Hawke's Bay Herald TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 1879. "KING REWWI."

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5416, 24 June 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 1879. "KING REWWI."

If the telegraphic news from. Auckland is to be relied on, Rewi is very much inclined to work with the Europeans — but he is not modest. His proposals would be amusing if not mortifying. He really does seem anxious to stand well with the Government, to preserve peace, and to see the two races in the colonies living contentedly side by side. His actions not less than his words show this to be his desire, but he stops here. The amalgamation of the two races is evidently his last thought. There must, he says, be a Maori country, under a Maori king, and laws made by Maoris are to be administered by Maori '* magistrates. He simply wants to see the present King rule continue, under 'better conditions, and the cardinal feature in his proposals, upon which all the rest turn, is that Rewi shall be King instead of Tawhiao. He seeks to create an autonomy under the rule of Rewi. Not only is a large slice bf the North Island, to be absolutely given up to his rule, but his subjects are to be prohibited from selling their lands, even though they may desire to do so. In return for these privileges he grants land for a railway from the Waikato to New Plymouth, and promises to live in amity with the Europeans, and to assimilate his Government to theirs. Rewi asks too much and gives too little. He would make a better King than Tawhiao, no doubt, but it is questionable whether this would be an advantage to us. Now the King party is split, up into factions, weakened by internal quarrels and divided counsels. It must soon, if left to itself, die a natural death ; but for us to place Rewi on Tawhiao's tottering throne would be to aid in giving a new lease of life to a movement in every way antagonistic to our best interests. It is to be feared that .Rewi .would really possess that power of which Tawhiao grasps only the shadow, and if we consented to the terms he proposes, we could not, so long as ' he observed his part of the. bond, deal with him or. his Government in any way. Now there is but at best a semi - official recognition of the King rule, and though we' have not yet made the Queen's writ run in the heart of Tawhiao's fastnesses we have at least claimed the right to enforce tlie observance of our laws on his people, and the day must inevitably come nearer and nearer when the last vestige of the Maori King's power will be torn from him. Rewi wants us now to officially recognise another State, possessing a political autonomy, within the North Island, and if we consented to the terms he proposes we could not in the future dispute his authority over the defined limits of his country. Perhaps this might not be very dangerous if Rewi was immortal, but as he is not, he would have successors who might not rule so wisely or so well, and we might find that by the signature of a treaty with Rewi we had created in our midst a vast Ramoth-Gilead — a city of refuge for murderers and all lawbreakers. To consent to Rewi's desires would be to discount at a ruinous rate the future prosperity of the . North Island. .For a present advantage we should have to pay heavily in the future, and it would be the reverse of statesmanship to consent to such proposals as those Rewi has now submitted. He may, we hope, consent to material modifications in the rough plan he has sketched out — as the matter stands now it would be folly to encourage him in his demands by even a pretence of negotiating with him on such a basis.