OUR RTOUBLES IN NEW ZEALAND.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1046, 7 May 1869, Page 3

OUR RTOUBLES IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From tho "Pall Mall Budget," Fob. 6.) The accounts from New Zealand may be said to confirm the worst anticipations which people acquainted with . the colony had formed respecting its condition. There is, indeed, nothing in' them to induce us to apprehend any serious impedi-. ment to the general progress of the young commonwealth in material, civilisation. It is not always borne; in mind that ._Ne.w.. Zealand is not only a region of very great extent,.but that it is cut up by seas and ranges of mountains into a number of separate districts which have no connection with each other beyond that of a mere geographical name ; that there are scarcely any natives at all in the great Southern Island, which now contains a much larger European population than its Northern sister; that to the sheep farmers of Canterbury and the gold diggers of Otago an outburst of the Maori savages is merely a foreign event, except so far as they may be called on to contribute towards the expense of suppressing it ; and that even in the Northern Island itself the Great Auckland peninsula and other chief local seats of European enterprise are far removed, practically, from the dangers of native war. In fact, New Zealand is a country, like ancient Greece or modern Switzerland, which nature seems to have intended for the seat of a number of small republics, connected by some loose tie of federation only. And it may be doubted, although the doubt comes much too late, whether her institutions ought not to have been framed to suit this obvious model.

■In' that case, eiiher the districts obnoxious to native incursion would have been held by Imperial troops and authorities, apart from the rest, or, if Imperial force was not- employed, settlers would have ab« stained from occupying those districts too hastily, or else would have learnt the ne-

cessity of self-defence. As it is, they spread into such, remote and defenceless localities, for instance, as Poverty Bay on the eastern coast, in reliance on the " general government." But the general government is a body chosen and kept in power by force of a majority, that majority being composed of representatives of little communities scattered all round the- islands, very few of which have ever had any trouble with natives or are likely to have any. To them, therefore, economy furnishes by far the most popular watchword which a Government or an Opposition can use. And now that British troops are withdrawn, economy simply means unpreparedness to prevent native excesses by a strong police, or to repress native outrages when they have grown into rebellion. People far in the south, seven or eight hundred miles away, are not likely to relish taxation in order that a. few European stragglers in the extreme north-east may extend their industrial operations in the face of a multitude of armed savages. Still less are the youth of those peaceful provinces tiiely to enlist as volunteers, in order to encounter gratuitously the fatigues and dangers of campaigns with the most warlike race of savages with whom Europeans have as yet had to deal. The consequence of this too familiar state of things in JNew Zealand is, in the first instance, failure and retreat in the face of an enemy weak in numbers, but who never seems to lose an arl/antage ,■ then general discouragement, and urispariug recrimination. How. far these unsatisfactory results have already developed themselves may be read in the recent letter of the Times' correspondent from Wellington ; masterly, as usual, in respect of the clear and precise view which it gives of events, but pregnant with reproaches, expressed or implied, against the local government and against individu»J*; these will by-and-by bring a plentiful crop of justifications and retorts, £\v all \ybieh the public, service will be little V:1, O -better. -Unless tmn^a-ittvn.l* < „. viux. -• . the last advices seem to indicato, it is but too probable that help from home will be applied for. And we cannot expect that any Government will turn a deaf ear to a call made in earnest, with evidence before it that the fate o,f lives and property to a very serious extent may hang on their determination. Supposing, however, that the Colonial Government is equal in its own judgment to meet the emergency, the best course, in all probability, which they could take is one which we scarcely couut on the community possessing civil courage enough to submit to. The Northern Island should be placed under a temporary

dictatorship. Its resources should be employed at tho absolute discretion of the executive created for the occasion. That executive should be rendered, as nearly as such a word can be with safety used, irresponsible until the emorgency is over. It should enrol a military force, calling it by whatever name might seem adapted to the case. Reliance on volunteers in such a matter is idle. Volunteers will fight hard enough in defence of their own homesteads, and to punish injuries inflicted on themselves, or in the general enthusiasm of national self-defence ; or, again, where substantial advantages are to be earned by fighting. But they will not servo steadily where none of these objects are within view, and tho only purpose is to protect a number- of outlying settlers against an enemy continually at . hand, by the exercise of constant and troublesome watchfulness even more than of valour. That is the business of a militia, or an armed police strongin numbers and under absolutedirec-tiou;--not a plaything for responsible Ministries in the colonial sense. But the dictatorship, which appears indispensable under present circumstances for the Northern Island, is, of course, not requisite for the Southern. Its proper function would be the self-denying one of contributing liberally to tho expense of the General Government, without impeding unity of action by interference with its military or police arrangements. The substantial co-operation of all New Zealand for tho purpose of suppressing disturbances which endanger only a small part of it will be extremely difficult to se-. cure. If it cannot be secured, separation of the two islands is the only alternative', and it is by no means certain thai in the long run this arrangement will not be the most advantageous, as well as satisfactory, to both. But in the meantime the function of the Imperial Government is to make the best of existing circumstances. If any assistance in troops is to be given to New Zealand, the contribution of the Southern Island, to tho full extent of its means, must be insisted on as an indispensable accompaniment. We must take care that the Colonial Office does not allow itself to be seduced into the proverbial tendency of its mother country to " make things pleasant" by bribes to his noisy offspring. Already the old colonial cry begins to make itself heard through the columns of some of our contemporaries. Already we are told that the want of defensive preparation in New Zealand is owiug to poverty — that the islands are "dreadfully indebted and consequently overtaxed;" that this result is mainl" owing to the "vacillating, now and now agaiu imperious Colonial Olnuo;" (1 therelrimi ln >;- ffivo i» n '

getting, „ policy of the me lesson deduced ..nig that we are to lend or _^ore money to one of the most thriving young communities on the surface of J^he^ioJbe»_-JPha-rexiLSQningis as unfounded

as the conclusion is dangerous. That the^i policy of the Colonial Office has been most vacillating in relation : tp -New. Zealand-is -^ true enough ; but the net result of the vacillation has simply been the expenditure of a most unnecessary amount of British money not to mention British lives, for -tbe-benefit, of thp', , colony, If we had been firmer at homey ; the colonists would hay© . n\et ..with: Jess; „ extravagant indulgence. To make this a, reason for claiming further indulgence is a little top bad. It is like the case of a spoilt son, who importunes his parents, for further advances, on the grouhq that their "vacillating policy," in threateniifg , close the purse strings, and then opening them again to his importunities, has led him into difficulties. If New Zealand absolutely needs the help' of the stronger arm, giren it must be ; but not, we most - sincerely trust, in the shape of moriey, ■ and least of all as an acknowledgment of a debt due from us.

Once possessed of a really firm, defensive organization, with an armed irregular force raised by compulsory levy, and with fortified posts covering .the .most endangered localities, it is quite injpdssible that the settled parts of the Island can be in serious -danger from, a few thousand Maories, brave men and born tacticians as they have shown them*, selves, especially -when it is evident .th'ftt we have a large number, probably a majority, of the fighting natives on bur side* On the eastern coast, indeed, the savage massacre committed by the Hau Hausj stirring to vengeance not only the 1 Europeans, but our native allies also, will, in all probability, have brought down ample retribution before the next advices, are despatched to us. In the w.est, and especially the neighbourhood of Wanganui, as far as we .can. understand the accounts before us, things look more serious. Titokoworu, though his proceedings have as vet been .unmarked by 'the ferocity exhibited by Te Eooti and-Ws bandits,- is in all probability a much more formidable enemy. He is apparently in close con^ nection with the remnant of that old Maorj organization which has given us so much trouble already. , A very slight success on his part may bring the fiercest spirits and most experienced fighters of the race into collision with the European in one last desperate struggle ; for if if assumed the proportions of a rebellion, it would assuredly prove the last. Insulated outbreaks _ and massacres there would be for some time to come, but wars no more, unless, indeed, we sent out more British regiments to render war profitable to all parties concerned except ourselves. As for the retribution to be exacted, we shrink from its contemplation with a most painful sense of impotency to avert it. Our shortcomings may have been great, our injustice towards these people committed to our tutelage in some cases indefensible ; we hope, indeed, the account does not stand so heavy against us as some allege; but, whether or no, we cannot enter into that discussion now." The blood of our own kindred, our industrious and inoffensive settlers, butchered in their homesteads without provocation and without warning, calls for punishment; and ample security against the repetition of such horrors must be taken, at whatever cost to those who have occasioned them. But it is a happy circumstance* and the only one on which we can congratulate ourselves in the whole prospect before us* that this is not a feud of Europeans, against natives, but of Europeans and friendly natives against bands of fanatics. At Poverty Bay our friends were murdered by our side in the proportion of thirty of them to twenty-five Europeans $ and "(if we may believe the accounts) not a few of these die.d as martyrs, choosing death in preference to renouncing the faith implanted in them by the missionaries' in those happier days when Christian hope seemed to dawn for New -Zealand. We are spared, therefore, that most miserable tn&Ymg+ifiles, the indiscriminate and unThe ultimate ti&y«<s^^recfic*;.eti i6r-%ms~ unhappy race may appear but too' probable. But before it arrives, if it must arrive, we have, at least, the duty before us of rewarding and encouraging those who have fought by our side, and of protecting those who have fled from, instead' of abetting, the sanguinary fanactism of the invaders. ■ • .. •

The relief for the 18th Regiment is nowstated to be likely to prove to be the 86th Regiment,, at present . stationed at Mauritius." — Southern Oruss/April 29. '

A Lettee to the 'Times."— We have to acknowledge the rtteipt of a pamphlet entitled " New Zeal&d Wars," a letter to The Times, by C. 1. Hursthouse.

The prospectus of i Cloth and Blanket Factory, to be established at Tokomairiro, has been issued. Theworks are to be in the hands of a Liinite*. Company, with a capital of £6,000 in £1 shares.

Pbovinoialism. — Acircular has been forwarded to the vario* banks in the colony from the ColoniaKecretary's Office, informing them- that ad\nces of any kind' in the way of overdrafor oikoitusise to Provincial Executives ai illegal.

A National Bank.—^he Impendent proposes a National Bank.witb- te power of issuing a, national papei curreoy. -It proposes an issue of two trillion 'wliip}i would save in taxation £16Q,00& jrear. The question will probably besought before the Assembly when it me«,

Sheep iu-the Timaru district a seeing at very low figures. The H&r\ states that 1000 ewes iv the Orari distt were sold at Is. per head ; 4500 em at the Otaio were sold for 6d. per hi; 180 rams, sold by auction, fetchecs. per head ; 1000 old ewes were sold f<Blo, or about 2M. each.

The 3Jev. John Haxl.— -The ?nds of the Eev. John Hall, whose urinations in the Willis-street Presbyteriaihurch here are sp affectionately^ held iuaierobranco by the congregation, wiU glad to learn that, after an apostolic ikou/^ • seven years' duration in Americana* and the Australian*. colonies, he i,-JB& length returned in safety' to his 'tfivo country, Ireland. — Independent.' • -. \ Wellington Weathek. —^Duri; the Duke's visit to Wellington, the was very unpropitidus, and grea,coia*. plaints were made on 'the subject *^ 0 officers of the Galatea. The JNelsiColonist remarks on dit that respecting^, picture of Martin's " Deluge, whict alorns the walls, of the dining-i-oom in Paama House, HiE.B.. with a significant look and a shrug of the shoulders, drib remarked, "That's Wellington— on a, fine day!" Thatcher's wit seems one of the jew things that does not pall upon the appetite by repetition, every time we hear him increasing the desire to hear him again. Last night he had an excellent hoy? which hetreated to a change of P 1 "" ; embracing some new lo" * : ■ were lonclly appl? 1 "^ for Europe" , „' / sho^- , , .: . . . " " / . . ' .

songs which. _jfd. The V S\mmary •^p/most successful, and ..sthe'rea^ and *™J^ * c . talented ori^Tca-n seize on -the. s* h«rt points of ai* social economy to find subjects for/&tli, The-great^t^f the evenm" wa/a new local §ong, m-whtch a high i e^ a )/di g nitary is made to fig-ure ma rate undignified positions-reference to his treatment of some young kf* 16 !.^* 116 Prince's Ball.— Ewnifig Post, April 2£