THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

New Zealander, Volume XXI, Issue 2263, 1 November 1864, Page 6

THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

WHOSE TO BLAME FOR IT ?

TO THE EDITOR PF THE “BIUMISCIIAM DUET PORT. Sin This is a question so often asked and so seldom truthfully replied to. that it deserves a little investigation. So many cnnriictnig statements leach home on this subject tnat few who have not made it their study on the spot throughly understand it. I have very frequently, at the many meetings I have held during the last eight months in 3 England, expressed my opinion, though with great caution, of the causes of the New Zealand war, and in not a few instances (with all my caution), my statements have been grossly misreported. N >w, sir, lam not a man of war. 1 would dnnreeate the idea of Maori extermination ; and I presume this was never intended either bv the New Zealand Company or by the Government, when the country was first colonised. A new experiment was to be made, a new problem to be solved— the country colonised, an 1 the aborigines preserved ! But, how was it to be accomplished ! 1. By fairly purchasing the land from the natives, and then selling it to the settlers, at the same time reserving a certain portion of every block purchased for the use of the native in order to encourage them to settle down to fixed habits of industry, side by side with their white brethren. One of the first of the “company’s” settlements was Taranaki, or New Plymouth ; hero great numbers of natives had formerly redded, and after the early settlers had commenced agricultural purshits in t’nst “garden of New Zealand,” many of the native inhabitants woo had been driven away by native war, or who had been enslaved but emancipated, returned to the land of their fathers. Their numbers increased year by year, and at length tnat powerful chief, W. Kingi, who had many years previously been driven from Waitara into Cook’s Straits, also returned many hundred followers, and set down on his hereditary estates. Very soon after Ins arrival in the district disiurbances commenced. His haughty bearing justly gave much umbrage to the settlers. That good feeling widen had previously existed was evidently dying out. Rival native interests soon led to serious quarrels and land was generally the bone of contention. The majority of the natives would sell no more and.. A few wished to sell, among whom was Rawiri Waiana, a noble Christian Chief, also a Government Assessor. [he sale was opposed by Katatore. Rawiri persisted in making the boundary, when he was murdered with several of his followers by Katatore. The Government did not avenge his death ; Katatore was allowed to go at large, althougr Rawiri, a servant of the Government, acting at the lime under Government orders, had been murdered by him. The difference or imbecility on the part of the Government weakened the respect hitherto felt by the natives towards them. The breach became wider and wider, and the natives became more and more insolent to the settlers. At length the day of vengence arrived. The murdered Riwiri’s friends waylaid and mmdered Katatore. W. Kingi roused hitns-lf as a lion from his lair, and would be revenged in his turn, and a long native fond disturbed the peace of the settlers. There was no confidence between the races —every one saw that a storm was brewing, and just then a chief named Te Teira offered the noted and much coveted Waitara block for sale. The offer was eagerly snapped at by the Government. W. Kingi opposed it, declaring that it feint received payment for it, the Governor sin mid not possess it, and to use his own words : “ 0, Governor, I will never allow you to have peaceable possession of Waitara, that is our “ bed room” (or place of favorite resort, or resting place), you shall not have it!—you shall not you shall not'” When he rose up, called on his tribe to follow him, and abruptly departed. The Governor persisted in his purpose, concluded the bargain with Te Teira, andordered the survey of the H cl. 'lbis oas interrupted by Kind. The UT yo s were driven off—their theodolites, cnains, and engineering roods carried beyond the boundary, ai d this was repeated once or twice— each party keeping temper pretty w ell until one day, when the surveyors again attempted to mark the boundary, Kingi sent an army of old hags upon them-; they hugged and mauled them till they fairly beat them off the field !—the old savage, Kingi, in the distance, enjoying the joke. But joking was soon to end, Governor Brown would stand it no longer ! Martial law was proclaimed—the settlers were called in—the men had to work in the trenches —the women and children, hurried from their happy, comfortable homes, were huddled together in the little town of New Plymouth in a state of the utmost terror and confusion. The militia was called out. volunteer corpes were strengthened, and actively employed in drill, sentry, or in the trenches. The Maoris had seen the “ proclamation ” of martial law, or in their language, “fighting lavv,” and at once took arms against the Queen’s authority. The lovely farmsteads and villas, and cottages, spread all over that beautiful province, were now, one after the other, sacked and burnt to the ground before the faces of the enraged owners, who were not allowed to go out to protect their property from the hand ol the destroyer. The country was desolated ; the cattle, sheep, and horses were killed, or driven off by the Maoris, without opposition; the military all the while gazing at tiie depredators, but using no means to prevent farther desolation. The Maoris became emboldened by their success, and threatened the town of New Plymouth. The poor women and children were driven about from pillar to post, until the noble-hearted Nelson people sent a steamer with a true English' invitation for them to proceed at ouce to a place of refuge. The noble offer was accepted ; vessel after vess 1 received its living freight, and all were most enthusiastically received and cordially welcomed to the happy homes and hearths of the Nelson people. W. Kingi was now supported by allies from Waikato, and by some of the worst characters from the South Taranaki tribes. Thesemaurauders, or murderers, came ready for an evil work. Unarmed men and innocent helpless boys were cruelly massacred, and some ot them literally hacked in peiecs, dose to the town. The military were inactive (except in the trenches) and although the volunteers and miiitia were burning with the desire to be allowed to drive the rebels from the work of plunder, they were not permitted by the General to do so. And here followed such a miserable display of military tactics as tended greatly to encourage the rebels, and to enrage and disparage the poor settlers, who were each day and night from the ramparts witnessing the destruction i v fire of their once happy homes, and the loss of all they possessed, and for which th-y had toiled hard fa- twenty years.

Art that was done by the military in that illtimed, and ill-conducted war only created in the native mind an utter contempt for the British arms, and confirmed them in absurd notions about the superiority of Maori over English warfare, and led them to boast that they had beaten the British soldiers.

On one occasion, where a British officer was endeavouring to convince a native to the superior advantages of English over French rule, and hinted that if the French had got possession of New Zealand instead of the English, they would have enslaved the Maori race. Mr. Maori very shrewdly asked if the English had not always beaten the French? and on receiving a reply in the affirmative, he rejoined, “Then, if you have beaten the French, we have beaten you. So they would have stood a poor chance with us ! ’ And here I fearlessly state it to be my conviction that had Sir George Grey and General Cameron been at Taranaki in 18b0 there would either have been no war at all in that province at that time, or, if commenced, it would have been prosecuted in such a manner, and with such results, as would have taught the Maoris the folly of contending against the British arms, and have compelled them to abandon the province entirely, and have done much to remove the causes of the present Waikato outbreak. Th.e Maoris are now being taught t' e lesson the English Government should have taught them twenty years ago, Instead of which they were then spoiled and petted, when they ought to have There should have been blended the suaviter in mo do with the fortitcr in re The former was the rule of the day, the latter was totally neglected ; who then is to blanv, the spoiled or the spoilers? Verily, both: but chiefly the latter. But, were not the Maoris badly treated by the early settlers? Perhaps they were by some, or even by most of the very early European visitors or “squatters’’ in New Zealand ; many of whom were influenced by the desire mostly of getting as much of their 1 md from them as they could at the lowest possible cost, and not always in the most honourable manner. Of course I refer to a period antecedent to the arrival of English colonists, i. e., to the period of land jobbing or land sharking, which was the means of supplying the natives with large stores of muskets and ammunition,' which even now are not exhausted.

I have no sympathy with those people in England who know really nothing about the Maori chara.cten.but what they learn from ex parte reports or statements in the newspapers, and who bestow all their pity upon the aboriginies, and none upon the self-denying and industrious and enterprising settlers ; who for the last twenty-five years had been pioneers of colonisation, and have laid the foundation of future greatness in the “ Britain of the South” by the sweat of their brow, and In many instances by the shedding of their blood. Yes, I repeat it, both races are to blame for the present war.

The remote cause, I fear, is with the British Government. The immediate cause is certainly with the Maori, who being very desirous to try his strength with the soldier. Is now, though rather late, being convinced that “it’s no go.” The Waikato war will soon be ended. Auckland is already safe. Large and beautiful tracts of country mayshonly be occupied with safety by the English setJers, and new townships and villages formed on the banks of the Waikato and Waipa rivers, such as was scarcely hoped for or dreamed of a year ago. And then the natives will be greatly the gainers in the end by the “confiscation” of which we hear so much in England. They will have plenty of good land left, and the two million acres being taken from them, that very act will enhance the value of what is left for them almost a hundred fold, seeing that it will carry civilisation and trade close to their own inland settlements, and open np muikets for their produce which none of the present generation could have enjoyed under ordinary colonising processes. The main thing to be deplored is, the sacrifice of human life, both English and Maori, and in the painful reflection that such a course was really expedient The next few years —will sweep away the remnant of those restless spirits of the last generation, who have been thorns in our sides from the first, and whom nothing but firmness, almost approaching to severity, would ever keep within bounds. But while I have thus expressed myself, as may appear to some persons, -ra her harshly towards the Maoripand while I am not blind to his faults, I am, as much as I ever was prepared to defend him when imposed upon by unprincipled, not more enlightened, or therefore more responsible, individuals. The Maoris are still in many respects mere children, though the majority are spoiled children ; and none but those who have had long experience by actual abode among them, and have mixed up with them for years In their own homes, are fit to give an opinion as to the best mode of dealing with them, so as to bring about a permanent good feeling between them and the white settler, and also the British Government.

These people are not to be trampled on ; they may be elevated, but avc differ as to the proper means of bringing about so desirable an end.

W. Jenkins, Inteipreter to the New Zealand Government,