TARANAKI.

New Zealander, Volume XVII, Issue 1569, 1 May 1861, Page 3

TARANAKI.

[from our own correspondent.] New Plymouth, April 27th, 1861

The position of affairs here has not materially altered during the last month, and ihc lending incident may be summed up in a few words; Kingi, true to his nature, has remained obstinate, having left with his followers soon after the acceptance of terms by llapurona, (or the north, where he intends to discuss terms with the Governor in the presence of Waikato. Tamihana of the Kaipakopako still remains at Mataitawa, whither he returned after his visit to the Waiwakaiho pa on the IZtffinst., in consequence no doubt of the protest made by some settlers, who objected to him being permitted to conic so near to the town until Ins real position was known, on the grounds that be bad been concerned in several murders and especially in Sartcn’s at the Henui on the 4th December last. Mr. McLean’s reply to the deputation who waited on him in the absence of the Governor was significant; he slated that he could fully enter into the feelings of the settlers with reference to those Natives who had committed the murder referred to, but that he could not depart from the terms already made with the Ngatiawa —and which lie was instructed by the Governor to carried out —but added, that he should advise the natives alluded to, as having committed the murder, not to make their appearance in town for some time, lamihana has not, it is believed, absolutely come to terms, but it is understood that there is no serious impediment against his doing so. The Waitara question may thus be considered as settled, and the celerity with which this satisfactory position has been arrived at is not a little due to the easy terms at first offered, and to the readiness with which they were afterwards modified to meet the views of our late enemy—a portion of whom it appears was no enemy at all, as Whatitiri and his party though living at llurangi during the late struggle remained neutral. It will be remembered that one condition in the original terms provided (or

the retention of the different redoubts and blockhouses at Waitara and a small portion of land round each, but Whatitiri claimed ihe land on which the redoubts stood; there was only one course to adopt under the circumstances, namely to withdraw the obnoxious paragraph—and the troops: this was done and the soldiers marched to the lower camp, leaving only the blockhouses at Puketakuerc and Nga-pukcturua (Mahoetahi) in our possession, which, it is reported, will be garrisoned by friendly Natives; the former will be under the immediate charge of Hapurona, and the latter under that of Teira and Co. There will then only remain the disputed block of land to locate troops on, and, as the investigation of Tcira’s title has to be resumed, reasons may arise why they should be removed from there, apart from a necessity for their presence at Waikato.

Yesterday an answer was received from the Taranaki tribes, they are willing to treat under the terms proposed with the exception of a small hapu (the Patukai) who prefer to wait the issue of events at Waikato. The Ngatiruanui for the same reasons refuse to enter into negotiations. In the mean time the troops are fast leaving for Auckland, whither the whole, with the exception of the 57th, will be removed, and to-day the General and staff’ leave by the “ Airedale’’ for the same place.

Yesterday the first instalment of refugees returned from Nelson, and a further number will arrive by the “ Rita,” now hourly expected. A stranger mightalmost be tempted to enquire, whether the removal of troops and the return of our wives and families, when so small a number of rebels had laid down their arms, when some had refused to enter upon the consideration of terms, and whilst negociations were pending with others,might not prejudice the firm attitude which the Governor professes to assume. Thus far the peace proceedings here have not been satisfactory, but grave reasons may have compelled the Governor to adopt a course which it requires but little reflection to sec must lead to future troubles; the assertion of the Queen’s supremacy, and, as a consequence, the overthrow of the Maori King movement, may yet severely test theskilland resources of General Cameron and be sufficient cause why diplomacy should have formed so important an clement in theproduction of peace here. It is in Waikato then that we must look tor the solution of the Maori King problem, and it is to be hoped that General Cameron and his good troops •will be the means employed for this purpose, and not the influence of the Native Department. Illness, I regret to say, has been very prevalent, principally diptheria and a low kind ot typhus fever, and which the late severe weather has considerably increased. The Militia duties’ arc now very light, and leave the men time to practice for tho prizes to be given in May next, and in many instances to attend to farming operations. During the last twelvemonth the Scotch thistle has nearly overrun the settlement, and in some cases it will require more money to eradicate it than to replace buildings destroyed by the enemy. Last Tuesday night the schoncr “ Sea Gull,” from Wanganui, with a cargo was compelled to run on shore in consequence of a heavy gale from the S.W.; she was beached at the mouth of the Huatoki in front of the town, neither cargo nor vessel were much damaged, but the owners considered it advisable to sell the latter; she fetched, it is said, £2so,—a very low sum. The names of the two Taranaki Chiefs who arc desirous of availing themselves of the Governor’s terras, arc Wm, King Matakatca of Tcumuroa and Aram a Karaka. [From the “ Herald,” April 27.] A falling barometer at the end of last week shewed the approach of bad weather, and on Saturday night the Wonga Wonga and Sea Gull, the last to leave the anchorage, got under way, and the roadstead was empty the first time for many weeks. On Sunday the wind abated and the sea was comparatively quiet, but the barometer continued to fall, and at night a gale of great violence broke upon the coast. The wind was very unsteady both in direction and force, shifting between N.N.W. and West, in short squalls of great fury, accompanied by deluges of rain. On Tuesday afternoon—wind due W., the barometer rising, and with every prospect of more moderate weather—a schooner under scanty sail was observed heading in shore. She was made out to be the Sea Gull, of Wanganui, and ran down for Moturoa with the design of anchoring, if the state of the sea would allow. She was, however, too far too leeward of the islands to get much shelter, and finding the sea very she was put about, and when abreast of the flagstaff she bore down for the shore and ran up high and dry, and without losing a spar, sail, or rope, in the mouth of the Huatoki, half an hour after sunset. A vast number of people crowded to the shore to give assistance and satisfy their curiosity. Not less than two hundred were tor an hour waist-deep in the surf, endeavouring to steady the vessel by ropes. The scene was very curious,'for the weather, though moderating, was still wild, and white surf ran up a hundred yards at each wave, swinging the mass of human beings about like a tress of sea-weed, under a moonlight partly obscured by westerly scud. No casualties occurred, and a large part of the cargo was uninjured. The ship, though hardly a wreck, has received severe damage, and is to be sold at auction to-day as she lies. On Tuesday a mail was despatched overland to Wanganui, in charge of a native of Hapurona's party. During the week a letter has been received from W. Kingi Makatea, of Umnroa, and Arama Karaka—leading chiefs of Taranaki, stating that they wish to accept the Governor’s terms. A large meeting had been held, at which the tribe generally concurred with these chiefs, but a section residing at Warea arc dissentients. They are busy collecting cattle and horses and sheep taken from the settlers, with a view to their restoration. As yet no news had come from Ngatiruanui.

It lias already been stated authoritatively in these columns that no sort of solicitation has been used to induce the Southern tribes to accept the terras offered, and it is satisfactory to be able to say that none will be used. They are probably not aware of the extent of damage they have done, estimated in their only coin—land. But it is said, and we trust truly, that no mistaken kindness will interfere to prevent the fullest justice, either by discounting the losses, or putting a rack value on the means of restoring them. The settlement of the Southern country is absolutely needed to guarantee security against marauders in future, and the exclusion of the European from the million fertile acres that lie unused in Ngatiruanui and Taranaki is no benefit to the natives, and helps them only in preserving an independence of government which, if preserved, must one day lead to their entire destruction.

The Airedale arrived in the roadstead yesterday, bringing sixteen families from Nelson. The Rita was to sail to-day with a number more. The Airedale brings the February mail from Europe. General Cameron and Stall’, and Colonel Mould, sail by her this evening for Auckland.

A very hearty desire pervades the settlement to support his Excellency and not lightly or hastily to say a word that may erabarass him or throw' the smallest obstacle in the way of Government at the present crisis, so full of difficulty, and of importance for the future of the colony.—There is, too, an undercurrent of general confidence that we are really entering on a new era. But a number of small circumstances are cropping up daily, which keep doubt alive at least on the surface, and make it difficult to believe that old things are yet quite passed away. Thus the old error of courting and petting particular chiefs is persisted in. Hapurona, among the late rebels; Poharama, and others, among the loyal natives, are the objects of especial favor, whilst others arc left to complain to unofficial hearers of a neglect which to them seems a positive injury. A proposition has also been on foot to establish a native village on the sections near Hcnui where the pa now stands. What abomination is covered by the name of a native village, near a colonial town, no one in New Zealand need be in ignorance, and it is surprising how the authorities who decreed the impossibility of re-establishing the Kawau pa could entertain the proposition for an hour. Our readers will be glad to hear that the proprietor of the Hcnui sections in question has been informed that the plan is abandoned. The Kawau pa has been valued, by some Waikato chiefs on the one hand and the Resident Magistrate on the other. What the result may be does not yet appear. But the absurdity of the transaction is equally great whether the value has been assessed at £lO or £I,OOO. The sum to be paid was quite in the breast of His Excellency to decide on. If it was lawful for him to say the pa must not exist, it was for him to settle the terms. If he only purchased in the ordinary way a valuation was not a desirable method of coming to terms, and in any case political and commercial considerations ought to have come in question of which Tamati Ngapora and his brother assessor could know nothing, and it must be feared a very dangerous and bad precedent has been established in taking Maori views of value as our guides in such a case.

There arc other matters ot a like kind all pointing in one direction to this, viz., that the sagacious gentleman at the head of the Native department has not yet abandoned the ancient ways. There arc tvyo ways of guiding ignorant men, by the darkness that is in them, or by the light that is in the guide. You may “ manage” or you may govern them. lo manage is to study the foibles and prejudices of your subject, to flatter the one and press lightly on the other. Wc all know what this means when said of a weak husband

and a prudent wife: the process of managing is not honorable to the managed nor improving to the manager—it degrades both. To govern on the other hand is to guide by the higher views and better knowledge of the Governor —(we speak of course of the only sort of government recognised among Englishmen)—and to govern implies to educate and to raise both the governed and the governors. The momentary satisfaction of individuals or of classes is a secondaiy consideration with a real government, whose office is always to be looking forward and never to do any act by itself, alone and without reference to the broad' principles which must bind act to act and year to yew in a wholesome and prosperous state. Never was an hour or a race more propitious for a real governing mind than the present hour in the Ngatiawa tribe. Weary and disgusted with an unmeaning and losing struggle they come to us with more thaw the usual docility of the Maories; they seek to be cured of their feuds and jealousies and to learn something of the secrets of our peaceful civilization. They ask for bread, woe betide us if we give them a serpent! Mr, McLean has the opportunity of laying a great obligation on this place and colony. We ask of him not to shift the jealousies from one man to another, and by indulging the pleasure of giving presents to friends new or old, making the salaries of magistrates a means of rewarding real or imaginary services; not to lend a needless support to the unwholesome communism of the pa by erecting fresh nuisances of the kind close to our town; not to complicate the land questions and dry up the means of local improvements by raising unreasonable notions of the intrinsic value of waste lands; fostering the delusion that prices arising out of European improvements are really or honestly the property of the Maori obstructives. And last and most important we ask of him not to “ pamper a hasty time, nor feed with crude imaginings,” men who already are much readier to claim than to perform. Years must roll over before Taraati Ngaporas can be our legislators and magistrates ; and those who hoist them prematurely into such a position are wronging them and us, and sowing seeds of discontent and more disaster. Mr. McLean should take the time by the forelock. lie has a ductile material. He has but to direct, and his subjects ask no better than to obey. But a bad beginning has been made ; feeble government half justifies insubordination, and the hour of extra docility will soon pass. Enough has surely been done to satisfy squeamish sentimentalists. The “ terms to the Waitara insurgents” are sacrifice enough to the altar of the clerical Mrs. Grundy, and if the course is persevered in Government will cam the contempt as they have already had the abuse of that venerable lady. The future of the colony demands that the Government now march to its own tune, and not become a mere ASolian harp' responding to the wild unpractical gusts from Bishops, Archdeacons, or Wellington spccchifiers.

Two letters from Head Quarters are printed below, which, by their kind and considerate tone, brighten the satisfaction which their substance affords. New Zealand may well congratulate herself that in MajorGeneral Cameron is found an officer who remembers the end without ncelecting the means, and recognizes that Great Britain docs not send her soldiers out to make empty exhibitions of power, but to afford protection and guarantee law to her subjects in all quarters. Brigade office correspondence we have got to think of as a dry formal sort of thing which, without any loss to the sense and with great gain in the grammar, might be committed to machinery like a barrel organ and ground off as occasion required. But Major-General Cameron writes like a human being, as well as a Commander ; and in his hands martial law will be a means of organizing all for a common end, not an engine for overriding any thing and any body who interferes with the uppermost desire of the military chief. Such a commander will not find the spirit of volunteering extinct among us, even after the benumbing influences of the last fourteen months.

The plan indicated in General Cameron’s letter has been matured thus far—that it is proposed to erect five blockhouses. One on Henry E Puni’s claim opposite Katere pa, one at Puketotara, one at R. Lethbridge’s, one in the “ absentee section,” Frankley road, and the fifth at the pa in P. Elliott’s land. The military authorities undertake the work if a supply of timber is obtained free of cost and conveniently near the places named. There will be little difficulty about this when it is understood that the garrisons of these stockades, as long as the strength of the troops here allows, will be formed of men picked for their good character, and who will be allowed to work for the proprietors around at a price and within regulations fixed by the General. The immense importance of getting our farms into a remunerative state again is obvious. Militia pay may ceaseI’at 1 ’at any hour, and the heavily burdened colony may refuse or be unable to grant more in any shape to our necessities ; and Englishmen always feel that independence is their right and natural attitude. A very few months of work will put us again in this position. That General Cameron really means and will practically carry out the above scheme there need be no doubt. We have, indeed, had specimens of vaccillation and indifference in high places that may make sceptical minds pause and refuse to trust to the hopes raised by one letter. But it must be remembered that though the English army system provides for promoting indifferently the capable and the incapable, the wise and the foolish, and though the title of General is by no means a certificate of statesmanlike qualities, yet, when an emergency called for him, England has never wanted a man for it; and such we have good reason to believe is the present commander in New Zealand. Sent out for the special business, we need not doubt he has special qualifications, and it will be wisdom in us to trust cordially to the kind feeling exhibited in this letter, and to co-operate energetically under a gentleman who does not slight us because we arc a handful, or our losses because “ only wooden houses” have been destroyed.

Head Quarters Camp, Waitara, 22nd April, 1861. Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant. I need hardly assure you that it will give me great pleasure to assist in alleviating the distress which the late insurrection has entailed upon so many of the inhabitants of this Province, and to co-operate with yourself and the Provincial Government in any measure which you think will promote that object. The first part of your letter refers to the duties required from the Militia, and you recommend that they should be relaxed so as to allow the men time to work. At the present time a considerable portion of that force furnish garrisons to the blockhouses round the town of New Plymouth, and to those of Omata and the Bell Block. * * * * Others arc employed as boatmen, or in the Engineer and other Departments, and receive allowances in addition to them Militia pay. I shall be happy to reduce the number of men employed, and, gencially, to exact from the men as little military duty as is consistent with a due regard to the convenience of the public service. In respect to the importation of coal, there is no intention of continuing it after the supply now on hand, and that which is expected from Sydney, has been consumed, or otherwise disposed of by the Commissariat; but this quantity is so great that a considerable time (probably a year) must elapse before a further supply will be required for the troops. It is certainly most desirable, on every account, that means should be taken, without delay, to enable the settlers to resume their ordinary occupations in safety, and you arc aware that I am at present engaged, in conjunction with Colonel Mould, in considering a plan for the protection of those whose property is situated at a distance from town. When that plan is matured I will communicate it to you, and shall be happy to attend to any suggestions you may wish to offer on the subject. Should the settlers desire the assistance of soldiers in restoring their farms, I have no objection to the employment of men of good character, under proper regulations, in this manner. I quite concur with you as to the necessity of exercising some caution at first in allowing the return ot families from Nelson, on account of the danger of engendering disease by overcrowding the town; but 1 will authorise the return of the class of persons referred to in the notice you have published as soon as you inform me that it can be done without risk. I have, &c., D. A. Camerox, Major-General. His Honor the Superintendent, Taranaki.

Head Quarters, Camp, Waitara, 24th April, 1861. Sin —I am directed bv the Major-General Commanding to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday’s date, and to acquaint you that he has given orders that the familses of the persons named in the list you have transmitted may be permitted to land at New Plymouth. The Major-General would feel obliged by your giving Jeach of these persons a certificate signed by yourself, which they will give up, with notice of the arrival of the families, to the Officer Commanding the Garrison, when they wish to bring them on shore. I have, &c., G. S. Whitmore, Major and Military Secretary. His Honor the Superintendent, Taranaki,