TARANAKI.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1034, 26 March 1869, Page 3

TARANAKI.

S MEMORIAL TO THE GOVKUKOU. 1 The following is the memori-al which has been drawn up by the committee appointed at tbe public meeting, and is now in course of signal are : — ■ To His Excellency Sir G. F. Eowen, , IC.C.G., Governor and Commander-in- j \ Chief in and over Her Majesty's Colony \ of New Zealand, &c, &c, &c. " I The Memorial of the undersigned inha--3 bitants of the Province of Taranaki, show- - etb, — That the lato unprovoked massacre of j settlers at the White Cliffs, all engaged, b with the exception of the Eev. J. Whifce- • ley, in the cultivation of their lands, and r living, as they imagined, at peace with the natives, has occasioned the deepest feeling , of alarm and insecurity to the whole of J the inhabitants of this district. That your Excellency's memorialists* j whilst deeply grateful for the assistance so . promptly afforded by your Government, l feel that there is no security against a re- , currenee of similar outrages, and that > many of your memorialists have with a ! painful conviction of personal insecurity, brought their families into town, thereby , neglecting tbeir dairy stock and crops in i the midst of harvest time, and leaving ; their farms at the mercy of marauders. That most of your memorialists were, after long struggling, enabled to maintain themselves on their farms, but they are i now by the recent calamity suddenly deprived of the means of doing so., and must become destitute should the present disasi trous condition of things extend over tbo approaching seed time, which would necessitate th 6 importation of food for the subsistence of the community. That.apnie of your memorialists were on • two or three occasions compelled to aban- , don their farms owing to native outrages ; but they resumed their occupations, trust- ; ing that the natives would not repeat their , aggressions. The late massacre, however, shows so determined a feeling of hostility amongst certain of the native race, that • your memorialists are now convinced that i there will be no returning again to the country districts, until a policy is put forward defining the relations of the Government towards tribes in arms against her Majesty's authority ; and until the tribes now implicated arc brought into subjection, and the perpetrators of crime punished ; and that a continuance of the present feeling of apprehension on the part of the European community must lead to the ruin of your memorialists, and the rapid ■ abandonment of this and the other agricultural districts of the island. Your memorialists are aware that their case already engages the serious consideration of your Excellency, and they earnestly pray that you will adopt prompt and energetic measures to repress rebellion, and to inspire a feeling of security for life and property, on the part of your memorialists and others of her Majesty's subjects in this part of her empire. And your Excellency's memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray.