HAWKES BAY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 782, 9 May 1860, Page 5

HAWKES BAY.

;We have copies of the ' Herald' to the 28th ult. Mr. Fitzgerald, Superintendent of the province, has been elected member of the House of Kepresentatives for the district, in the room of Mr. J..8. Ferguson, whose resignation was recently announced, and who, on standing again, was defeated. Mr. R,. J. Duncan of Wellington, and Mr. W. Colenso, were also- nominated as candidates, but Mr. Fitzgerald was declared elected on the hustings, and no poll was demanded on behalf of the others. We subjoin the ' Herald's' account of the MEETINGS AT THE PAH TVHAKAAIBO. FIBST MEETING, On the 13th April the Superintendent went to the pah Whakaairo (according to appointment) to see nnd talk with the native chiefs, upon the pre-

sent aspect of affairs* Several gentlemen accompanied.- hhi). from town —Major .Young, Messrs. Tiffen,Tarineiy ßegg, Colenso, arid Grtndoll. Arriving there they were hospitably entertained by the chief Tareha iv his new house, with a good plain dinner served up in English style ; to which after their ride they did ample justice. Dinner over, chairs were set for the white visitors, and the speechifying commenced. Old Porokuru led the way with, an old song and recitation, full of good and peaceful meaning, ending with saying that the natives" wish was to dwell in love and friendship. Renata followed with rather a long speech, containing several shrewd remarks and enquiries, but generally expressive of good feeling towards the whites, and a plain declaration of no present sympathy with Wiremu Kingi at Taranaki.Tareha next spoke, principally following in the steps of Renata, and with him remarking on the bad and irritating language which they (natives) were commonly receiving from many low whites. Karaitiana then said a few words,'assenting to some of the sayings of those who had preceded him, and adding there was not a larger attendance that day owing to,white men never keeping their, promises with natives, and that there would not be time that evening to consider or reply to the words which might be spoken by the Superintendent. ■ The Superintendent then replied,; taking up seriatim their different observations; and enquiries —assuring them that the whites wished to live in peace with,.the natives: and to dwell as one people under one ; ruler—rthat 'then1! lands would never be taken from,them,— that overt acts must necessarily be. punished,-—that the militia was for the good of all, would be found effective in conjunction with themselves against the aggression of a foreign foe, sind would most certainly be enrolled (as, in the Australian Colonies^ if never a Maori existed—that ■the roads and other improvements were for the good of; all—that ho was sorry some chiefs did not see this, and so held back a right of road through their lands—that he was sorry to find any of them determined to uphold the authority of the (so-called) Native King, as only one king or sovereign power could possibly be acknowledged in the colony,—and, finally, that they had much better have less suspicion of the whites, and seek by their actions as well as words to dwell quietly and lovingly with them. „ ■■■ ' .',"■;.

Night now came on fast; and, though there was more to be said and answered, the meeting closed. The chiefs Moananui, Paraone, Paratene, Hupata, and their relatives were also present. Mr. Colenso interpreted his Houor's woi'ds to the natives, and Mr. Grindell those of the Natives to his Honor. ■'•■= SECOND MEETING. On Monday the 16th, his Honor the Superintendent, accompanied by several whites, again visited the native chiefs at Pa Whakaaira. At their express wish his visit was this day repeated, as they had not opportunity on Friday last (through'the ap-; proach of night) of answering his remarks and advice.

After the usual preliminaries, the chief Renata opened proceedings, stating that, with reference to his Honor being grieved at their determination to stick to the Native King, this ought not to be, seeing that he (Renata) and his friends had done what they had said they should do at the Separation dinner in Napier last year, viz.,—they had watched the conduct of the Native King, and had approved of it from its being good, and, that his designs and plans were also good, and that was the main ground of their adherence; if (said Renata) his designs were evil and we upheld them, then there would be ground for his Honor being sorry ; but as it is the Native King's thoughts are as good for the natives; as the Queen's or the Governor's are for the whites, &c. :: ! ;

To this his Honor made answer that it did not depend upon the, goodness or the badness of the (so-called) Native King's'thoughts or plans, but on the very root or principle—viz., that they having a sovereign in the Queen, whom they too had chosen, they could not choose another—further that he was a non-resident and did not know what was for their own immediate good ; and that, while his thoughts may have been good, they knew not what they would be, or what of those of his successor, &c. -■- .

, Eenata replied, by saying such might be left till time came, and then they did not know what they might do; and went on to remark on another.portion of the Superintendent's speech of Friday last, when the Superintendent had also stated (in reply to some of their .observations); that he knew not of any wrongful or changed mode of dealing on the part of the Governor or of the Native Land Purchase Commissioner, as to the way in which lands had been acquired.

To this Ilenata now replied, that if His Honor could not see, they could; that-the first two purchases of land were made before all: every man, woman, and child (as indeed had been stipulated, and without which those lands would never have been alienated); but that subsequently land had been bought in secret and in an underhanded way • and that they still intended to return the amounts received for those lands, which the "runanga" had collected and kept stored by them for that purpose. To this His Honor replied, that he still knew of no alteration in either the Governor or Native Land Purchase Commissioner towards them in the purchasing of their lands; but the facts were: first, That when the first two purchases were made they dwelt together, and went together to buy and to sell; Second, that afterwards they were at mortal feud with each other, and waged war on each other to the slaying of many, and were still at variance —how, then, could purchases be effected as they formerly were ? third, That they had gone so far as to hand over in writing all the unsold lands of the province (whether sold or not) to the so-called native king, and it was owing to his, as they deemed, possessing the " mana "■ over those lands, that the rightful owners were prohibited from selling them; and when they did venture to offer any for sale, it was owing to the same cause, and the fear of the " runanga," which kept back the many from openly going with the sellers, as hitherto. And they were also reminded, that it was a sowing of a similar seed at Taranaki which had brought fortlrthe present evil crop there. Renata then said, that at Taranaki both parties were in the wrong, but that the Governor was very much the more wrong; that before any investigationhad been made, before that Wiremu Kingi had been had before a magistrate and judicially condemned, blood was shed. To this. he. was answered, that his remarks were altogether wrong; that he ought to know that the Governor had patiently tried every possible means, but in vain; besides Wiremu Kingi had no right whatever to interfere; and he (Renata) must well know that, while every white man, however great, dared not disobey a, magistrate's summons, it was not such an easy thing to get a Maori to obey,— for he (if he thought his case desperate) stuck a friend on each side and another at his back, and then cried, to Governor and law, lo! lam as stout and as big as you ! Karaitiana now arose and said, that (with reference to the demand made by Mr. Colenso in his own speech on Friday last, as to who were the persons who had told them certain evil reports concerning ;him,) he should now reply to Mr. Colenso's question —that they had been informed that Messrs. Rhodes, Colenso, and Tuke, had strongly urged (in Council) the propriety of an immediate onslaught upon them to extirpate every man, woman, and child of theirs, and then to seize their lands.

Here, Karaitiana was informed that Mr. Take was not a member of Council 3 and was also advised

by Mr. Alexander (who was also present) to shut up. Mr. Colenso also told him, that he ought to have known better than to listen to such tales; that he insisted* upon obtaining the name of his informant; and that, if they persisted in mentioning, such talk, he should (following out their old established custom) demand a heavy payment from them (on their tailing to shew its truth) for false accusation. Karaitiana then said, he (and they) should cast it away; but that he would not give up the name of his informant (who, however, was a resident at Napier), lest the whites should ill-use (patu) him. Further: that, in reply to his Honor's remark of his being sorry that some chiefs held back a right of road through their lands, he knew he was one of those chiefs alluded to, but that he had long ago ceded what was required of him, but that (as he believed) it had not been clearly understood, owing to the misunderstanding of Mr. Cooper, &c. That he had striven hard to get the Government to order all the cattle belonging to Europeans to be kept away from grazing over his lands, but without effect, and that this was a great ground of his sorrow ; also that his own cattle had disappeared from his own lands through the Europeans, &c. ( Old Waka Te Kawatini now got up, and joined his relative—demanding payment for grass eaten by cattle, and rent for the proposed ferry on the Ngaruroro river. He was quickly told that the Government would never pay any rent for any such thing—the same being a public good, and as much used by them as by Europeans. Noa Huke now. put in his oar in prompting Renata, and Renata got again on his feet to say, in answer to what Mr. Colenso had said in his own speech on Friday last, that as to the treaty of Waitangi, it is true they had consented to it at the time, but that-that time was the time of their ignorance, that now they should not heed it as they knew better, &.

Mr. Colenso, in reply, reminded them—lst, That they had no doubt often heard that it was neither the custom of the English nor of any other nation to buy foreign lands on which to settle, but simply to do as they themselves had both done and suffered, take possession, and kill if resisted— second, That it was entirely owing to that same .treaty of Waitarigi that they were now living in peace, each chief in free possession of his own lands, and that their numerous toanga, horses, cows, bullocks, ploughs, and vessels, were clearly owing to that treaty; and they should consider, that if such a thing could be done as to set aside that treaty, which had hitherto been their salvation as a people, and which not a few whites had wished to be annulled, on what would inevitably follow— 3rd, That if they repudiated the treaty because, as they said, it was made in their ignorance, they should also repudiate the different boundaries of lands and estates made by their ancestors, to which, however, while productive of much misery to them, they clung most pertinaciously. Renata rejoined, that he did not see why they should not reject the Treaty of Waitangi, now that they knew better, as well as cannibalism and polygamy.

A messenger, who had been sent to the Port to learn the news by the White Swan, (that morning arrived there) now returned with Wellington Gazettes and newspapers, when Mr. Colenso read to them (at his Honor's request) the letter from the Superintendent of Wellington and that of the Magistrates of Wellington to the natives of that province ; also (at Major Young's request) the speech of Tamiliana te Rauparaha at the meeting of Maori Chiefs held at Wellington—which closed this day's proceedings. As on Friday, so to-day, Mr. Grindell interpreted to, aud Mr. Colenso from his Honor. And it is to be hoped that good will result to both Maories and Pakelias from the plain and simple statement of facts, truthfully and reasonably; made. ,

It will be seen from our shipping record that Mr. Wright, the Director of Public Works, has returned to Napier. His mission to Sydney, although occupying so much more time than was originally anticipated, has been entirely successful. The steamer —the capabilities of which as a dredge were proved experimentally before Mr. Wright's departure—was at length purchased for the Hawkes Bay Government, and may now be hourly expected in Napier. We are sanguine that, should all go well, a great improvement will be visible in the harbour after the dredge has been some time in operation.—April 21,

In a caseof embezzlement, which was submitted to the Paris Tribunal of Correctional Police on the 21st Jan., a curious disclosure was made—namely that there exists at La Villette an establishment which effects what it calls the "revivification" of coffee grounds, and, after mixing them with a small portion of pure coffee and other substances, sells them as coffee. Nay, more, that the "revivified" coffee grounds, after being used, are subjected to a new process of ''revivification," being again mixed with other substances, and once more sold as pure coffee.

M. Payen ha 3 disgusted the epicures of Paris by telling them that their favourite delicacy, the edible bird's nest, consists chiefly of a peculiar spittle, secreted by the Salangane swallow. ;•';'■

The destroying all birds, except game to eat, has been recently prohibited in many of the small German States^ on the Rhine, and in parts of Germany. The motives urged are these—wherever the farmers have killed the rooks, jays, and even sparrows, the crops have been leas than where they had been unmolested. Able naturalists have reported, that the vast quantity of noxious vermin which. the birds destroy greatly exceeds the small quantity of grain they consume in searching for insects. A letter from Venice states that excavations have been made under the porch of the Church of Saint Mark, in order to seek for the treasure pretended to have been buried there by the Doge Marino Paliero. These researches have been without result: all that has been found are some old bones and a number of rats' nests.

Carlo de Rudio and nine other convicts have escaped from Cayenne in an open boat, and sought a refuge in Demerara. Rudio was one of the Orsini conspirators whose life was spared. An old gentleman just deceased has bequeathed to Mdlle. Emilie Dubois, of the Theatre Francais, 200,0Q0f. ; and he declares in his will that the bequest is made for no other reasons than admiration of her talent as an actress and of her exemplary conduct in private life. The Cape papers state that one ironmonger at Graham's Town sold in two weeks one hundredweight of iron wire to the coloured women of that district, who now use crinoline extensively.