The New Zealand Herald.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1417, 2 June 1868, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald.

SPEOTEMUIt AGENDO. " Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. This above all, —To thine own self be true And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be falsetto any man." AUCKLAND, TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1863. The dispute between the natives of the North, which is the chief item of political interest we have to record since our last summary of news for home, is apparently 110 nearer its termination than ever. Tho matter, however, is entirely a native one, and, whatever fighting there may be, will be altogether confined to the native disputants now engaged on either side. The Government has wisely refrained from using any direct interference, though Mr. Civil Com-

missioner Mackay and several native chiefs of influence proceeded on the 31st ultimo to the North for the purpose of mediating, if possible, between the contending tribes. There are amongst us, however, we regret to state, those who, under colour of maintaining tho dignity of the law, would advocate the urmed interference of tlie Government in tin's native quarrel, and who, to carry out : mi's purpose, would not hesitate to plunge • ; >c northern portion of this Province into u-;ir. A local journal, the Cross, has not I'eaitated to recommend, that armed Europeans should be sent to assist the Ngapuhis ill arresting Whake, the man of the Karawa tribe who killed the Ngapuhi, Nguku. The result of such a step would be reprisals by the Karawas and every disaffected native that would gather to their cause— detachments, perhaps, from the king party soufch of the Waikato —ou the unprotected settlers in the far north, a kindling of war which would spread far and wide. So suicidal a policy has met with no favour at tho hands of the public ; and strongly and closely as tiie necessity of such a step was urged in its issue of the 27th ult. by our cotemporary, it has not since dared to return to the subject. The truth is, the killing of Nguku was not. literally a murder. He was shot according to all Maori notions of fair play, and after war had been declared between the two tribes. The Cross urges ! the necessity of our interference ou the ground that the Ngapuhi tribe had taken up arms to vindicate the law in the arrest of the Earawa who killed their kinsman, j Nguku; but, as the death of the latter is the result, and not the consequence of' Ngapuhi having taken np arms, the reason for interference, as urged by tho Cross, falls j to the ground ; and, indeed, any interference on our part would be merely that of partisans, and would be resented by the other I side as such. Moreover, the Ear a was have once already handed over Whake to the civil authorities, who carelessly allowed him to escape. They now refuse to take any active part in his recapture, but offer no obstruction to the civil authorities in their search for him. The truth is, the quarrel is one between tlie two tribes, which they are determined to settle

in their own way, and the Ngapuhis, finding themselves not so strong as they supposed, would like to enlist the sympathies of the Government in humbling a rival tribe. That any such interference would be illjudged, and indeed very disastrous to the peaceful occupation of the North, every thinking man must allow. It is very sad, of course, to think that after all the blood and treasure that have been"poured out of late years in New Zealand the Queen's writ cannot run through the land, but that is no new thing to us. If it be necessary for the Colonial and Imperial honor that the Queen's writ should be made to run, as the law may direct, why in the name of common sense and humanity attempt the experiment in the , I Northern portion of this province, where hundreds of European families live dependent for the safety of their lives and property on the peaceful relations of the Government with the native tribes around tliem. Why should we be so thin-skinned as to the dignity of the law in the North while to the south of Auckland we have a Maori King asserting absolute power, treating our laws as though they were not, and forbidding not only the running of the Queen's writ through his territory, but refusing passage through it to either man or beast belonging to us. It was not to uphold the dignity of the law, but to promote certain private interests, that this attempt to urge the authorities into a course that would plunge us into a war with the North was made. It has, however, been so met by public disapproval that we shall probably hear no further reference to the advisability of armed interference in the North. So long as the colony refrains from such a step there is not the slightest doubt but that the consequences of the quarrel will be confined to the natives themselves. Indeed, the matter, but for the attempt made to turn it into a public evil, would not have been deserving of much notice. The Maoris fight between themselves in anything but a bloodthirsty manner. Much powder is blown away, but very few casualties occur.

It is gratifying to record the fact that Auckland is rapidly emerging from the state of depression under which she has been some time labouring. This is due to the Thames gold-field. When we state that there are living at tlie Thames some seven thousand persons, it may well be understood how this must have relieved the position of those who, from depression in trade, had been thrown out of employment. Money is more plentiful, trade is brisker, and even businesses which minister rather to the luxuries than to the necessaries of life, are feeling the re-action. ' The feeling of confidence has been restored, and moneyed men clutch less tightly the hard cash which a short time back few of them cared to invest beyond immediate recal. There has been a considerable amount of gold already taken from the Thames, and it is now well known and acknowledged that that amount may be increased fiftyfold,with the same population, as 'soon as machinery suitable to the work of crushing thp quartz and amalgamating the gold shall have been placed upon the field. There must now be some score or two of machines in course of erection, and the' winter once over, the returns from the Thames will not only be large, but regular. Nor does it seem that gold is confined to that locality. As our settlers become practically acquainted with the character of the gold-field, and return to their own localities in other parts of the Province, they are led into making discoveries of which before they had no idea. Thus gold has been found in more than one place north of Auckland, within the past week, and though, as yet, the gold discovered is so fine that no machinery yet in the colony would save it, it would be hard to say that coarser gold may not be found in the vicinity or at a greater depth. Long before the auriferous land at the Thames was pronounced payable, all that was positively known was that fine gold was easily obtainable, though not in paying quantities. As much at any rate can now be said of the Wade district, some twenty miles north of Auckland.

The Kawakawa coal-field is likely to be very soon worked, so as to afford a continuous supply of coal equal to tlie demand, which is not now the case, and of which many who have come by use to find its superiority over otlier coal, are complaining. The great want at the mines was a good tramway to run the coals down to the water side. The company has within the last week or two obtained from the Provincial Government a quantity of iron rails and material, originally purchased for the railway. A permanent tramway will thus he at once laid down at the mines, and as the coal can be run out from the seam in large quantities, and with little labor, we may look for both a cheap and regular supply after a short time. This coal is rapidly becoming a favorite with the masters of steamers. The men o' war upon the station have tried it and approved it highly, and since the supply has been limited Ave have heard of tlie engineers on board our coasting steamers complaining of haying to fall back again upon English and New South "Wales coals, which are not only dearer but less valuable for steaming purposes. It is understood that his Excellency Sir George Bowen and lady will proceed Southward in the course of another week. The Provincial Council opens on the 15th instant, and the meeting of the General Assembly lias been prorogued till the 23rd of the month. The Assembly will probably be still further prorogued until the first or second week in July.