PEACE AND PROSPERITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6148, 1 August 1881, Page 3

PEACE AND PROSPERITY.

TO THE EDITOB, Sir,—-It is said that about a quarter of a centuiy ago the late Maori chief, William iiiompson, desirous of bringing his people Un^ er the dominion of laws which should gradually prepare them for the more perfect authority of European civilisation and Eng- * ? e ™sed a set of regulations, a copy Of which he brought to Auckland : but. after seeking in vain to gain a hearing from the i Native Office, retired in despair to his settlements, and resolved to gather up the waning power of the chiefs under the central 1 authority of a Maori ruler. After many 5, th . e £ lb63 ' b y Thompson's advice, assembled at Ngaruawahia and elected the warrior chief Te Wherowhero king of the Ikon nafaon, under the style of Potatau. At that meeting, Te Raihi, a Ngatihaua chief, a near kinsman of Thompson's, with rare prescience, warned his countrymen of the consequences of such a step, and, declaring that the Maori king would be the ruin of the Maori nation, refused to acknowledge his authority, and avowed his determination to remain faithful to the Queen ii j Nearly twenty-five years have c tu 1111 to-day the broken remnants Ot the Maori nation have gathered once more at Ngaruawahia, under KingTawhiao the son and successor of Potatau, to weep , over the rum of their cause and nation, and w avow their peaceful intentions towards us. In interval, on many a bloody field, in maiiy a beleagured pa, they have lost the best aus bravest of their race. Obtaining arms ana " "tnmunition with great difficulty, they nevertheless ."wn- . tamed with rare gallantry a long and fierce Sirytrgle against the flower of the British army. At length, driven back by overwhelming numbers, they abandoned the Waikato country, and sullenly retreated, still unconquered, to the mountain fastnesses on tne frontier. No gifted bard has sung their story ; no Maori chronicler has narrated their gallant deeds or their patient sufferings they have not lived altogether in vain, and in the coming time the historian of New Zealand will find many a deed of gallantry and endurance "to point a moral or adorn a tale."

For years they have maintained a rigid isolation, submitting to the deprivation of many luxuries which such civilisation as we gave them had made almost necessaries to them. They have refnsed all our bribes. For years they have disdained every overture made by successive Native Ministers. Strong in his patriotism, the Maori King has treated all our blandishments with a sublime indifference, which, if it had not excited our fears, could hardly have failed to win our admiration. For years this native difficulty, as we justly it, has been a black cloud on our otherwise fair horizon. And not without reason. Consider the spectacle of these brave, sullen, and unsubdued Maoris from the frontier heights to which they had retreated, overlooking the fair plains of Waikato, containing the graves of their ancestors and the homes of their childhood, now covered by European farms and villagesj and lying completely at the mercy of men who had lost nearly everything but their lives, and how little they valued these, innumerable deeds of daring abundantly testify. Such a spectacle well have excited the gravest apprehensions of successive administrations, and rendered them extremely desirous to establish peaceful relations between the two races. With a soil of average fertility and a climate far above the average for salubrity and beauty, the progress of the North Island has been terribly impeded by the fear of Maori disturbances. It has seriously interfered with the progress of the whole colony. It has not been so much the burden of indebtedness which has diverted capital and labour from our shores,—for that could be accurately measured, and would be met by the rapidly developing resources of the' colony—the grand obstacle has been the undefined, mysterious Maori difficulty, which could neither bo accurately measured nor easily met. A careful consideration of our position, as I have endeavoured to describe it, will enable us rightly to value the extraordinary events now happening in Waikato. The isolation and hostility, maintained with such unflinching obstinacy for seventeen years, have at last given way, and the Maori King has proclaimed his reconciliation to us by laying down his arms and peacefully visiting, during the last few days, all the Waikato settlements.

Whilst fully appreciating the efforts of Sir George Grey, Sir Donald McLean, Mr. Sheehan, Mr. Bryce, and Mr. Rolleston, I am neither ■ afraid nor ashamed to avow my belief, that this marvellous and happy change has been brought about, not so much by the wisdom of man, but by the influence of that unseen and Most High Ruler who "Doeth according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." The colonists of these islands of the sea may well give to Him their grateful thanks for the wonderful and happy change which is now, as far as human prescience can judge, being established in the relations between the .two races inhabiting these islands. Believing, as I do, in the potential influence of the Sovereign Disposer of events, it would yet ill become me to fail to render my grateful thanks to Major William Mair for the most valuable but unobtrusive services he has rendered in bringing about this happy change in our circumstances. And I greatly fail in my estimate of my fellow-colonists if they do not generously appreciate Major Mair's services. Nor do I doubt that every true colonist will rejoice if Her Gracious Majesty should be advised to confer upon Major Mair some signal mark of her approval of his most successful efforts to establish peace in this her colony of New Zealand.

Meantime the Waikato settlers, who, during the troublous days held the post of danger, have welcomed Tawliiao, his chiefs, and people, most hospitably at all the settlements. After all the years of darkness, terror, and bloodshed, the reconciliation now being made between the races is doubly welcome, as the harbinger of a sure and lasting peace, without which there can be no prosperity for the pakeha, nor safety for the Maori.—l am, &c., J, 0. Firth. Auckland, July 29, 1881.