THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ZEALAND AND THE MAORIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6569, 6 December 1882, Page 5

THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ZEALAND AND THE MAORIS.

A SERIOUS ACCUSATION AND A KKPLV. At the Church Congress, Mr. Arthur Mill: slid his only excuse tor troublin ; them wa;

that he had lately visitec New Zealand, the scene of the work of John Selwvn, the sou nf the late Bishop of the diocese of Lichtield. His visit to the colonies had impressed hi.n with this fact, that when a colony had a diocese and a synod one need not trouble about missionary work. In New Zealand t'.iere were six diocescs and synods, which were sufficient to cope with the European population. But it was not so with regard to the native population. There were some 40 OUO of tlie noble Maori race to l.e dealt with, and it would be ill to trust to the Governor of the -olonv to attend to the spiritual wants of the natives. The same was true with other places besides New Zealand. In New Zealand the (.nvernor desired to do ;d. he eouid lor the natives, but he was impeded by his Government, which allowed iiim to do very little. He was present, not long :>_;o, at the funeral of a native Maori, when tuousands were drawn togethei. He saw an ex-C.;bii.et Mi.'.isterot Xew Zealand plying poor women with raw whisky, and it was by this iigeuev iliac the noble -Maori had been brought down to such a remnant as it w.is. It called upon us at Home to exert ourselves iu the matter. He did not pretend to speak of the natives of South Africa, but he cpoko of those with whom he was acquainted. Tile discussion gave them an opportunity of impressing upon all litiglidi liicn and women to do all they could do to remedy the evii which had been done.

Exception lias been taken to several of Mr. Mills' remarks by Mr. W. Gisiio ne, who has addressed a ietter to the Derbyshiio Advertiser, in which he says :—" All that I now wish to do is emphatically to protest against the inference from the misconduct, of ail individual that N :W Zealand Ministries have been deliberately wron,ing the native race, and arc generally careless of iis welfare. 1 have been twenty-nine years ill New Zealand, and have during that time beeu intimately connected with public life there, and I confidently assert that every Ministry ami Parliament of New Zealand has been anxious to do justice to the natives, aud to promote their interests. Of course many mistakes have been made, but that is o;i!y to say tii.tt all human administration is imperfect. No State comprising different religious beliefs can properly engage in religious missionary work. But a State can indirectly aid ill that work by promoting the moral, political, and temporal interests o: the uncivilised portion ot its inhabitants. This duty the New Zealand | Legislature and Government have continnI ously been aud are now engaged in fulfilling. ■ I c onc ' u de by also stronjly deprecating the I attempt which Mr. Mills and others ocj casionally make of contrasting the view s jof a Governor and of his responsible 1 Ministry towards the Maoris in a sense unj favourable towards the Ministry. There is ' no cause, 1 believe, for such an invidious : distinction, anil the drawing of it is very j prejudicial to the true interests ot the I Maoris, for it tends to paralyse co-opera-Ition where cordial co-operation is most important, ami to excitc lalse and fatal hopes in Maori minds."