Untitled

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7694, 20 July 1886, Page 4

It is much to be regretted that we should have at this time a revival of agitation and disturbance on the West Coast of this island. Large bodies of natives marching about, building whares on land in the occupation of Europeans, ploughing up grass paddocks, and generally keeping up alarm, must be a great loss and hindrance to a district. Besides all this, the reports of such disturbances going abroad must injure the colony to a large extent. Looking at what we have already experienced on the West Coast, the present state of affairs ought never to have been allowed to arise. We have had the ploughing mania before, the gathering at Paribaka, the seizure of Te Whiti, and the dispersal of his followers. Measures were taken by Mr. Bryce to prevent the repetition of any such proceedings on the part of the natives, and if these had been continued, in all probability we should never have heard of any disturbance again, at least on any large scale such as this. But Mr. Bryce was then ridiculed as having set on foot an absurd fanfaronade of military force when there was no Deed for it. He was jeered at for bringing together armed men against a few unarmed and peaceful natives. When the present Ministry came into power they changed all that— it was part of their policy to do so. The constabulary were gradually withdrawn from the district, and Mr. Ballance inaugurated the One-Policeman policy, under which a solitary constable was to be sufficient to enable every settler on the West Coast to till his fields in peace, none daring to make him afraid. The Native Minister thought he had just done it, and that all possibility of native disturbance had passed away, when the whole drama of six years ago iB re enacted. Indeed, for some twelvemonths past we have been hearing a chorus of how the quietude of the West Coast showed that Mr. Bryce's measures of repression had been merely unnecessary brutality and harshness. The occurrences of the last few days show who was right and who was wrong. A few days ago, in speaking on this subject, we mentioned that it was likely that one cause of the outbreak was the dissatisfaction of some of the natives, who are the owners of reserves leased to Europeans through the Government, at tho management of their property. Later advices would seem to show that this is so. It must be remembered that Te Whiti, Te Whetu, and other prophets are always on the outlook for some grievance affecting the natives, which they may use as a means of stirring them up to some overt act. And it will most certainly happen that the management by Government officers of native lands will give cause of grumbling. Then dissatisfaction spreads, the prophets blow it into a flame, and ploughing and whare-building are commenced. It looks as if we were now to be forced to do over again the work done by Mr. Bryce some six years ago, and which has since been undone. We have already commenced to arrest natives, and possibly we may have again to disperse them from any place where they are gathered in numbers. The whole position of affairs has been misunderstood, and the present movement has taken the Government entirely by surprise.