The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JULY 18, 1864.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 212, 18 July 1864, Page 3

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, JULY 18, 1864.

SI'KCTEMUn AGENDO. "Give crory mnn thine oar, but few thy voicc: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. This above all. —To thine ownself be true; And it must follow, as thought the day. Thou canst not then be I'ulmj to any man."

lx illustration of our remarks of Saturdav, showing the only moans by which it; is possible to save the native race from extermination, not necessarily the extermination of! the swonl, but of that law of nature which has hitherto caused ;ill coloured r;ices to die out when placed in juxta posit ion wit'.i our own, we may again refer to the nble and interestingarticle of' Mr. Hugh (Jarletou. on New Zealand all'airs, published in the IFcslniiiis/cr Jievicw for April last. If it is desired that this war shall be so conducted and to such an issue tliat it may not only be the last which shall occur between natives and Europeans in this island, but that the restoration of peacc shall see the Maoris placed in a position which shall enable them to become an exception to this curse upon colored races—then the war must be carried on until the natives arc willing to yield up their national independence as a people, and to receive our laws and social institutions as their own. There must bo 110 temporising iu this matter, no little uiijieriuni in. imperii—no continuation of an estrangement which has caused the separation of the two races so long, but the incalculable boon of British citizenship must, if necessary, be forced upon the Jsew Zcalandcrif we would save him, just as we would strap down a man in hospital to perform an operation upon him, which might be necessary to the preservation of his life. The passing of the Native Land Act lias in' a great measure opened the way to a revulsion of Heeling on the part of the Maori towards acceplingTSritish laws and institutions. Introduced earlier on the statute-book it might to have saved the faranaki and the present war, and even now it will smooth down a hitherto insuperable barrier of distrust raised between the colonists and the Maoris by the Imperial lieutenants and their creatures of the Native Ollice, the Bells and Shorthands, et hoe f/enux ojuie. Speaking of the king movement and the consequences which led to its spread and adoption, the Went minuter Review says: The land again mis the calico of tlie revolution. 1 lie time lmd been when the natives were dissatisfied beeause the Government eouhl not Imv. Now after having parted with more than half the country Hiev began to bo ehary of otter. JJisliko to a Government "wliieh appeared to them a mere bargainer tor their properly, joined to a deep-rooted jealousy of further JMiropeun advance into their territory, eaused many to oppose any further cession of territory. Vol more land was lealiv u-yntcd in the northern portion-; of

tlie colony, on account of the influx of settlers, who certainly "were not slow to complain. In order to meet the pressure, the " ground-bait" system, so caUcd in the Assembly, and severely commented upon, was introduced. It is impossible for us to saj' precisely when, or by whom, it wad invented ; it is enough to say that it was in eominou use. It is scared}* neccssury to mention llmt lands are held, not in but- in cmniiKH ; and (hat they cannot be alienated un'i.'ss bv consent of the tribe. u Gronnd-hjiii," was the clandestine purchase, from individuals, of* (heir part interest in the block— the scattering of Mnall sums of money among those of the tribe who might.be found accessible to temptation. Mr. Commissioner, without entering into further negotiations, would then retire from the scene of operations, leaving the mischief to work. " Tahae wlienua" (land-stealing) was the expression applied to the system by the natives. The certain result would be dissension within the tribe ; and at last the objectors, wearied out with strife, would sometimes consent to the formal public sale, for the sake of quiet. Sometimes the land would be kept, and Ihe money too ; but it is to bo presumed that the maiui'Uvre was, upon the whole, found profitable, for otherwise it would have been abandoned. This, together with the advantage we had undoubtedly taken of the frequent intertribal feuds, even while honestly deploring them and the consequent bloodshed, begat the fixed idea that our main endeavours | were bent towards obtaining undisturbed possession 1 of the country, by causing them to consume each J other. The one strong feeling in the Maori is that of inI dependence. From the first, they had never sight of their nationality. They Lad never intended to coalesce with the Pakcha, though willing and pleased to pay common allegiance to the Qtioen, whom they regarded with and affection ; to whom they were alwaj'.s ready to appeal again>t j any invasion of theiv privileges; against the Instruci tions of 181G, and against the occupation of the AVaii tara. Governors they cared little about, though ready to sign any number of complimentary ad--1 dresses ; " for what," they would say, "is the value of a piece of paper h" The Governor was to them not so much the Queen's representative as the man who carried the bag. "When there was a LieutenantGovernor, who had no power over the public purse, they nicknamed him " Jlikepcne" (sixpence). Kor the white Kunanga (the .Assembly) they cared still less, not even troubling themselves, save in exceptional instances, to register their votes ; for which, we believe, many might legally have qualified as householders, though not, under their custom of common tenure, as freeholders. They were content to keep amicable company with us —to enjoy the benefit of the same laws ; but not to amalgamate. The fusion of races was what they mainly feared. " Salt water and fresh," they said, do not mix well together." i Here we have the strong fixed feeling of the Maori lor nat icmal independence given, but we have, too, Die reason which induced it, and it' it is wished to render a dead letter the working of the " Native Lands Act" and to continue a feeling in the native mind against the coalition of the races, the surest wav to do so is to shut the natives out from European contact, to set apart native districts and place them under the government of a European resident. To carry out this Utopean idea would be to raise a jealousy between rhc two races, which would necessarily result, at some 110 very distant period, in a trial of strength— a war u I'mr/rtiucr between them—in which the Imperial Government would neither be willing, nor very well able, to interpose. At the present moment, despite the aggravation of actual war, this feeling ot deep rooted dislike does not exist. Trade, is a, wonderful leveller of prejudice, and the only real civilising power which can elled a permanent improvement; in a barbarous race, and it is only by developing this form of civilisation to ihe utmost that the two races will be enabled to enjoy their joint inheritance in peace. Government—says (lie Kcviewer, speaking of the old tim« s in New Zealand —was ;ui easy (ask, because the diameter, both of the settlers and of die natives. WHS such lis to illlike it. so. Of the lirst we need sav little, save that in social station, education, ami intellectual ability, (hey ranked fur above the ordinary average of colonial pioneers. Since (he days of the cavaliers of Virginia, there lias been untiling to equal, ill this respect, the original body of emigrants (o New Zealand. The novelty of systematic colonization, as yet an experiment, had taken the fancy of the moment, in Knglaud, and recruiting had been active among the better classes of society. All that; was needed, to ensure quiet anil happiness, was to I have allowed such men lo take cure of themselves, and, as the sequel proves, of the natives also : to have reposed that confidence in tliein from the first which it has been found neccssury to accord at last. For it stands upon record that they saw their wav forward more clearly than did the successive ollicers appointed by the Home Government-; the principles enunciated by the leaders of public opinion among theni having made (heir way, one by one, and being at the present moment in practical operation. The same men, as many as are left, can now point to the frank admission now made by the present Secretary of Stale for the Colonies, (lull "he could not disguise from himself that, the endeavours to keep the management of the natives under the control of the Home Government had failed and to their own refusal, in the session ef 1562, fo take upon themselves the responsibility of governing the native tribes, until the troubles induced by neglect of their advice should be allayed. Now that the grand barrier to reposal of confidence, in the intentions of the Europeans towards the Maoris lnis been thrown down, by giving them the right to dispose of: their land to whom, and at what price they | please, the task of governing the native nice | is as easy as if; might have been before, if it be I only fully and fairly left to those whose clear ! duty it is to have the administration of it. We have seen in the late submission of Wi Taki, an instance of the different amount of respect paid to the Governor and to the Colonial Government as represented by the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Eox. Where Wi Tako received Sir CJeorgc Grey with insolence and obstinacy, within a single year he yields humble submission to the Colonial Minister. The former he despised because he looked upon him as an empty power, a bag of wind. The latter came armed with the terrible confiscation Act, and he was listened to with respect; a.nd more than he was desirous ot exacting was willingly acquiesced in. It, may be said that the confiscation Act without the Imperial Army to enforce it would have little weight with the native mind. We think not, for the natives know as well as we do, that, the same energy which enlisted four colonial regiments could have raised a dozen had if; been so minded, and that; the colonists, if the quarrel had been their own, could have turned out an army of their own without importing a man into the country that could unaided have swept the island from one end fo the of her. lint as the J.tevirw justly says, the; diiliculties in which the Imperial Government has involved us must be tirst settled, we must be started fair, and then we will undertake the government of the natives," —aye, and so undertake it as to stand clear in history to the eyes of the world—which is more than the British nation can say with respect, to its conduct towards any aboriginal race with which it has been brought in juxtaposition.