THE Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1869.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1046, 7 May 1869, Page 2

THE Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1869.

COLONIAL FORCES COUKTS- MARTIAL. A proclamation has been issued in the New Zealand Gazette, proclaiming as a " disturbed district" under the provisions of the Colonial Forces Courts-martial Act of last session, all those portions of the provinces of Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Tarauaki, and Auckland, lying between the 37th and 40th parallel of latitude. All this province, with the exception of a small corner, is comprised within the limits given. The Act in question provides that certain officers may be empowered to convene courts-martial for the purpose of bringing to justice persons of the militia or volunteer forces or iv the armed constabulary who shall offeud against the provisions of any Act of the Imperial Parliament for punishing mutiny, desertion, &c. ; and every person so authorised to couvene courts-martial may confirm the sentence passed by any such court. Every man in the province, therefore, is a soldier, liable to be tried by a court-martial, and summarily dealt with under the Mutiny Act for any military offence, real or imaginary. His personal liberty is held subject to the will of the commanding officer for the time being ; and he cannot depend upoii remaining in his home an hour longer thau shall suit the caprices of those into whose blundering hands the

public destinies, by an astonishing fatality, have been permitted to pass.

For some time past every man who could realise his property has done so and left the province j and many more are making the effort. We don't at all wonder at it, and only wish we could follow the example. Iv the hands of such incapables as Haultaiu and Lambert, and with systematic military tyrrany auperadded, the province must inevitably go from bad to worse, until, even at the sacrifice of all (for realising will be out of the question), hundreds will be faiu to go to a place where they can get protection, even should that place be New Caledonia, and that protection be at the hands of the Emperor of the French.