“VIGOROUS PROSECUTION” TELEGRAMS.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1702, 8 July 1862, Page 4

“VIGOROUS PROSECUTION” TELEGRAMS.

JL. XJUJJ V_A XVXJkXIA We have had frequent occasion to refer to the course which the Melbourne Argus has chosen to pursue in publishing statements relative to Native affairs in this Colony of New Zealand, which are not only ridiculously untrue, but which, from the general character of the journal which gives them currency, are calculated to prove extremely mischievous. In Melbourne, where they are printed, there appears to be no person connected with New Zealand who possesses the necessary information to enable him to correct or contradict the misstatements of the Argus , and almost as soon as they are heard of here in Auckland the falsehoods have got circulated in England, where they produce their evil effects before the refutation which awaits them arrives. Not very long since, the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Fox, thought it necessary, publicly, through our own columns, to contradict a statement which appeared in the Argus, that on a certain occasion at a Native meeting in Waikato, Sir George Grey, Her Majesty’s Representative, had “saluted the King’s flag, three times taking off'his hat.” In the Argus of the 9th May last we find the following choice morceaux of news amongst the “ telegraphic despatches” of our Melbourne contemporary:— Sydney, Saturday. LATER NEWS FROM TARANAKI. The Natives of Otawhao have given notice of their intention to resume possession of 680 acres of land, granted to Bishop Selwyn eight years ago, for missionary purposes. W. Kingi has written a letter, stating that Tataraimaka and the plunder will be retained till Waitara is restored.

Three hundred Waikatos are following the movements of Governor Grey, and the Southern natives are also to be called to assist, in the event of the presence of the Governor causing hostile movements against the Kingites. Three old women have been appointed to meet the Governor whenever attempts have been made to negotiate, partly by way of insult, and partly to keep him from personal communication with the Kingite Maories.

Mr. Fox having failed in his mission to the Southern natives, it is stated that Governor Grey will go to the South.

Now, need we say to our readers here, that the “news” above quoted is just one tissue of falsehood. We are aware that two years since, at the time of the great Waikato Native Meeting and whilst Governor Browne was here, some cattle, the property of a missionary at Otawhao, were driven off the school lands, which are the lands wo suppose to be here referred to; but, we believe, Bishop Selwyn has never received any communication of the kind. If W. King has written to any one such a letter as is described, that letter was not addressed to Sir George Grey, or to his Government, which is the insinuation meant to b6 conveyed. The three hundred Waikatos are pure myths; and the fable of the three old women, is the story, revived, of the women who met Governor Browne’s chainmen, when they first attempted the survey of Waitara before the “ war” was brought about. Mr. Fox did not fail in his mission to the Southern Natives; on the contrary, his “ mission” was eminently successful. i Such a telegram as that we have quoted above can be neither more nor less than a

deliberate fabrication for a specific purpose. The cost of transmitting sucb messages from Sydney to Melbourne by electric telegraph is considerable. Who pays it? Does the Argus pay for the privilege of being enabled to give circulation to falsehoods, or do those who seek their own private ends in such operations find the needful ? We have heard, indeed, that the “ Taranaki” and other intelligence is manufactured in Auckland, and that an individual now becoming tolerably well known here, defrays the cost of its transmission to the Argus by telegraph from Sydney. The person whom we have heard named as being the scheming performer in these transactions is at once a jobbing speculator greedy of money, and a political partizan virulent in bis small way in his opposition to Sir George Grey and the present Ministry. The process of “ operating” for a “ fall” in the value of property is nothing very new in Auckland, and as a good investment upon the ruin of others, and a political party triumph may be secured by the same process, there are temptations for men of a certain class to take the course which, they hope, will lead, at once, to the gratification of their acquisitiveness and of their hate; with these views “ the pot is kept simmering.” If our knowledge on this point were a little more specific than it is, we should not hesitate for a single moment in holding the individual or individuals, by name, up to public execration. As it is, we must content ourselves with expressing a hope that a journal so respectable as the Melbourne Argus will cease to prostitute its pages to the authors of the “ Taranaki” telegrams, and of the other falsehoods from Auckland which have of late from time to time disgraced them. We are not of course surprised that the Hobart Town Mercury should have assisted to circulate the following:— [From the Melbourne paper?.] Sydney, Wednesday. Private communications from New Zealand state that Governor Grey was foiled almost everywhere, and was distrusted everywhere. The Maori policy seems an armed passive resistance, relying on an expensive force not being long maintained. Actual hostilities were improbable, unless on the question of the ownership of Waitara. The Taranaki Militia abandoned (?), and partly employed at road-making, paid from the Commissariat.

Sir George Grey, in the large measures which he has projected for the settlement of the Native difficulty in this Island, must have taken upon himself grave responsibilities, X’elying upon the confidence reposed in him by the Imperial Government, and reckoning, as he had a right to reckon, upon the staunch support of the Colonists themselves. The power of the Imperial Government to help, this Colony in its strait depends, of course, upon the pleasure of the English Parliament; is it difficult to understand that such statements as are contained in this telegram, must, in the temper of the times, seriously affect the opinion of public men at home upon New Zealand affairs, and tend to deprive us of the chances of that support which is indispensible to the placing of our relations with the Natives upon a safe footing? To our eyes that danger is very plain.— New Zealander , June 11.