Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1869.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 13, Issue 1108, 10 December 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1869.

Oue contemporary still keeps harping on the same theme as be bas devoted his columns to since the accession of the present Government to office. He is evidently delighted to find in the Wanganui Chronicle a concurrence of views which, up to now, have only been shared by Mr. Stafford's organ, the Nelson Examiner. The latter journal, some time ago, published a series of communications upon the Taupo operations, which, from their peculiar style, there was' little difficulty in tracing to the authorship of disappointed people well known in this province ; and we could not help noticing that the Examiner was careful in only publishing as " communicated," what was evidently written in the hope that it f would be conveyed to the public with such weight as Mr. Stafford's, organ would give it. It occurred to us that, perhaps, Mr. Stafford had, on reflection, discovered that the information supplied to him in the past by his Hawkers Bay' friends, had not been, very reliable, and that to their injudicious conduct and aiivice he owed, in some measure, the humiliating position in which he found himself hist session. But, however that may be, we regret to see, in the columns of any colonial newspaper, an article such as that which appeared yesterday in our contemporary. It commences by gloating with delight over the fact that as yet all the efiorts of the Government have not succeeled im catchI ing Te Kooti, who is again misreported as I having escaped into the Uriwera country. It then goes on to do its best to alarm and unsettle the settlements on the East Coast ! and the posts on the line to Taupo ; and, after sneering at Mr. M'Lean's and Mr. Fox's negotiations with the Waikatos and Wanganuis, makes the grossest mis-state-ments as to tbe position in which affairs j were left by tbe Stafford Ministry ; and J winds up by attempting to create disaffection on the part of our Hawke's Bay natives, whose services are, to our surprise, at last recognised by our contemporary, who, up to now, has been used to speak most disparagingly and sneeringly of them. Such articles as that we have thus fairly summarised can have but one tendency, and that is to injure the colony, particularly this province and the neighboring districts of Poverty Bay and Taupo. We can scarcely believe that tbat is the desire of our contemporary, and we would suggest that in future the editorial column should be guarded from becoming, as yesterday, the vehicle through which the bile of ! politically disappointed individuals should be allowed! to expend itself. We will now examine one or two of the reckless statements contained in the article we have referred to. We find it stated that "the late Government handed over the reins to their successors with this miscreant unearthed, -weak, and to be easily overpowered on the Taupo plains." And further on, that "the desperate position ofthe country arose from the fact that the withdrawal of the Taupo expedition had left Te Kooti free access to the .King." W&„ are almost ashamed to repeat such statements, evem for the purpose of exposing them. Let us, however, enquire into their accuracy. At the time Mr. Stafford's Government went out of office, what was the real position of Te Kooti, and in what manner did the large force which then held not Taupo, but a chain of posts from Matata to Fort Galatea, check Kooti's access to the King's country ? First, with regard to Te Kooti. That miscreant (who, it is said, was handed over " unearthed and weak") had in reality just witnessed the disastrous retreat of the 800 men which Colonel Whitmore had conducted into the Uriwera country against him, and for whose safety the late acting Government agent thanked God so fervently when he heard they were " safe out of the bush." Colonel Whitmore, worn out and exhausted, had been called from the operations in the field to the Assembly, to the rescue of the Stafford Government. His foree — the Taupo field force, 500 strong, had gone into garrison quarters, and occupied several forts, which commanded nothing and were only half way on the road to Taupo, and Lieut.-Colonel St. John, the officer whom Colonel Whitmore had leffc in charge, officially described his force as only able to hold the several redoubts in which they were placed and protect their own supplies. Te Kooti, having full knowledge of this, left the Uriwera country, came out on the Taupo plains, and proceeded easily towards the west side of Taupo Lake, burning and destroying as he went. From there he 'had fall and uninterrupted communication with the King's country. No effort was made by the Taupo field force, composed of 500 Europeans — Armed Constabulary, who, by the bye, were part of them in a state of mutiny, to check him, and it was from seeing this, and the uselessness of maintaining, at an enormous cost, the useless posts which terminated at Fort Galatea, that the Fox Government withdrew from their occupation, Such are the facts. We leave our readers to judge how far our contemporary is justified in publishing statements such as those we have questioned. ( It is only fair, after the publication of such accounts, to state what the condition of things were when the Fox Government 'took office. In place of a crushed foe, they found upon the ministerial tables letters from all parts of the country, full of difficulties to be met. Waikato was a source of danger ; Kooti was at large ; and our contemporary was right when he says, "at no time under Mr. Stafford was the country threatened with any outbreak so serious as was then apprehended ; " but he forgot to state that all these thing 3 were under Mr. Stafford's administration, and that the letters and telegrams describing them were addressed to and actually opened by the Stafford Ministry. That they had not to meet those difficulties the entire colony is grateful, for, judging from their former actions, universal ruin must have been the result. What has been done since then will bear favorable comparison indeed with any ope-

• • .i ■ ■■■ •","- " .- ■', r. rations conducted by, the. late/Gpverament. \ We have not time in thisirtidle toflfent^r at S the length we should like upon this subject; but we will name a few facts, in l proof of what we have stated, and we cannot do better than take our ground upon the Taupo operations. It is undisputed that we have driven Te Kooti with heavy losa from Taupo ; that we now hold possession' — not of a few redoubts in the desert leading from Matata to Fort Galatea, but. of Taupo itself, the centre of the island — of Tongariro, the tabooed land, and have command of the Taupo Lake, upon which, in a week or two more, our boats will be sailing. A trip to Taupo from Napier is very instructive upon this point. At a day's journey' from our streets, the traveller comes, at Te Haroto, to a still unfinished fortress, grand in its conception and position. On enquiry, he finds that this was the great frontier post which was constructed by the agent of the Stafford Government, and beyond which, at that time, our posts did not extend. Now, this useless fortress, which was planned and erected regardless of cost, stands a fruitless monument of folly, and so far within our lines that its necessary occupation is a source of weakness to us. These are incontrovertable facts, and we may add that the occupation of Taupo has been effected at a cost infinitely less than the disastrous expedition of Colonel Whitmore to which we have before referred, ahd which effected nothing. In conclusion, we do not desire to trample upon a fallen foe, and would willingly allow the shortcomings and errors of the Stafford Government and its employes to rest in peace ; but we will not allow impudent assertions and untruthful statements to be made without exposing them. The colony from north to south rejoices in the altered condition of things, and in the restoration of that confidence the loss of which was producing such mischievous effects a few short weeks ago ; and the men whose services are effecting this altered condition of affairs deserve the support which they are receiving from almost the entire public of the colony.