Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6147, 30 July 1881, Page 4

Our Hokinnga correspondent sends us news of the breaking out of a tribal contest in the North, in which shots have been .exchanged, but with what result is not known. As usual, the dispute is about land, but this particular difference has a considerable historical importance. Twice before have'.these natives been in arms about laud, and in 1870 four men were killed and four wounded in' a series of skirmishes fought. Strange to Bay,! nothing was then done by the Government in the matter. That natives should fight and kill each other iu a district inhabited by a large number of Europeans seemed to be taken as a matter of course;, that'bodies of armed men should march through ■ a country where the law 1 is .supposed tobe supreme, should take up positions, build fortifications, and fight battles—all these things were treated as of no moment. Then, a few days ago, a petition from this Hokianga district—from these very natives, we believe —was presented to the House, in which the petitioners said that if Parliament did not redress their grievances, they, would take up arms, and kill certain other natives. A discussion arose, upon the petition, in which some members treated the threat simply as native bounce, while Sir George Grey pooh-poohed making any fu3s about it, and. said the words were simply "a cry for mercy." But it would seem that the natives are endeavouring to carry- out their threat, and : at all events it is clear they meant it. Our correspondent says :—"Of course the authorities are powerless to act without sufficient force." But surely there is no want of force in the colony to make these native tribes obey the law. In , the meanwhile, the Resident Magistrate of the district has gone over, accompanied by Constable Coughlan, but the majesty of the law can do nothing but look on. It is a disgrace to the-colony that such things should be tolerated, and we hope these disturbers of the peace will, this time, receive a severe lesson.