NOTICE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 3, Issue 129, 10 March 1860, Page 1

NOTICE.

It having become necessary to issue the Governor's Proclamation, placing the district under Martial Law, I deem it advisable, in order to prevent unnecessary alarm among the settlers, to assure them that, should events lead to actual collision with the Natives, due notice will be given to enable them to provide for the safety of their families,

G, F. Murbay, Lieut-Colonel, Commanding Troops. Taranaki, Feb. 22, 1860.

The following are from the Register of Monday: —

One corespondent Hvritirig from Taranaki on Friday, says, " I write in great haste

to say that we are in great commotion. Martial law was proclaimed on the 23rd.

I am in the Rifles here, and expect soon to be ordered to Waitara to fight the rebel Maoiies. _jJW>^eYpect reinforcements. of troops by the steamer on her return, and hope the man-of-war will also come down and help to settle this Land Question for ever Unfortunate Taranaki ! All the out-settlers are coming into town, and we are prepared, as settlers, for a hard struggle." Another correspondent writes : — "Alas ! war seems likely to put an end (for a time) to all the pursuits of students and farmers, of trade and colonization Nearly all the country people are in town. We shall be crowded to suffocation, as the country population is some 1700 to 860 in town. We are observing to-day for fasting and prayer, that God may avert the threatened evil by causing the rebellious Maori to relent, or by giving speedy and decisive effect to our arms. The prevailing feeling is that the Maori must now become a bona fide subject." "The present warlike state of affairs," the writer adds, " will ruin the country people. The harvest is the finest known for years, but is only partially in. A week or two of neglect will ruin the dairy farms." We understand that a General Government Gazette will be issued this day calling out the Militia, whose duty it will be we believe, to take charge of the Barracks, and to perform the necessary guard duties. The Auckland Volunteer Rifles, will, we hear, parade every morning for the present — the two companies probably assembling on alternate days ; so that this City will now derive the advantages of the zeal with which the" members of this well -trained force have devoted themselves to their selfimposed patriotic duties.

The general feeling in this town is that never were the Colonial Government more imperatively called upon to -interfere promptly and resolutely, for the protection of their fellow British settlers — and that any flinching in this crisis in the history of New Zealand would be as disastrous to the whole Maori race as to the colonists of Taranaki. .

We understand that Capt. Chas. Brown has instructions from Officer Commanding the Troops forthwith to call out the whole Militia of the Province for active service.

The latest item of Taranaki news we have heard is that Wiliiam King has retired to a fortified pah at Kairoa, several miles distant from the block of land at the Waitara. — New Zealander, Feb. 27.

From the "TaranaM Herald," Feb. 18,

It may not be out of place at the present time to offer* a few observations upon the subject that now engrosses every person's attention— possible hostilities with a section of the natives, arising out of the determination, at length openly expressed, to proceed to a survey of Teira's land at the Waitara. There has been, in our judgment, a deal of unnecessary suppression of the fact when once decided upon, since it favoured endless rumours find mis-statements which, for a time, deceived the settlers, and, -worse than this,' the natives, with whom it is far beat to be plain. Our readers may remember the Governor's declaration to the natives at the meeting of March, 1859, when Teira offered the land (reported in the " Herald " of the 12th of that month) that Hia Excellency •* would not permit any one to interfere in the sale of land unless he owned part of it, and on the other hand he would buy iio man's land without hia consent." Just and unobjectionable as the decision is, it has, strange to say, to be enforced in Taranaki. The natives do not claim the land in question, but they deny the right or power of the owners to dispose of it. They, in fact, assume sovereignty over the land! We shall not be permitted to advance, nor shall- the weliaifected Maori improve his condition. The mere talk of our employing force, if requisite, is quite sufficient to account for the present excitement Observable amongst the natives ; but we cannot persuade ourselves that' the most violent lan'diseller amongst them seriously intends to act .iip~t6 his present threat,, , or can count upon such aitexent of aid as would furnish him with a pretext for doing so. The position is too preposterous to enlist support, or Eympathy, and accordingly, whilst it is a subject of regret that the ; natives in question should so fair loae sight: of their true interests as still to threaten obstruction to His Excellency, .they • may depend- upon it.the settlers are unanimously pregarea-torendataotiv^ aid to government should the occasion arise; This;

is already known to the natives, and it may possibly have occurred to them that there must be something more than a mere taste for struggle and Btrife to move a whole community to exchange home (if need be) for the stockade and blockhouse. That the people are in downright earnest, the Hua and Bell settlers afford conclusive proof in the important work they are constructing in their district. The natives may affect to despise all this, and even pur present available resources ; and believing that they rely less upon the merits of their cause than upon an overweening sense of self-superiority, it might be the shortest way out of the difficulty to concentrate such a force upon the spot as would justify the natives in quietly yielding the point without any imputation upon their courage. The force at once available, 200 of Her Majesty's 65th Foot and 110 of th° llaranaki Volunteer Rifles, might, in the judgment of the officer commanding, be sufficient for the object in view, but unless the natives think so likewise, a demonstration would probably fail of its object, and tempt the natives into the act the government would only resort to as the final expedient. So far to the time of writing, of Taranaki, which. —^v™~-i,«&rTpccuiinriy me victim of a false and cruel native policy. The last and greatest trial awaits us, and it is one that will arouse the sympathy and interest of the colony. The prospect is, to our accustomed senses, overcast, but there is light in the distance, and with hope, courage, and unanimity, we shall pass through the ordeal. We must not in conclusion, as Mr. Parris i 3 so intimately associated with the present aspect of affairs, omit to render our testimony to that officer's ability in acquiring land at the Waitara for the province.