NATIVE AFFAIRS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 21, 23 June 1880, Page 4

NATIVE AFFAIRS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) A.C. Camp, Kaikakura, Tuesday. In view ef the probability of a lengthened stay at the present camp atKaikahu, •care has been taken to mofie the quarters of the men as comfo table as possible for the winter ; and in the interests of good health some of the wettest paths between the lives have been corduroyed. Houses have been roughly built for the reception of the tools, &c, and cooking sheds erected. The road, meanwhile, has not been neglected ; a large party has been engaged each day in clearing and partly forming, whilst the telegraph poles have been erected between Opunake and the camp, and coinmun'cation by wire established. The latter work received the indefatigable attention of Major Goriug, and his personal exertions in forwarding the completion of this work were remarked by all in camp. The poles were carted along the newly cleared road, notwithstanding the assertion of agitators that the road would be useless. The great dismal, bottomless swamp has not yet been found, although numerous small swamps exist in all directions, and the larger ones are left to seaward of the live chosen. No thanks for their avoidance is due to Maori information, for all the natives are, to say the least of it, singularly reticent, ami if a little information is extracted from any, it is generally calculated to mislead. Had Major Goring listened to Maori advice in the choice of a route for the mam road, lie would have become involved amidst a labryuth of swamps ; but lie fortunately trusted to his own investigations, and he has been singularly successful hitherto in avoiding all the difficulties incidental to road making through a comparatively unknown country. Your correspondent cannot send any particularly good accounts of the attitude of the natives. They are not aggressive certainly, but they never have a pleasant look, and are always reserved and sulky in demeanor. They contrast unfavorably with the natives of the Plains, and with Ngatiruanui generally. This tribe of Taranaki has supplied more than its quota of Maori prophets and agitators, but has suffered little from the ill effects of the disturbance to which it has from time to time given rise. Mutene elaborated the hau-hau fanaticism, and Te Ua improved on it, and the Pai-marire religion, carried death and bloodshed in many a home remote from its birthplace, whilst the latter escaped invasion. The South Tarauaki tribe are now feeling the effects of the disturbances created by their last new prophets, Te Whiti and Toliu, and judging from their faces and demeanor, they do not like it. They were content so long as only Ngatimanui was threatened, but they do not approve of the invasion of the sacred portion. The land in this direction is of splendid quality, with a great depth of black soil, bush open, with few supple-jacks, and the plains requiring next to nothing in the way of labor to make it fit for the plough. Nearer the beach, the portion recommended to be set aside for European settlement, eventually, is not fit to be men-" tioned in the same breath. Iv that direction are all the swamps, and the Europeans will have a monopoly of the sandhills. Taranaki province contains no better land than this piece north of Moutoti, which was never made the promise of return to the natives until the Royal Commission thought it shonld be returned as a sop to Cerberus. Captain McMurdo, the enterprising and genial insurance agent, is visiting the camp, engaged in taking lives with a reckless bonhomie and a peculiar absence of bloodshed highly commendable. The camp at Ngakumikumi will shortly be shifted, but the day has not yet been fixed, nor the site chosen for the new camp, but it will be somewhere close to the Woitaha stream, and will be but about five miles distant from the Kaikahu camp. Ngakumikumi is a drier camp, and in a nicer situation than Kaikahu, and it boasts a billiard- table and pie-shop, whilst Kaikahu has to rest satisfied with skittles and American bowls. Te Whiti imagined that an A.C. camp would be situated on the Waitatawa stream, which runs through Parihuka, and rumors have been afloat lately that a large present of food would be given to the troops and road parties by the Parihaka people, but as the camp is to be situated at Waituha, Te Whiti will be disappointed. fcso far from the centres of European population, news is scarce in the camp, and ever}' item is received with eagerness and discussed over the camp fire. Parliamentary intelligence is sought with diligence, not only by the Europeans, but by the natives in the district. The latter appear to think that the Houses are assembled to talk over and legislate upon the problems Te Whiti has propounded for solution. Twelve mouths have elapsed since the ploughmen were imprisoned, and some of the Taranaki prisoners who were summarily dealt with and sentenced to fourteen months' imprisonment, will soon probably be at liberty. The date of • their return is a critical point to look forward to, as much may depend upon tlieir account of their treatment, and the wishes of those whom they will leave behind in prison for an indefinite period. When ■we lose the prisoners, we shall be deprived of our only safeguard and guarantee for the peaceable behaviour of their tribal friends. If th re is any reliano to be placed upon the science of physiognomy, the Taranaki natives at present are willing and wishing to injure us, but are kept in check by the iear of the consequences. If it is possible to keep the prisoners in gaol longer, the wisdom of so doing is indisputable. Te Whiti says they are not British subjects; they therefore have no claim upon the Habeas Corpus Act, and are consequently the prisoners of expediency. Let them remain so.