THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1862.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 57, 31 July 1862, Page 2

THE HAWKE’S BAY TIMES. NAPIER, THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1862.

Disappointment appears to be the usual doom of all the Colony, who regard with anxious hope every promised occasion for the further development of the native policy of the Governor or of his advisers. The grand event has passed, that to which all eyes were directed, and for which so much patient endurance has been exercised—has passed, and we are not a whit the wiser. The Governor has opened the Assemble—has read the speech to the representatives of the Colony prepared for him by his responsible (?) advisers—but has not given us the least additional information on the important questions that agitate the Colony to its foundation. Truly the mountain has been in labor, and has brought forth a mouse. That portion of the public press which is

in the Government interest, of course chuckles exceedingly loud at the proof afforded them that the policy of the Ministers is also that of the Governor, while the antagonistic portion attempts to close its eyes to the fact, that any such doctrine can be drawn from such premises—the latter regard the speech as that of the Ministers’ only, and the fact of Sir George Grey’s reading it at the opening of the Assembly, as a mere matter of form, from which no definite conclusion can be drawn. But, for ourselves, we are unable to resist the conviction that, by this act he has, to a greater extent than before identified himself with the pernicious policy now so vainly attempted to be carried out towards the native race, at so great an expenditure of the wealth, prosperity, and honor of the Colony, as it has already involved, and must yet produce, if such insanity is carried to any greater extent. The speech itself (given in a Supplement to our last issue) is quite unworthy of our criticism, and may be described as a tissue of fallacies, if not by a more severe title, intended to mislead all who are in ignorance of the true state of affairs, and who would of course, look to a document of this nature as a guide for their judgment; but such a course is the most futile and vain that can well be imagined, for the reports of some of those who have been specially appointed to the task of carrying out the hopeless scheme, are already published, showing the utter failure of their endeavors, and when it is considered a certain allowance should be made in these reports for a strong desire on the part of the Commissioner to carry out the policy, if it were possible, and to view its working in a favorable light, these reports are of immense value as proving the entire failure of the scheme and its utter unadaptedness to the end in view. The documents we allude to, especially that of Mr. Gorst, are of a very lengthy and elaborate nature, and demands more of our attention than we are able to devote to them on this occasion, but we shall return to them at an early opportunity, and lay before our readers all that is of greatest importance and give the results of our earnest attention to them. Meantime, we cannot refrain from giving two extracts from Mr. Gorst’s valuable report, the first of which abundantly shows the truth of the statements we have made, and the impregnability of our constant and uniform position, that the only true method of dealing with the Maori is to teach him that the laws of the Colony are a reality, and not a mere scarecrow to frighten the timid; and to begin this process on those of the colonists who have broken the laws in their dealings with them, which laws the Maori knows exist, and are violated with impunity, as well as we do, and, as a necessary inference, that all our laws are of the same class. This is the result that must be attained, and it can never be done by a system of runangas that teaches them that their own will is the fountain of law, but must be done by a declaration of the supremacy of the authority of her Majesty over the whole Island, and the population, both white and brown, and a vigorous exercise of that authority, while it is yet in the power of the Governor to do so. No man can tell how soon the troops of the Mother Country may be recalled from our shores, what unforeseen emergency in the political affairs of England may demand this step, and the lives and possessions of the Colonists be left a prey to the revenge and avarice of a horde of lawless savages. Mr. Gorst says : “ But there is a danger, which is a very much more serious and permanent source of peril to the Colony than that one the symptom whereof is the Maori King—it is the utterlawlessness and anarchy of the Native population of New Zealand. If the reports which appear in the public papers, the statements which have reached me from various private sources, or the evidence of my own eyes and ears when in other districts, contain any amount of truth, this lawlessness is not pecu-

liar to the Upper Waikato district. The great mischief of all is not that the Natives choose to be governed by a King instead of by us, but that they are not in any real sense governed at all. As long as individual Maoris can do that which is right in their own eyes and break the laws of God and man with impunity, so long will peace and prosperity in Native districts be an impossibility. The great remedy then for the evils of the land of is Government: but I mean vigorous Government—l mean authority which is able to protect life and property by enforcing obedience to the law. We do not want additional laws —there is a very madness of law-making infesting the country; we do not want Magistrates—they exist in abundance. It is the last link between the sovereign and the subject, it is the police which is defective. If there existed a power which could take up and punish offenders against the 6th and Blh of the Ten Commandments, the sores of the land would be healed. Who will dare to organize and use such a power ? The Runangas dare not; the Maori King dares not; the European Magistrate dares not; the paid Assesors and Constables dare not! Is there any one who dares ? I know as well as anybody that this question is beset' with difficulty and danger, but there can be no peace in the Colony till it has been fairly met and fully solved. The other extract which we have marked for this issue show's as clearly as it is possible * for words to do, the effect that the extensive bribery of the scheme has upon “ the race” and that it is felt by them to be a payment for quietness and false professions of loyalty —well described as “ surface” and “ lip,” or still better, as “ pocket-loyalt}'.” But Mr. Gorst shall speak for himself; — “The large sums of money believed by the Natives to be given to the loyal Natives of other districts, are an insuperable bar to the growth of any confidence in this. Natives in all places say openly that we, having failed to conquer them, are now trying to purchase their allegiance to the Queen. Among those who can be bought, the news creates a feverish anxiety to sell themselves at the highest price possible, and jealousy lest any of their neighbours should gain more of the prizes of loyalty than they. Among those who cannot be bought, and this class comprises nearly all the leaders of the Kimr party, the report has produced one stroim feeling towards the Government measures—and that is contempt. We feel that, for the present at least, we have quoted enough to show' the soundness of the position we have taken from the first upon this question, and likewise to prove the truth of our above remarks on the fallacies of the Governor’s speech, and its contrariety to facts. We fancy that this view' of the case will not escape the attention of the popular party in the “ House.” If W'e seek in this precious production for any, even the least, information on the points of greatest interest to the colony, as to wdiat are the intentions of the Government regarding the homesteads of the ruined settlers of Taranaki, still held by the “ strong arm” of a lawless race of rebels, even yet holding the Government at defiance, —concerning the roads closed against Her Majesty’s mails, and European subjects, where w r e are told if any w'hite man appears he will, sans ceremonie, be shot ! —concerning the execution of justice for a settler in cases of outrage, violence, or robbery, in a wmrd for the establishment of “ law and order”— w'ords wdiich fall so glibly from the lips of a Fox, and mean nothing but sufferance of wrong without complaint by the European,— if w r e search for information of this kind, wm shall find it not; but instead of this—a praise of the false policy when it is deserving of the strongest condemnation, —a request for money to carry it further out, instead of for vigorous action in the removal of abuses, — and a demand for time on the part of the Colony to give these follies a further trial, during which the last vestiges of our national freedom and independence are swept away, and we become the serfs of a horde of savages- .