TARANAKI.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 1, Issue 26, 20 March 1858, Page 2

TAR ANAKI.

The state of this unhappy Province is by no means promising. The "Herald" of the 20th ult., says, that "the removal of the Maori feuds to Maori districts does not, we find, wholly rid us of the uneasiness we experienced when they were carried on, in all their ferocity, near our own doors." It proceeds to enumerate various acts of the contending natives, of a serious nature. A visit paid by the Bishop to the hostile pa had been of no avail. None, it is said, were disposed to pay any attention to him.

The receipt of the Governor's proclamation had given great satisfaction. Respecting it, the "Herald of the 27th thus remarks : —

Experience hitherto has in "no instance encouraged the settlers of Taranaki to expect redress at the hands of the Government in matters affecting their relations with the Maories. Unqualified, therefore, is the satisfaction with which they have received His Excellency Governor Browne's reply to their urgent appeal for protection in their lawful and peaceable pursuits against aggressions which have well nigh provoked them into collision with the Natives. His Excellency in Council has resolved upon preserving the neutrality,.©£-the settlement against further violation,' anct the Proclamation containing this important announcement is already well circulated in the Maori tongue amongst those it more directly concerns. It will be observed that all persons whomsoever unlawfully assembling with arms within the boundaries defined in the Proclamation will without further notice be treated as persons in arms against the Queen's authority and be proceeded against accordingly. This radical change in the policy of the government to the tribes who make Taranaki the scene of their turbulence and riot, has naturally spread with great rapidity throughout the district, and they already profess great curiosity to ascertain to what lengths they may continue in their old course without infringing the terms of the Proclamation. We take this to be a tolerably satisfactory evidence of a desire on their part not to break the law, but to evade it if they can. Many of the Natives how engaged in hostilities against Ihaia and Nikorima reside oh lands reserved for their use within the purchased districts named in the Proclamation, and they are in the practice of moving to and fro with arms, issuing from their homes for attack and returning thither when the excitement wliich is usually wound up .with the tomahawk is over. They also seek to know whether they may pass through the settlement (as did the Taranaki contirigraat comtnahdedt by Te Nga-

huru, the Native Assessor) to the scene of conflict in straggling parties with their guns and powder concealed, without being considered an illegal assembly. These and many other questions are put on the Proclamation -which, we were about to say, is singularly plain and intelligible for a public document. The Maories perfectly understand that the Governor has resolved upon no longer allowing the peace of the settlement to be at the mercy of armed bodies, Imd it is our firm belief that they will respect a mandate which on the face of it is issued in earnest. The Governor's resolution is taken and should the Maories unhappily b^misled by the past, His Excellency appeals to those on whose behalf he commits himself to a step from which he cannot with honour or dignity retreat, to aid his efforts in asserting the Queen's supremacy against the wrong' doers. This support has been in a manner already promised by the Provincial Council whose Address to the Superintendent in favour of at once calling out four hundred of the Militia was before the Governor. In this extreme measure His Excellency has concurred, and to Major Lloyd is appropriately entrusted the command, with instructions to use every exertion to organise and render the Militia a serviceable force. The 12th March is the day appointed for the assembling of all persons liable to serve at Mount Eliot, a central point.