COMMERCIAL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5342, 28 March 1879, Page 3

COMMERCIAL.

HehaiiD Office, Tuesday evening. Messes Routxedge, Kennedy and Co. report a fair attendance at their sale of cattle at the Shamrock Saleyards to-day. The bidding Avas fairly spirited, and in all about 100 head passed the hammer. The prices realised were : Two and three-year-old steers; £7 5s to £10 10s; heifers, £5 to £9 10s j

dairy cows, £6 to £10. The auctioneers rea good demand for well-bred cattle at f\'ll rates. \>. • __^________

The Napier Harbor Board had quite a lively time of it on Tuesday during the tAVo hours and twenty minutes that the business of the meeting occupied. The first matter that excited warmth of discussion was the engineer's report accompanying the plans prepared for transmission to Sir John Coode. The report contained a mass of information, collated, at considerable trouble and expense, expressly for the purpose of enabling Sir John Coode to a-eport upon the inner and outer harbors, and upon the suitability of the Avorks that have already been constructed. But the board, as noAV constituted, is something more than a public body whose business it is to conserve the port, and to facilitate its shipping trade. The board has now, so to speak, a well marked political vein running through it, and there are things which bring this vein out every noAV and then} in very strong relief. One of these things is the continuation of any work that will in any Avay tend to make the harbor works that have been just completed of use for the purpose for Avhich they were intended. The members who are imbued with this feeling are not content with being warm advocates of a breakwater, but they are besides such hearty haters of Avhat has been done in the stead of the breakwater, that they would, oppose anything that would preserve what has already cost so much. For example, when a report Avas read on Tuesday in Avhich the advisability of doing something to protect the ends of the piers Avas pointed out, an ominous scoavl was visible on the countenances of some two or three members. And it Avas in this spirit that the engineer's budget of information for Sir John Coode Avas treated. There Avas nothing to be said by the members against the plans, nor upon the general body of Mr Weber's collection of information ; but in an unhappy moment the engineer had deemed himself called upon to furnish a list of the ruling prices for different kinds of timber, and upon this a strong grip was instantly made. Mr Vautier may not be much of a draftsman, and his skill as an engineer is perhaps open to dispute, but when it comes to a question as to the relative prices of timber in this market, then he is really quite at home. And accordingly he had the engineer on the hip at once. It mattered nothing how '/ood or how useful, or how strictly correct was all the rest of Mr Weber's information, the error about^ the timber — if error there was— like a large blot on Avhat was otherwise fair and clean, condemned the whole, and

the report was put aside for a fortnight, Avhich really means the loss of a month's time.

Mr "Vautier's motion for raising a loan for the breakwater was another interesting episode in the morning's proceedings. It was really amusing to notice Mr Miller's profound disgust at what he deemed the absurdity of the proposal* Daken by surprise, he was unable to put his finger on a weak spot in Mr Vautier's array of figures, but his instinct told him "that the thing was all wrong ; so wrong inI deed that it was quite impossible to believe that Mr Vautier Avas not perpetrating a huge joke, and was laughing in his sleeve at the way he was tickling the humor of the crowd that had one night filled the Theatre Royal. There was grim humor, too, in Mr Eobjohn's taunt, when he called upon Mr Miller to deal with, the figures and not indulge in a harangue. Deal Avith the figures ! Why, in Mr Miller's mind the Avhole sum so neatly totted up by Mr Vautier was one grand imposture. Here was an immense sum of money, no less than £225,000, disposed of as if it were a mere trifle. It was quite enough to take a man's breath away. Deal Avith the figures indeed ! The very suggestion Avas an insult. However, the matter Avas remitted to the next meeting of the board, and in the meanwhile Mr Miller can put Mr Vautier's figures to the test of close examination, and ascertain by what process of legerdemain the sum is made to come right. For ourselves, Aye certainly do think that Mr Vautier is entitled to much praise, whether his scheme of finance is practicable or not. Throughout the agitation for the breakwater he has manifested a singleness of mind, a fixity of purpose, and a clearness of perception that are beyond praise. But Aye would remind Mr Vautier and other members that they Avere not constituted into a board for the purpose merely of promoting the construction of a breakAvater. We should very much like to see a breakwater constructed, but Aye would not, because of that desire, display a spirit of antagonism against the harbor that Aye have, such as it is, nor against anything that might improve it. There Avould have been no very great harm in postponing the consideration of Mr Weber's report, had it not been that there was an appearance of motive in that obstruction, Avhich Avas rendered all the plainer to see by the bitter tone in Avhick Mr Eobjohns asked whether any member thought Sir John Coode's report would be acted upon. As for the chairman, we acquit him of all blame. In his position, he very properly gave his vote in a way that allowed of the matter being further considered. But we cannot acquit the others who voted on the same side of the fault of permitting themselves to be influenced by a feeling which, if carried to its extreme, Avould rejoice at the harbor becoming incapable of accommodating even the smaller craft that now enter it.

The proceedings taken by the natives to stop the survey of the "Waimate Plains are of a nature that will tax to the utmost the admitted adroitness of the Native Minister in dealing Avith the Maoris. There certainly has been no actual act of violence committed, but the surveyors have been turned off, and their tents, instruments, &c. removed to the other side of the Waingongoro river. In short, as plainly as it Avas possible to show it, the Maoris evinced their determination that there shall be no survey of the plains. What the upshot of the matter will be it is difficult to say. We have every faith in the resources of the Native Minister, yet we cannot very well see how the difficulty is to be coped with and still avoid a conflict with the natives. There can be no doubt that the proceedings against the continuation of the surveys were taken by direction of Te Whiti, and though he is credited Avith a strong desire to preserve peace with the Europeans, yet he is known to be a fanatic, with pretensions to prophetic inspiration, and having now taken the stand that he has he would be afraid to lose prestige if he receded from it unless corn-

pelled. At Parihika — the. place where the meeting was held at which the Native Minister Avas present — Te Whiti is the ruling spirit, but never-

theless he has to maintain his influence by showing himself the superior being that he pretends to be. This was evident in his interview with Mr Sheehan ; and it Avould seem that just because he was worsted in that interview, Te Whiti determined to resort to the extreme measure of removing the surveyors, so as to show to his followers that he was a man of action if not one of words. Of Parihika, the scene of the meeting, the Auckland Herald says, "It is a place whence issues almost as great an influence over the Maori mind as that Avielded by Tawhiao, and is situated about six miles from the beach on the skirts of Mount Egmont. The position is a strong one, being surrounded by bush, and it is well supplied with wood and water. Dr. Carrol, who wrote a report on his visit after attending the March meeting in 1871, states that the settlement lias the disadvantage of being placed in a hollow, which, if the pah were not kept as clean as it is, Avould engender fever. The cleanliness of a Maori pah is not usually one of its most conspicuous features, but Te Whiti sees the importance of order and regularity, and insists upon sanitary regulations being observed, not arguing that this must be done because science tells us so and so, but cutting short all argument by issuing a command in his capacity as a prophet who speaks with Divine authority. A stream runs right I through the village. At the time of Dr. Carrol's visit about 50 acres Avere under cultivation, but as since then there has been a constant accession to the numbers of the resident natives, probably that area is now doubled. There Avere then abov.t 200 Avhares, but there are now many more. There are regular streets in the place, each being named ; every Avhare has a cookhouse attached ; it is the cleanest and largest native village in New Zealand."

We get something of a view of the character of Te Whiti from a report written by Mr Parris in 1873. Mr Parris then regarded the influence of Te Whiti as being by no means confined to the district in which he resided, but as extending to some of the most distant parts of the North Island, and as being notably exercised over Tawhiao himself. Mr Parris goes on to describe the pretensions of Te Whiti to inspira-

tion, and says that this infatuated native chief actually ventures to identify himself with Jehovah, and the people believe that, at all events, he is divinely inspired. The Herald says that Te Whiti has a fondness for Scripture argument, and when visited by Ministers of the Crown and Civil Commissioners, he lias ahvays managed to show that he is much superior fco them in his Scriptural knowledge. " Curiously enough," adds our contemporary, "Mr Sheehan, who is not very evangelical, and is not even Protestant, has been Te Whiti's most formidable opponent in Scripture argument, but then the present Native Minister has a Maori-like fondness for Scriptural images and quotations." With all this Te Whiti has displayed a good deal ©f cunning diplomacy in his dealings with the Europeans and with his OAvn people, contriving to appear to the former to be all for peace, while to the natives he made it seem that lie Avas quite hostile to the Europeans. He has noAv, however, assumed a decisive attitude, and Aye Avait Avith some anxiety to learn the measures that Avill be taken t« make him yield. Probably the attempt will not be made, but a temporising policy resorted to, in reliance upon the effect of time in calming the irritation under which Te Whiti is at present suffering.