NATIVE PROVINCES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 547, 14 August 1865, Page 4

NATIVE PROVINCES.

\Vi: Inieiv advance;! some unanswerable arguments a::amsl the tonnalion i»l purely luitne (1 ist rid s, undersl am!ing l>y that term. disfricis specially peopled and governed by. natives to the pravtical exclusion ot I'ntropeans iVom them. r l iie subject might be pursued, ami oiher lines ot thought might be sent forward as to the practical working of the scheme, the nature of the powers that would lie conferred on native governments, the nature of the laws allowed to be made b} Native Parliaments or Native Provincial Councils, and the sort of enactment sthat would bo likelv to bo proposed in these districts. Thus it may' be asked, would we have practically somet liing very like what t he Irish Parliament was lie fore the union with (ireat Britain, or the. Scottish Parliament before Scotland and England were united. Shall we. instead of consolidating (bivernment, continue to break it up into small fragments, each with certain distinct authority, each with real or landed peculiar circumstances demanding pecuh.u and may be antagonistic laws, and into this mass of confusion shall we throw nati\e districts —native Governments, to make it still more confused, still more of an inextricable ma/.e which will have to be threaded, and, if possible, cleared at great labour ami anxiety a tul.ure time. 'We. have enough, and. far too much, ot this already. Great Britain linds her statute book such an entangled mesh, and the confusion so great that shelias long been intent on endeavouring to simplify.arrange,and codify her laws. But her ,•■,<o is'simplicit v itself to what wdl he ours in I'm lire days, there the British Parliament legislates lor the entire nation; here we have Parliaments in every .Province each year adding to the hulk and to the confusion of the statute-book. Let us at least: avoid the confusion of distinct Governments and oisiinct enactments for the ivative and the European race: and thus avoid set ting up a must 'formidable barrier !o the gradual lusiou of the two, and to the realisation ol the period when the interests of both shall be proved to be ideni icai, and harmony and good feeling take the place of the present, estrange-

mcnl. . ~ , It would appear 1 liaf. the question 01 the manner of .'idmiliiiiL; natives to the oxeicisc oi' political power is t.u be delegated 111 tlie first, instance to a Commission, consist m;.; ot natives, to be appointed by the Governor, whose report will be no doubt:, carefully considered. This state <.l" things we wiU venture to fiiiy is entirely unique in the history ol

the world. Representative institutions arc the growth of civilisation, coupled with an ardent desire ibr freedom and of the possession of a certain amount of power which enables people to demand and obtain them, and to lie lit: to use them. But even in the latter half of this nineteenth century these institutions arc a plant con lined almost, if not. entirely exclusively, in the proper sense of the term, to the Anglo-Saxon race. There is the name to a limited extent, and perhaps also the substance to a still more I limited extent in various countries. But as a great rule in both ancient and modern states, representative institutions have been the exception, even where a high class civilization has existed. Still more rarely has ithappened that these have been had by nations or peoples only just emerging fromthe darkness and ignorance of barbarism. The earliest rule has been, to a very great extent indeed, that of a military or civil despotism. And what has existed by universal consent throughout the world is doubtless the best adapted for the end designed at the earlier stages ol civjli/.ation. We believe therefore that the system of government best adapted for such people as the IMaoris, is that which has obtained throughout all ages at their present state of civilisation. A government which we may call a paternal despotism, carried oil by a large hearted, clear headed, and line minded representative of the Queen. The natives no doubt do feel a yearning for government. All men do this. They as doubtless leel, after a more five and twenty years' contact with civilization, that they are not yet ripe for what we call representative institutions with all their paraphernalia and intrigues and parties. They feel, like the ancient .Jewish people, a desire for a king, for authority vested in one person, and not divided among a number. The Governor ot this colony —the direct representative ot the greatest monarch upon earth —ought to I.luw.ii tlioir visible lci 11 «T. But the

irovcrnors liiivc never yet risen "to the height ol' tliis great argument." They have, through one cause or another, fallen short of realising, or carrying out ai; least, this cardinal portion of their mission in a proper maimer. The difficulties in their way have been great, but a firm hand, a clear head, and a determined and honest will, would, we cannot but think, have overcome them. The time, however, has been allowed to pass, and now we have to discuss the present state of affairs. We shall look with anxiety for the result of the labours of the Commission. AVe do not look forward to anything. great from it, but if the radical change could be made of giving individual natives property to quality them to vote in elections, one g ou d thing would be accomplished. And although, as a matter of course, the bulk of the native population would be listening to an unknown tongue in listening to the debates in Parliament, yet if it satisfied their desire for participation in the Government' and ifit gave an impetus for the desire to learn the J-jiglish language thoroughly by the chiefs, and especially by the young a verv great good might doubtless result from the admission of natnes ... Itmioni Ml men. it is said, have

some ;i!i:-orbiiilC passion, ;uul all men require some channel for the display of their energy. It' parliament could be made an object of ambition for -Maori chiefs, it might be a magnet which would aid in raising the race, and elevating their ideas, pausing them to join tiie lCuropcan in ihe race of progress and improvement, instead ot opposing him by the fi tie and the fortified pah. Hut all these things must be works ot vcrv gradual accomplishment, and those who expect too great things from them will probably be quite as much disappointed as will those who expect no good at all from political power being used bv tie But we, are too apt, in modern days, to expect to be able to change national characters and ideas, and to mould the will of peoples with something of the speed with which we change our own personal position by means of steam and other improved modes of travelling and communication. and to make the great mistake of fancying that a constitutional form of government which has been the growth of centuries, watered by the showers and shaken by the storms and tempests of centuries, is as well suited in any foreign soil as to that in which it has been reared and cultivated at the cost of an endless amount of blood and treasure.