GENERAL SUMMARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 612, 28 October 1865, Page 5

GENERAL SUMMARY.

■flcuw will bo found our General Summary ot news grouped under appropriate headings. Vnd as war is doubtless most interesting to our friends at home, we commence by giving a resume of tho TVAK J>"EWS. The East Coast remains in a very unsettled state. On the 10th insfc., news arrived in Auckland of a skirmish having taken place between friendly and rebel natives, ami that a settler named Henderson was dangerously wounded, and nine Hauhaus killed- Three boys went next day into the bush to look for horses and were attacked hv a party of Hauhaus. " Two of the hoys escaped, but one. son of the above-named Henderson, was killed by the fanatics. They beat in his skull with a stone, brutally mutilated his body, took out his brains and eyes, and ateihem. The settlers at Tokomaru have naturally felt very unsafe for some time and determined to look tor safety. One settler alone calculates his loss through pillage and the burning down of his store at £1,300.

On the 6th of October the Forest Hangers (Colonial troops) succeeded by a feint in drawing the Maoris from one of their strongholds at Opotiki, and, charging them with "great valour, killed nine rebels and took one prisoner, and afterwards, when the pa was assaulted, sever, more natives were killed. During these skirmishes five Militia were killed and two wounded, and tho total ot" Hauhaus killed was twenty-six. line of the rebels shot was recognised" by the friendlies as being one of the principals concerned in the murder of Mr. Volknor. The Ar.tw.is have given up another of the murderers of thnr gentleman, and he was to be tried by martial law and hung if found guilty. A communion table-cloth, and several other articles belonging to the late Mr. Volkner, were found in the pas taken. Kereopa, the arch-rebel, led the fanatics. On the 12th iustant the Pukemairo pa at AVaiapu, on the East Coast, was successfully stormed and captured by the volunteers and :'r:e::.i!ics under the command of Lieut. Bi:;gs. The rebels lost 20 killed, o0 weuuded, and had 400 taken prisoners, of whom 200 were fighting men, and 200 women, children and old men. Our loss was 12 wounded and S killed—3 volunteers and 5 friendly natives. A triumphal arch was raised, over which floated the royal standard, and the prisoners swore allegiance to her Majesty, each marching under the flag and uncovering his he a l as he did so.

It is expected that peace may be restored a: Poverty Bay, the natives having begun to lay do.vn their arms, and it is also reported thar the Hawke's Bay natives have decided on going over to the Queen's side. We trust that this may prove to be the ease. A large pa has been stormed and taken by a force of Volunteers and • friendly natives, at Kawa Kawa. The fight lasted from 0 o'clock in the morning of the 11th inst., until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when the rebels commenced making their escape, and afterwards laid down their arms. Tiie battle was fought with great vigour on both sides. Nine rebels were killed and twenty wounded, the remainder being taken prisoners. Our loss was one Volunteer and two friendly natives wounded. At Taranaki an ambushed party of natives attacked a number of mounted men close to the fortified camp at TVarea, and only some thirty miles from town. Captain Mace and two men were wounded. In another engagement at the same place, Col. Colville was severely wounded in the right thigh ; Sergeant M. Clifford, 43rd Light Infantry, killed ; Sergeant J. Dyer, and Private 1". Pratt, wounded severely. rABLIiOEE>~TABT. Among the various things brought under the notice of Parliament was the proposal of Mr. Fitzgerald, late Native Minister, to form .three purely Maori Provinces, The proposal was rejected. It was felt that a mea- j sure of this kind would be most mischievous, inasmuch as its effect would be to bring the natives face to facewithEnglish taxation in away that would defeat any good intended by the measure, and therefore be another source of irritation and strife. Custom-houses and all the usual adjuncts of taxation would be necessary, ana the natives are not yet ripe for these things. The surest and safest; way is to make no distinction at all between the two races, and to promote their admixture in districts {is much as possible that so the native may be gradually used to the yoke of taxation instead of having it placed on his shoulders in so very marked a manner. The proposal for laying on of stamp duties has causcd a good deal of discussion, the Representatives generally thinking that these ought to be not in addition to the very heavy Customs duties, but rather be used to lighten the others, which are very excessive, and promote smuggling and illicit distillation to a very great extent. It was a question of taxation which brought about the great POLITICAL event of the month, viz., the resignation of the Ministry and the accession to office of Sir. Stafford as Premier. Mi*. Weld has fallen by the defection,, one by one, of his own supporters. "When he first assumed office he had what must be considered a large majority for a New Zealand Ministry Everything seemed auspicious. The Governor could not afford to begin another longand wearying quarrel with responsible advisers. He must of necessity, for the sake of his own credit and character, cease quarrelling, at least for a time, with his Ministers, no matter whether he found some other means gratifying his desire for paper warfare or not. Mr. Weld himself had the prestige of an honorable name and character. People put great faith in him. It wanted simply an honest determination on his part to takeageneral survey of the state of the Colony at large ar d its requirements, and an earnest determination to legislate in a wise spirit for the gene • ral good, to secure his firm position as the Premier of Ifew Zealand. But he soon showed that he was less careful about the general good than he was for the particular welfare of the sections represented by his supporters repre senting Canterbury and Wellington. It is the barefaced self-seeking of these two Provinces which has in reality ejected Mr. Weld from office. Selfishness, the most glaring, has been displayed by them. Questions of general moment have been decided, not oil their merits but on the opinion whether Wellington would be benefited and Auckland injured or not. The removal of the

seat of Government at tho expense of nearly £100,000, one way or the otlicr; the purchase, at a monstrous price, of a worthless and unapproachable estate, from a leading Wellington man, at a long distanco from AVellington, as a residence for the Governor, and of official residence* in Wellington for the Ministers; tho signing the Panama eontract at the cost of another ;0100,000 a year ; the laying down of telegraphs in the Middle Island, and across Cook's Mraiis, at a large expense ; the vast increase in the number of Government officials, to the extent of about "220 persons, during a few months' tenure of office ; the increase in the number of Ministers, and the large additions made to salaries, all necessarily involved the country in an enormous expenditure, at a time when it had taxed itself to the uttermost to pay the war expenditure caused by the rebellion, and was totally opposed to all sound principles of fitmuce. Every person with the smallest perception saw that tho time when we had to strain every nerve to tho utmost to meet our ordinary expenditure, and were driven to borrow money to enable us to do so, was not a time /or indulging in costly luxuries, which we could very well indeed do without until our income enabled us to pay for them. Instead of retrenchment in ordinary things, to enable us to meet the extraordinary demand upon us, we had a most lavish and utterly uncalled-for expenditure, until we were spending over ,CGOO,OOO a year more than our ordinary income. This could not last. The British Government declined to aid the " self-reliant " policy of Mr. "Weld, when they saw that it meant an appeal to them to tind him the money to carry it out. They were willing that he should rely on himseif in rcalit/i: he dreamt that they would understand his setting up house on his own account, meant that a large portion of his bills were to be met by the Home Government, but Mr. Cardwell sternly told him he need not expect assistance from him. Then came the need for increased taxes, then Mr. Weld's seltish and short-sighted followers began to grumble, then stayed away at divisons. leaving him constantly with a majority of one. two. and throe: some thought they had squeezed him pretty well, and as they could expect nothing more but increased taxation from him, ungratefully left him to tho mercies of the Opposition. AVellington, for which he had done so much ; Wellington, to which he had hastily removed the seat of Government, where he had bought worthless property at fabulous prices for the Government, which he had made the port of call for the Panama steamers; Wellington, unkindest i lit otV all, left his lieutenants to carry on the battle single handed, himself sick at home, and his Government sutlered a defeat on a financial question, on the raising of new taxes, caused mainly by expenditure in Wellington ! A righteous retribution, no matter how deeply ungrateful was the treatment for such lavish favours. Had the Weld Ministry been able to look at themselves as men who had the task of governing a Colony, and not simply the duty to perforin of trampling one portion of it under foot and treating it with the most supercilious contempt and injustice, while concentrating their energies to pour the contents of the Treasury chest into the pockets of the dwellers in one or two Provinces: could they have acted with respect and honesty to the British Government and the British General : eoukl thev. like wise men, have made sure of the possession of the territory taken for them by General Cameron, and peopled it with Europeans, instead of repudiating engagements with immigrants and stopping them from coming : could the}' ha\e refrained from carrying the war into four or five different parts of the Province, and been content to hold firmly what they had, rather than dissipate tliei? efforts and the Colonial taxes in endeavouring to gain more, all I might yet have been well with them. But their range of vision was too limited: the)' [ saw not the full difficulties of their position, and they apparently believed that ignorance was bliss and it was folly to be wise. They had to learn, apparently, that war was an expensive pastime, that levying additional taxes each session of Parliament was more easily attempted than earned out, that there was a limit to borrowing money, and that Great Britain has quite made up her mind to leave Mr. Weld to his fate. THE STAFFOItD MnriSTltT. This Ministry is to be composed of persons representing all the principal Provinces. Its policy will, doubtless, be a general and colonial one, rather than local and provincial. Great retrenchment; meddling no more with the natives than can be avoided ; securing peace as soon as possible ; the speedy settlement of persons on confiscated lands ; the use of British troops simply for protection to settled districts ; and the carrying on of any war, it that bo needed, or the seizure of murderers by Colonial forces, sent in small detachments to perform certain precise work, will probably form the leading features of Mr. Stafford's policy. As a well-known and tried statesman it is hoped that he will receive such support as will enable him gradually to relieve us of the incubus which weighs so heavily upon us. He affirms that he can at 1 once effect a saving of £200 000 a year, 1 without lessening the efficiency of the service. His accession to office has had a very excellent effect already in giving increased ; confidence. ;

MURDERS, FAHDOXS, AXD PIIOULAJtATJONS. The Grovernor, almost within sound of the rifles, which were aimed with deadly effect; by the natives against both Her Majesty's troops andeiviliau subjects,proclaimed peace, and told these natives that they had been beaten. A native in the employment of the Grovernment was sent to take this proclamation, and delivered it to the supposed beaten and humbled natives. His errand was known, and the reception he met with at the hands of his subdued countrymen, as the proclamation had it, was instant death. He was shot, shot as the representative of the doting, vaccilating G-overnor who had the hardihood to tell them what they knew to be not in accordance with fact, that they were beaten ! "What a peace was that he vainly proclaimed; what was the value of his high sounding words ? The Maoris showed their utter contempt for both. Had they been beaten as the proclamation said was the case, they might _ Lave received the message of peace in a different manner. 13ut they have not been beaten, and they despise the hypocrisy and the falsehood which tells liim what they know is not

true. A reward of £1000 is offered for the apprehension of tho murderer, but of what avail is that? Will the rebels give up one ol their heroes who has slain tho Governor's messenger ? Will t hey not rather shield him from the vengeance- of tho unstable Governor, whom they thoroughly and cordially despise. Another murder of another Government official has been perpetrated. Mr. Broughton, an interpreter, on his way to a Maori pa, was murdered and tomahawked ! These are the doings ot the pot lambs of the aborigines protection gentlemen m Loudon. It is these (ienils in human shape to whom are sent tracts brimtul of sympathy for them, and ot misrepresentations of the acts of their own countrymen, whose only desire is to be allowed to live under the protection of the law, neither doing injury to, nor receiving any irom man, bo he white or brown. Are not these gentlemen in London accessories before the lact to these horrid murders?

Well, amidst all this wretched work i what is tho course pursued by our GovcrnI incut ? "When the >\ytive was murdered L WOO was offered as «i reward for the giving tip o{ the murderer. A large number of I Europeans have been brutally murdered by natives, but rewards for the discovery of murderers tire not only not heard of in these cases, but when the law has seized native murderers, when they have been tried and convicted on the clearest possible evidence, principally nat ive, and when they have been righteously sentenced to death, an authority is forwarded to the jailor to release tho two condemned murderers! No petitions have been sent up by Native or Kuropean praying for a commutation of the sentence; both Native and European are perfectly satisfied of the guilt of the partics am! ot' tho righteousness ot' tho sentence ; the native law is very explicit on such a subject, death for the murderer ; but the Governor of a British Colony, where murders attended by barbarities which make the heart grow cold, the flesh creep, are almost daily committed, pardons tiieso murderers in cold blood ol an inoffensive Kuropean settler, by name of Job Hamlin, after having been duly tried, convicted, and sentenced. Is tin's another proof of the wonderful capacity of Sir George Grey to govern native people, or is if not another proof added to numberless others of his utter incompetency to govern any people? Will Great Britain compel us to have such government, will she then, when war, the natural fruits of such imbecility arises, taunt the colonists with bitter words, and having got them into difficulties by the gross mismanagement of her own incompetent Governors, leave us to get out of these ditlieulties in the best way ire lean? Is this, we will not say generous, is at all approaching common honesty and fair dealing? We trow not, we are the victims of foreign government which cannot understand our position : of a Governor who endeavours to govern by throwing on one side every principle of common sense and proper government : of local Ministries, who, nominally with power in their hands, are really helpless. and must shape their course with reference to a power which they cannot control, but which acts most powerfully in shaping the destiny and position of the Colony.

No good will come of this Colony until, as we months ago said, a man of energy, of ability, position, and honest)', is sent out here to take matters in his own hands, or until the Colonial Ministers have the substance of power as well as the shadow, and the Governor is reduced to a mere ornamental appendage necessary only for form's sake. We are an infant Colony, and wo are dying from being overlain by Mother Britannia and her incompetent Governors.

When the rest of the prisoners in gaol got to know that the two murderers were released, they naturally failed to see any reason why they, who were Europeans, and had. not murdered anybody, but been content with stealing and such like acts, should not be sent about their business also. The Proclamation of Sir George Grey jmrdous a, whole batch of well-known murderers. Tho friendly natives are stupified, and ask what does ho mean. DEPARTiniE 01' TROOPS. The head-quarters of the 66th Regiment embarked in the early part of this week on board the John Temperley for London. The 70th received orders the other day to get ready for leaving in a short time, and preparations were being made for their depurture, but orders have since arrived countermanding the previous order,and it will, therefore, for the present remain. General Chute has arrived in Auckland. The idea has got abroad that it is probable that decided action will be taken to inflict a a severe chastisement on the fanatics who has been guilty of committing so many barbarous murders.