FIFTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15931, 31 May 1915, Page 11

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

T PROSPECTS 'OF PEACE.

- THE NATIVE TROUBLES.

> (From the Hmu> of May 31, 1883.) The surrender of Thompson and other leading rebels will, doubtless, bo hailed in England as the settlement of the war. Thst it may be the first and most important step to that end, to willingly and gladly admit, but it must be borne in' mind that the New Zealand* insurrection 1 is not like a European war, where the signing the articles of peace on either Bide leaves matters in as securc a state of repose as before the causes of the war Jjad even arisen. Pens may be declared to-day, but it may b» two or three years; before it can be said to have been established. The remissness of His Excellency in opposing the settlement of the Waikato during the term of office of the late Ministry— the utter abandonment of this important duty ../ the present Ministry when the Governor subsequently withdrew ail obstacles to the settlement deprived us of ...at guarantee of peace, which otherwise we might now have postered. Had the settlement and sale of the confiscated lands of the Waikato but progressed as there is reason to believe from Mr. Cnrdwell's lato despatches, the Imperial Government believed it to have progressed, then wo should have been now in a position to have called for the surrender of the rebels ad the establishment tof peace.