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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 3, Issue 111, 5 November 1859, Page 3

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To the Editor of the Mawke's Bay Herald. Sir, — A most excellent letter, that of Mr. Colenso, ancV which appeared in your columns some two or three weeks past ; a clear and admirable discburse upon that most important subject, — our relations witht the native population just now, and dealings with the, said natives by this inolancholy phantasm, the " runanga," or council. As we sow, so must we reap. Have we not sown a plentiful store of Beed for the production of such a crop as ?'runanga's," or any other kind of authority amongst the natives of these islands ? Have we not, while yet tho ground lay fallow and fit for receiving the seed of British authority and law, neglected the opportunity, and allowed rank rebellion to grow up, to choke and destroy all real and sound amenability ? When we consider with what impunity the Maories have Bet at defianco the proclamations and other fandangoes of Governors, and Resident Magistrates, and general administrators of the Queen's law ; is it to be wondered at — is. it, for one moment, to cause us to pause in surprise, to find that they are setting up an authority of their own, and a tablo of laws by which they shall regulate and govern themselves ? Alas ! it would be hard to find in the lawmakings of semi- civilized man, any statutes or ordinances, more vaguo and cloudy than those by which we seek to govern these people, and more unfit for the guidance of men to whom law, (upart from the dictates of reason, instinct, and power to punish,) never was known ; and to whom Burn's Justice of the Peace, and the Acts of our General Assembly are about as intelligible as tho teachings of Confucius, or the jokes of Joe Miller. We live at peace with these people, on sufferance — nof. because they either fear or respect us, nor because they understand us and our institutions ; but because they ai*e not yet ripo for the sickle of actual war and opou hostilities. Letsome clever fellow, some new New Zealand Cromwell, rise amongst them, who, clearly comprehen- [ ding the relations existing between us and them, will succeed in causing this "runanga" to pursue a settled and determined course of opposition and resistance to our authorities, and then see, O ! most powerful high mightinesses ! in what sort of position you will find yourselves placed. Verily, what with our teaching the Gospel according to Saint Cocker, and insisting upon the multiplication table as the best' defensive weapon, nothing doubting, we are fast falling into such a state of physical and mental decay as will make us excellent food for any carrion, race that chooses to gorge itself upon our miserable carcases. Wo have allowed strong stockaded villages and defendable habitations to spring up all over the country, we have countenanced the growth of these means of offence and defence as if they were choice specimens of native industry and art, instead of ■resisting their erection, and rooting them out where already erected, as foul, obnoxious weeds and palpable defiance of the Queen. Yet we have fed this people with gold, and satisfied their outcryings with silver ; and like, the young brood of the Phcenix, they have been nurtured with their parent's victuals, but still they cry with unappeassed appetites, — "Morel more! more! give us more ! ! " until presently they will rise up and endeavour to devour, what remains of the careful mother, feathers and all. . The gallant array of British troops, which may be seen on the top of the most conspicuous eminence in any of our towns, any fine sunny morning airing themselves and their white trowsers, is surprising to behold, but the question put by the. stranger as touching their utility, is difficult to answer. In short, the whole course of policy adopted and carried out with regard to tho natives is one mass of abominable rubbish, costing a prodigious quantity of money annually, and it should be "speedily carted away, along with all the other purulent imbecilities which flourish upon that pestilent heap, the Native Department ; — and instead thereof, and the usual display once or twice a year of fierce proclamations, instantly followed up by a series of cajoleries, flatteries, and general wallowing in the mire before these uncircuincised Philistines, let there bo a determined stand made against, and unmistakeable discontinuance of "runanga's" and all 1 other such abominations of desolation, and proclamations of the Queen's Majesty to some purpose on occasion, and to be abided by. I am, &c.j Nemo. Napier, Nov. 2, 1859.