The New zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, SEPT. 3, 1864.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 253, 3 September 1864, Page 4

The New zealand Herald SPECTEMUR AGENDO.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, SEPT. 3, 1864.

Give ovory mnn thine cur, but fow thy voico: TsiKo each imm'H ronsuro, but reserve thy judgment. This abovo nil, —To thine ownself bo truo; And it must follow, us tbo night tho tiny, Thou not then be fatso to any num."

Tiik Colonial Treasurer's most fitt ing reply to Ihe letter ot' iStr I''. liogers, in which the latter announces Mr. Cardwell's views as to the future management of the nat ives, ami the terms on which one regime-lit of the Imperial forces will he allowed to remain in the Colony, would have heen ''Thank you for '• nothing—on behalf of the 1 would "rather not have Imperial assistance clogged " with so many and such unworkable ro- " striclions and conditions :is vou have '' named." For lei lis, in the. first instance, just look at the financial conditions imposed. The Home Government say, we will guarantee a loan that will repay ourselves and just, a trille more. "We will give you soldiers at the rate of £40 per man per year ; we will give you one regiment, the expenses of which shall be borne out of the Imperial Treasury, but we will bind you down to pay £oG,OOO per annum for .Nativepurposes. Now, suppose a regiment numbered 1000 mcu, the amount required to pay the Imperial Government for their services would be;C-1000; but a regiment; does not generally exceed SSO men, and the expense of these would be £:-}!■,000. .So that the condition added, lhat we shall spend £50,000 for Native purposes; and we know to our letter cost- what that means,—as payment in fact, for a regiment of the line, would compel ns to pay from .£IO,OOO to .El(j,t)00 a year more than the proper amount for it, and would completely ti(« our hands behind our backs and force us to cany on the disastrous policy of the Native Olliee, and the policy of the, JLome Government, at the cost of the colony. This would be, were we foolish enough to agree to such a proposal, turning the tables upon us with a vengeance. Then we should be indulging at our own cost the British lax-payer, in 'his luxury of patronising a semi-barbarous race— of dictating measures for the management: of that race, in Downiug-street, and of throwing the whole burden of his misrule and silly interference entirely upon the colonists. The imperial Government, would, we believe, were we tamely to submit to such a course, through its Colonial Minister, and its representative here, virtually take away everv vestige of real power from a Colonial Ministry, and bind it to the chariot wheels of the Colonial Governor and the Secretary for the Colonies. 'l'hon would the Colony, in fact, be as helpless as a child in arms, if only the Assembly were to consent to carry out these stipulations to their fullest extent, and if there should be a strongminded obst inatc Governor who looked at Native matters though a pair of giocnsfono spectacles furnished by the Native Otfice, 1 he colonists might expect to be made an inferior race subject to the Maori lords of the hind.

A .nominee of the .Imperial Government, no matter how disastro.iu may bo the policv of his " jSTew Institutions," must, according to this Downing-street manifesto, have the cordial co-operation of the Colonial Ministry in carrying out that policy, though it be in total opposition to their unanimously expressed opinion, and the opinion" of the Parliament and people at large. They may

thua be called upon to cordially concur in measures which they foresee will plunge.the Colony in interminable wars and expenses, the whole cost of whicli the Colony must bear ; aiul the people who have to pay these war taxes, the people in trade will be embarassed, and their agricultural operations brought to a stand-still, and many of them slain or compelled to seek safety in llight, will have no more power in preventing this state of things than they had in preventing the war in Ashantee or Japan. This is the power of taxation without representation purr, et simple; this is handing over the government of the Natives to the Colony in a most unique manner. You, colonists, says the Imperial step-inoth'er, are entirely responsible for the good government of the natives, you arc responsible for their moral and material advancement; yon are responsible for any future Maori rebellion ; you must put down the present one at your own expense ; but at the same time you must not, through your representatives in Parliament carry a single measure which your calm and deliberate judgment, formed upon the spot, and as tho circumstances calling for it arise, tells you is imperatively needed, if the representative of the Home Government chooses to object to it— lbr you are to cordially unite with the Governor not to carry out the views which a Ministry possessing your entire confidence may consider absolute] j r necessary, but the views of the Governor for the time being.

This looks exceedingly like the waning shadow of constitutional government without the substance, the name but not the reality. The colonists must tax themselves, as may be found necessary, to carry out the policy of aboriginal loving statesmen at home, and the misconceived maudlin sentimentality of Exeter Hall. The Imperial Government are willing to dictate our line of action, but will leave us to pity the bill, will reserve the power to plunge us into war and debt ; to paralyse our commerce and our agriculture, to stop the flow of emigration to our coasts, to work our ruin before our eyes, and wo have still the luxury of paying for all this, and the pleasure of knowing that it may be brought about by the actions of a Governor in whose appointment we have 110 voice, but whose views we are cordially to aid in carrying out, as the price of the mother country guaranteeing the payment of a loan to pay the debt we owe her, and a few thousand pounds beside. Our Ministers, in whoso judgments and opinions we mav have the fullest; confidence, are asked to place themselves in such a position that they mav, by a strong-minded Governor, he rcduced to mere registering clerks, to put cm record and to carry out his edicts, though neither Miuisters nor people may have the slightest confidence in him or his actions, the latter of which they may clearly foresee will inevitably produce the most disastrous results. Push this principle to the full length to which it may be carried, and the General Assembly and the Legislative Council might as well be dissolved, and three or four willing Stralfords nominated to carry out the edicts of any colonial Charles the First whom England may send as our Governor. The colonists will not accept such a state of things, as will be clearly seen when the Assembly meets. England has been too unmistakably taught by bitter experience, the folly and impossibility of j'orciu// unpalatable measures of so grave a nature on any colony, and will not renew the wickedness of the Third G i:on<ii:.

Surely the British nation, however they may object, to being themselves taxed to govern the Natives of New Zealand through their Colonial .Department, must open their eyes to the glaring absurdity and inconsistencv of wishing to retain to themselves the power to govern both us and the Natives as they choose, ami to expect us to tax ourselves to carry out their views, necessarily formed on vague and imperfect information. The true logical proceeding would have been to have declared t hat thev were tired of these remote colonial wars ; that 1 hey would therefore no longer continue to pay for them, and that in common fairness, having ceased to pay for Native wars, they would cease also to cause them by any policy or action of their own. They might luive declared that we should be no expense to them for the future, and that- neither would they meddle with us for the I'uture, but would hand over the entire management; of the whole Colony to the Colonial Parliament:—that they would trust, implicitly to our honour as Knglishmeu, that we would not in the future, as, indeed, we never have done in the past, abuse our position by trespassing on the property or the rights of the Maori race, but govern in justice and lnvrcv. throwing the shield of law and order over the entire island,, and making strenuous efforts (i) educate, to civilise, and to Christianise the Natives with whom we are isurrounded.

Such language as this would have been perfectly comprehensible, and perfectly straightforward. We could then have set our house in order ; the mind of the community might thenhavobeen eentredou the best mode of elevating the Maoris and ot preventing future outbreaks among them. We could then have discussed and matured plans by which the English language should be taught: to the Natives: by which elementary and industrial schools could be planted in their midst; by which their tribal property could be individualised; by which self-reliance and self-dependence could have been taught them; hv which they could learn habits of regular industry, and a submission to the law, as supreme. In short, we could then have considered how wo could, in the shortest time, by a combination of wise measures skilfully carried out, raise the Native to the same mental, moral, industrial, social, and political position as that occupied by the. Colonist. Duality of laws—duality of government —the Native Olliee—truculent bribery, will of necessity he festering sores that will be constant causes ol irritation in the body politic, and perpetuate and enlarge feelings' of ill-will between the Colonists and Ihe Natives. No surer way to perpetuate illwili between the two races can lie taken than this, and no surer way can be adopted for removing any bitter feelings that, may exist, than to make one law, one Govcrnm-ent supreme, to which all must alike bow and submit, whether they be Native or European, each having the same rights and privileges guarded and secured by the same law. This would be worihy of statesmen —the other would disgrace the proceedings of a parish vestrv.