It is never too late to mend! Being on their trial on the very point ever" vaunted'to be their strongest, we trust that Ministers will come out-,tru,e grist; and, having had this wh aiid .strong warning of the error of their ways'; will,.' i£>' they do not 'choose to follow in the paths of wisdom hud.out by Si rDoKAj^M'Least, at all events refrain from coddling with what they but imperfectly understand; nor, being ambitious 1 overmuch of popular i allow vanity to bveriua discretion, fancying that the mere hod of the Premier, like that of Jove, is to rule the spheres, and that the real question at issue is to be settled by .Quixotic progresses through the King Country and. establishing diplomatic relations—Heaven save the mark! —with rebels and cut-throats whose proper pi ice should be the interior of Her Majeatyls gaols. «■'...■:■■■■■ ■';'-.