Hawke's Bay Herald. MONDAY, MAY 27, 1878.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5086, 27 May 1878, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. MONDAY, MAY 27, 1878.

We have had some hesitation hitherto in expressing a decided opinion as to the probable success or otherwise of Sir George Grey's negotiations with the Kingite natives, not having sufficient data to go upon ; and we think that this hesitation has been shared largely by that section of the Press which has given a general support, of late, to Ministers. The Opposition press on the other hand, without data of any kind, have incessantly dealt in predictions of failure. We may now, however, safely venture to take a more decisive tone. From all that we can leai % n we feel satisfied that the negotiations at Hikurangi have indeed been successful beyond the anticipations of the most sanguine. The New Zealand Herald, a very cautious paper, in commenting on the prospects of the two and a-half million loan, says : — " The financial prospects of the colony have improved, as the Agent-General expresses a hope of an early negotiation of the loan. This hope will be greatly strengthened by the news which has been telegraphed to London since the date of Sir Julius Vogel's despatch, regarding the results of the recent successful meeting with the natives, the settlement of difficulties with the Kingites, and the opening of the country, — results, of which the more we hear the more promising and satisfactory they appear to be." Our contemporary's verdict, we believe, will shortly be the verdict of all intelligent people who take an interest in public matters. Sir George Grey, since first his work on the management of natives attracted the attention of the illustrious statesman who is now on the point of death, has been recognised by those who have had the best opportunities of forming an opinion on the subject, as perhaps the man of all others in Her Majesty's dominions best fitted for dealing with those Polynesians in whose literature, customs, and mythology, he was so deeply versed. With this all important qualification however, he did not combine the capacity for getting

tii-tsanvi

on smoothly with, his superiors in < office. Whether this was to his credit or not, we need not at present discuss. At any rate it was the fact. The result was his retirement from public life, and his enforced abandonment to others of the task whioh he had begun in New Zealand, but had not accomplished. There are other avenues to public life, however, now-a-days, besides the favor of Downing-street. Sir George Grey became a citizen of the colony, and in that capacity became the head of its responsible Government. From this vantage ground, with the reality of actual power and the prestige of former rank, he has resumed his old work, and is now rendering to the Imperial authorities, as an independent ally, those services which he was not allowed to render to them as a subordinate. Any who heard him address the natives at Waiohiki, in our own district, must have felt that his old aptitude for his task had lost nothing, but had probably gained greatly by the mellowing leisure of his retirement. He spoke to them as one having authority, and . as one combining with authority sympathy and an unaffected desire for their welfare ; as one, too, whose sentiments towards them as a statesman had neA r er been traversed by his sentiments as a dealer. He carried the same spirit with him into the Waikato, and hence his success. "Who else is there among us who could have used towards them such words as his closing ones at the Hikurangi meeting, and could have felt that they would be accepted in the spirit in which they were uttered. " As you are about to think over what I have told you," he said, " shall 1 give you my proposals in writing, so that there may be no mistake, and that there may remain a record of my love for you. lam anxious that you should reflect and make up your mind, because the time has come when those things must be settled. The land is filling with Europeans in every direction ; and I am desirous to see you all in a position of safety before I die. I shall be very glad to see the position of the people whom I have loved for so many years made quite secure and safe. I have grown old. In my youth I knew your forefathers, and now before I die should like to see their descendants left safe. If you go back to that side of the Waikato, Tawhiao and I will lead you back and put you on your places. Tawhiao and I will go in front and put you on your places." Coming from anyone else but Sir George Grey the natives would have seen in such words nothing else but the diplomacy of a trickster. Coming from him they were the appeal of a father to his formerly rebellious but now submissive children. That the King natives should regard the head of the European administration in this light is all-important. If they continue to do so, there is no question that shortly they will become assimilated in all respects to other friendly natives, and their district will become — with the reservation of wiser native land laws under the new regime — similar to other native districts. Passionate as is the sentiment of devotion which a large portion of the popiilation of the colony entertains now towards the Premier, we believe that, in spite of his failings, the day will come when it will be far more passionate and far more widespread than it is. Possibly, also, the day will come when the Imperial Government will make honorable amends for its unworthy treatment of one of its most illustrious servants.