COROMANDEL AND THE NATIVE DIFFICULTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume X, Issue 3602, 28 May 1873, Page 3

COROMANDEL AND THE NATIVE DIFFICULTY.

[PHOII OUR OWN COEEHSPONDEKT.] I think it advisable in the present unsettled state of thinge, to say u. few words with regard to the state of native affairs in our district. There has, of course, been a great deal of talk as to what the natives could do—or could not do—Dy attacking this place, and some alarmists have been frightening some of tho more nervous into the belief that danger really exists. Now, I fail to perceive the slightest cauro for fear, as the natives on this peninsula nearly all (in fact, I may say all) live on rents, Sc., obtained from tlie goldfields, and though they might assist the rebels with food and money, or even men aud munitions of war, the Maoris are not such fools as to throw away their only means of livelihood by starling a disturbance in this district; or allowing other strange natives to do so either. Our powder magazine was emptied the other day, and justly so too, as it is totally unprotected and in a lonely spot and contained 250 casks of powder, which I consider much better out of the way of anyone who might have wished to help themselves at this period, be tliey brown mail or white. One circumstance, which will serve to show how the present Native Office system works hero, I must mention. At the Tiki, the natives receive, altogether, about £500 a year in salaries to assessors, &c., in order at preserve the peace, — and yet what ie the miserable result ? Why, that residents in the Tiki flat cannot live without the hourly dread of being insulted or, perhaps, worse, by any native who may, choose to take it into his head to get drunk and abuse white people, which they frequently do with almost impunity. Is it any wonder that, in the present state of affairs, women and children do not come to live near such a lot ? This is a rare policy, is it not ?— as those same natives, besides getting the above amount of money as a bribe (nothing more), also draw a large revenue from the goldtields. I think a slight change in the state of affairs would be extremely desirable, but, at tlie Bame time, I adhere to my formerly expressed opinion that we are as safe here as any district in the province, and much more so than most.