The New Zealand Herald. AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6, 1865.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 567, 6 September 1865, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6, 1865.

C,\v<> every man thine c:ir. l>:it fciv thy v<mr : Take each m.iu's (vii-utv. l>ut r<'-<-:vo thy This above all.—'l'ti tiling <>u n>rif !><• iru-j ; And it iihk follow, :i« til-- mjiit llie 'lav. l'h'iu can>t nut then he i'.ilm- to any m.nn."

Di'kim: a recent: debate in 1 lie House of "Representatives, one of the Ministers, when speaking about t lies; at e of I lie count rv and the measures best calculated to secure peace, referred in an emphatic manner to the icreat importance of speedily settling tlieeonfiseated territory. We need not say how we entirely concur in this idea, for we have over and over again advanced it in these and it is a verv important feature of the policy of the "Whitaker Ministry. It needs no prophet to foretell this, nor any very wide experience of mankind, nor yet any threat skill in the art of governing, to see the importance of speecily peopling confiscated land. "We could therelore have wished that Ihe Government had not only .sooner expressed these views, but that they had vigorously carried them inlo effect. But their practice has been the opposite. They have l hwarted the settlement of the Waikato by their action in regard to the emigration scheme of their predecessors, anil they have done so further by their delay in bringing lands into the market for sale to capitalists and hnmr /r'Jr settlers, while the state of the military settlement si points the same moral.

Why plunge tlie Colony into debt, disarrange its linances, destroy its credit, interfere with its trade, commerce, :nnl agriculture by conquering and confiscating, if it is not meant to hold the land ? and how can we hold it if we do not throw a large population into it as speedilv as possible: Confiscation is an evil if we proceed not to occupy the land we confiscate : for not to people it is a sit;n of weakness, and invites the Maori to an attempt to repossess himself of it as soon as he feels strong enough, or. as in our case, that we are sullicienl 1 v weakened by the departure of the troops. It will be owing to his magnanimity rather than to our wisdom if a state of chronic warfare; is not perpetuated in merely nominally conquered, because not peopled, territory. The views we put forth 0:1 this subject months ago are only confirmed by time and experience. A\ r c then advocated the placing of the military settlers on the frontier of the confiscated territory, and 1 lien placing the immigrants, as they arrived, in immediate contiguity to them, thus drawing a boundary line at the extreme verge of the confiscated land and gradually filling up the inner portion of the country. If, in addition to this, pieces oflainl had been put tip for sale at a moderate upset price, and inordinary management had been exercised in the work of road-making and bridge building, there would ere this have been a population in the Waikato which, with very lit tie assistance, would nave been able to have held its own. and prevent for ever the rebels from again becoming possessed of it, or | disturbing, to any great ex. cut. its peace. J If natives to whom may be awarded cotn- ! pensation in the Waikato had had their j lands given them among the liuropeau | settlers, the conduct of the latter would have prevented the Jrauhau fanaticism from spreading among them, for it would have silently but steadily proved to the Maoris 1 hat: if was better to dwell at unity with their white bret liren, and to adopt their customs and practices, and thus rise in the scale of humanity, rather than sink lower and lower till they bad reached its lowest depths of ili;gradation and fanaticism, as represented by the I'ai Marire delusion. Again, on another principle, the course of action we have recommended would be most advisable. Jt would divide the natives, the well disposed from the evil, and so further the cause of peace by weakening liie force of the warlike. One of the first acts in regard to the army of j Napoleon, after the decisive battle of j AVaterloo, was to disband the veterans ot j the Empire, and rearrange them in new 1 regiments. This scattering of old comrades broke down a great deal of their old feelings of unit} - . New companions soon made them understand that the old state of things had passed away, and vliat a new one was They were tints changed from a source ot

weakness to one of strength, and the separatum of Ihe Maoris as much as possible into small eommunit its will have precisely the same ell'ect upon them. It will divide them in their feelings, their friendship, and ideas, and so tend to promote peace and happiness.

The country north of Auckland has during this war proved ihe vast importance it is to tilt- Colony that the European and native population should be as intermixed as possible. Persons, it is we!! known, are arc often kept in a stafe of sullen antagonism from one another when tlicv" have not an opportunity of meeting face to face and coming in contact with one another ; but give them an opportunity of doing so, and a little intercourse, a little friendly chat, and interchange of opinions and ideas work a. great change in their minds. They look at one another from a new point of view. The genial sun of acquaintanceship soon dissolves the icy coldness which chilled their better and more kindly disposed feelings. The magnet of a little interchange of ideas and civilities attracts them, and overcomes the repellant force, which lias so long kept, them a; a distance from one another. Each stands forward in a new light, and they mutually confess that they do not sec one anot her so black by very many shades as they had imagined 1 hey would —and as in ordinary social life, effects of this nature are daily seen from the causes enumerated, so is it with peoples and nations.

The lion is by no means the terrible animal he is represented lo be. Dr. Livingstone speaks of him almost with contempt, ami rudely dethrones him from his throne, no longer counting him as the monarch of Ihe forest. Actual contact with the reputed king of beasts makes a bravo man think very little indeed of him as compared to what had been instilled into his mind from early childhood of the surpassing power and bravery of the lion. And the Maori, as lie sees more and more of the colonists with his own eyes, and mixes more and more with them, will find that they are not the terrible lions who would destroy himself and take away his land which prejudiced people at a distance, who are profoundly ignorant of the daily life, habits, and character of the colonists, would fain paint them. Distance lends not enchantment to tin; view, hut tints it in gloomy and false colours, while contiguity enables the two classes to see tilings as tliev are, and not as they have been supposed to be. And hence in tbe North of Auckland, where the natives and settlers are in the closest contact, and where sensible resident magistrates and colonists are ever at hand in otl'er explanations and remove dilliculties. the natives, although exposed to the verv greatest temptation bv having at one time flaming lircbrands, in the shape of t lit: escaped prisoners, among them, have vet refrained from rising and joining the cause of their rebellious brethren. Allow each district of the colony to be partly located with Kuropeans, and the native dillicult V vanishes : and the first step in this measure is to people the Waikato and all other confiscated lands as speedily as possible with European settlers. War expenditure will then cease —the blessed fruits of peace will be gathered in abundance.