THE NATIVE QUESTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 6439, 2 December 1881, Page 2

THE NATIVE QUESTION.

The news of the recent trouble with the Natives at Parihaka will be variously construed by Home readers. Many who are well posted up in New Zealand affairs will know that it only affects the peacefulness of one —and to some extent isolated—district, and that, comparing small things with large, it is of much less concern to the colony, as a whole, than the trouble in Ireland is to Great Britain ; and that, beyond the drain upon revenue at a time when the colony cannot afford any unprofitable expenditure, there is nothing in the difficulty that cannot be successfully grappled with. It is quite possible that among the general British public the news will not bo so well understood, and it may exercise a disturbing influence in the current of immigration to these shores. Exaggerated mistrust may arise, and again the colony may, for a time, be brought into disrepute. Against this contingency every safeguard should be provided. We know not to what extent the Agency-General of the colony will be used as a medium for circulating precise information and disabusing error, but if at any particular time the department ought to perform prompt and effective service, it is now. Immigration from Great Britain pours forth in undiminished volume. Thousands leave its shores weekly, the major portion for America, and there was a prospect that during the next twelve months the increase of immigrant population in this colony would be very perceptible, and that the class of people coming would be such as the colony stands most in need of—agriculturists with capital of their own. But this is just the class of people to whom the slightest rumor of a Maori war scare would act as an effectual deterrent against their coming. Imagination would picture to them a wild scene of lonely bush life, and the contingency of defending their new homes against rapine and plunder at the hands of savages. They will turn their thoughts to other countries, and New Zealand will lose desirable acquisitions to her population. This bugbear requires speedy demolition, and we trust the Government have not lost sight of the necessity for making known, with the widest possible publicity in England, that what is termed the Native difficulty is confined to a few square miles of country; that it does not retard the work of settlement or of commerce elsewhere in the colony; andthat,in all human probability, before another month has passed away the disaffected Natives will have been brought into submission to the laws of the Queen, and that this will have beeu affected without bloodshed and without coercion, beyond the array of an armed force, brought together to give proof positive'to the savage mind that it is possible to put down disaffection with a strong hand. In short, that the Native difficulty will by that time have wholly ceased. An official explanation of the position circulated throughout Great Britain is of much importance. And with this, or following hard upon, we should like to hear of greater inducements being offered intending immigrants to invest in New Zealand lands. There is plenty of it yet awaiting occupation, and a potent charm to attract people hither would bo in the perfect assurance that they could obtain a freehold —another name for a home—just suited to their means and capabilities. It is all very well to tell the British public, through the medium of pamphlets and official reports, that there are so many millions of acres of land in New Zealand open for selection, and that so great are the facilities for obtaining land that there are now in this colony more freeholders,' in proportion to population, than in any other country in the world. People of an inquiring turn of mind will revert to the circumstance that there are many thousands in New Zealand who have no permanent homes, and, apparently, cannot obtain them. They will note also that the system of middlemen in land transactions has assumed wide dimensions ; that influential companies hold miles upon miles of lands, which they offer to cut up into farms tor a profitable consideration, and that the system of special settlements, under which wide areas of lands have been given to speculative individuals at nominal cash prices, on condition that they settle a given number of occupiers thereon, has materially changed the circumstances under which settlement progresses. It would be unfair to ignore the advantages arising from the development of special settlements, or the liberal encouragement offered by private land companies, but so long as any Crown lands in this colony "fitted for settlement remain open for purchase, so long should all facts and conditions relating thereto be as well known in Great Britain as in the colony. The Agency-General might be made of much more use to thecolony than it now is, were it a means not merely of disseminating curt and formal information concerning New Zealand, but as an agency for explaining in fullest detail the nature of the lands in both islands open for selection, and with power to even make provisional contracts for sales. In a word, if desirable immigration is a sine qua non, here is need for every effort being used to popularise this colony in the esteem of the British public, and efforts in such direction are just now all the more necessary as a counteractive to the Maori scare wliioh outgoing news may possibly produce.

The work of dispersing the Natives at Parihaka is proceeding with quite as much celerity as can be reasonably expected, though, according to latest telegrams, there are still at least a thousand left. The fact that they offer a perfectly passive resistance adds somewhat to the tediousness of their dispersal. It is impossible to use any severely coercive measures with people who assume the characteristics of dumb driven cattle, and compel those in authority to remove them almost bodily from the land they have so long and unprotitably encumbered. It redounds very much to the credit of the Native Minister that he has succeeded in de vising and in carrying out a methodical mode of procedure which, avoiding all

semblance of cruelty or injustice, yet step by step clears the Parihaka of intruders and deports them to their owu homes. In the entire history of the Parahaka episode, no more satisfactory record will be made than that which _ will tell how, without harsh words or actions, the men, women and children of the various tribes were removed, and a bloodless victory achieved. It cannot be said in the present position of affairs that the actual imprisonment of the males among th. 6 ISTativos is any hardship. ° Assuming that the authority for imprisonment is beyond question, then the actual fact of some stubborn Maoris being placed under watch and ward, and fed at the expense of the State, is no hardship at all. Virtually, they have been self-made prisoners for months past, for in obedience to the commands of Te Whiti, they have lingered about Parihaka, relinquishing their own freewill, and, to all intents and purposes, become his abject slaves. By-and-bye, when the members of each tribe have been deported to their own homes, and all traces of Parihaka have been destroyed, it will be seen whether or not the lesson now being taught the Natives will have a lasting effect. Some hazard the opinion that it will not, but that the recalcitrant tribes will stealthily re-assemble and again renew their tactics of passive obstruction. We scarcely think any serious apprehensions need be felt on this score. The tribes are not likely to again come together on the scene of their surrender unless called by the voice of one high in authority among them, and this eventuality will, we opine, be carefully guarded against by the Native Minister. There will be no shepherd permitted to call together the dispersed flocks. Indeed, it is in dealing with such matters that practical knowledge of the Maoris and of Maori customs stands the Hon. John Bryce in good stead. The assemblage once broken up and dispersed, none probably knew better than himself how to prevent anticipated good effects being nullified. It is certain that Parihaka will never be again the scene of such Native gatherings as marked Tb Wain’s assumption of absolute power there. A Constabulary garrison will occupy the place where the dupes of the now imprisoned prophet were wont to assemble, and a cordon of similar strongholds will guard the approaches. Before the present summer has passed away many broad acres of land, as yet scarce trodden by the foot of European, will be thrown open for settlement, and all the_ outward signs of Tb Whiti’s rule will have disappeared. In following out the line of action which is rapidly leading up to such result, the Hon. John Bryce has well gauged the Native disposition. He has assumed an authority which they understand, and to which they submit sullenly and unwillingly, no doubt, but with the evident conviction; that resistance would be useless, that all the predictions of their prophet have been falsified, and that their only choice is to submit to the inevitable. This has been brought about in no slight degree by the display of armed force, which for the first time, perhaps, has impressed the Native mind with the power and resources of the Europeans, and which display even brought Te Whiti to his senses, for he suddenly advocated peace and nonresistance where before he had hinted at reprisals. This has been accomplished by a most successful coup, for which all credit must be given to the Native Minister. The country may be very fairly congratulated on the present aspect of Native affairs. The predictions we made many months ago that there would be no more Native war in this colony has been, by recent events, most fully verified. We believe that within a very few months even the semblance of Native trouble will have passed away, and that, when the new Parliament assembles, such a Native Statement will be tabled as was never before produced. The central figure of the Ministry just now is undoubtedly Mr Bryce ; but the entire ministerial policy is largely leavened by the late Native proceedings. What was but the other day the most abstruse of New Zealand political problems has been apparently solved by the Hall Ministry. The value of the accomplishment can scarcely be overrated, and will, we believe, command the gratitude of the entire colony.

Te Whiti, Tohu, and Hiroki, imprisoned in the Pungarehu blockhouse, will, according to the latest reports, be taken to Opunake, shipped on board the Hinemoa, and brought down to Wellington. What will then ensue no one as yet appears to know. The position of affairs is anomalous. Are these three Natives aliens in the land, or are they subjects disregarding good rule and peaceful behaviour ? Are they prisoners under civil law, or are they prisoners of war ? If their arrest was made under the civil laws of the colony, why have they not been accorded the privilege which every prisoner under the laws of Britain may demand—namely, an arraignment before constituted tribunal and formal statement of cause of complaint within a certain number of hours from the time of arrest? If captured and imprisoned under martial law, why send these men to Wellington without any other form of martial law procedure ? They were compelled by armed force to leave their habitations ; they passively submitted—not even raising their voices in protest; they were imprisoned, andarenow about to be deported to a distance, where the treatment that awaits them is all uncertain. Why is this ? What will be the result of the line of procedure the Hon. John Bryce, in his capacity of Native Minister and Minister of Defence, appears to have evolved out of his own idea of the fitness of things ? It is trae he has been in constant consultation with two of his Ministerial colleagues, and when he condescends to explain, such explanation may be satisfactory ; but the mistake, and there is no blinking the fact that a mistake has been committed, is in delaying explanation. The country heartily endorsed the decision of the Government to put an end to the trouble and annoyance so long prevailing at Parihaka ; it approved the employment of an armed force in aid, as was supposed, of the civil arm of the law ; it was prepared to countenance the exercise of such power to extreme limits, and the parade of a strong martial force as accessory to the enforcement of civil law was held perfectly justifiable; yet no one imagined that any particular individual, though a Minister of the Crown, would assume the powers of an autocrat, order men to be taken prisoners, and kept in durance without observance in minutest detail of the forms the law prescribes for protection of the liberty, alike of subject and of alien. It is a source of sincere regret that the success attending proceedings at Parihaka on Saturday last, and which, for the moment, was the subject of.most hearty congratulation throughout the colony, should have been diminished in public esteem by the eccentricity of the Minister entrusted with chief control If he is prejudged, if his actions are misunderstood, or a due meed of credit withheld, the Hon. John Bryce has but himself to blame. He has chosen to keep, by all means in his power, the public in the dark as to the proceedings at Parihaka In this he has egregiously failed, except in one item of vital importance. The country does not yet know under what interpretation of the law, civil or mili tary, the three Maoris were arrested and imprisoned, nor why, if even in Court with closed doors they have been formally arraigned, such arraignment has not been made public, the nature of the charge defined, and the replies of the accused reported. There are grave issues involved in this question, and which, in the maintenance of peace and the permanent establishment of good order within the disaffected district, cannot be,

too quickly cleared from all doubt and uncertainty. Those who have blamed the Government for the action culminating in the events of [Saturday last attempted, with much labored effort, to justify Te Whiti and his followers in their sullen refusal to listen to all conciliatory overtures, in their seditious utterances, and even a breach of the law. All this was treated, as it deservedly should be, as mere corking discontent, carrying no weight, not having even the credential of honest intent. It would have died out of sheer inanition, have been overwhelmed by the convincing argument of fact, had not the door been ill-advisedly opened to doubt and suspicion. We uphold in every material point the action of the Government to the arrest of Te Whiti and his two most intimate associates; but we cannot endorse the subsequent action of the Native Minister. He has assumed an air of mystery which even Te Whiti could scarcely exceed, and has provoked ridicule and grave apprehension where he might have maintained the most profound confidence and respect.

It ia well, in the present aspect of affairs at Parihaka, to revert to records of official actions and opinions which have in some degree prompted, and will probably be used in justification of the measures now being taken to quell the trouble which has so long prevailed there. Without going back further than to the time when Mr Sheehan was Native Minister, and when this particular phase of the Native question was under discussion, we will give the main points of a Cabinet Minute, dated 14th April, 1879, which was laid oa the table of" the House of Representatives. In such minute the term Parihaka block was used as including all the confiscated land extending from Waiweranui, the southern boundary of the Stony River Block to the Moutoti Stream, near Whitiora. Inreference to this block, the minute recites that no promise of any character, definite or indefinite, had ever been made to the original owners for the return of the whole or any part of it; nor had any action ever been taken of an official character to justify the slightest supposition that any intention to return the block had ever existed in the mind of the Government; while there was positive evidence on the other hand that the Government considered the confiscation of the block as, legally speaking, un fait accompli. The minute further records this opinion : “ No doubt, regard being had to the number of Natives living on the block belonging to the Taranaki tribe, the portion of land available for sale might have been comparatively small after due provision had been made for their requirements ; but upon this point it is impossible to express a decided opinion, as, with the present means of information at our command, it is difficult to say ivho of thast who are at Parihaka are of Parihaka,” (A difficulty, by the way, which has been steadily increasing up to the commencement of the present action to disperse Tb Whitx’s followers.) “ Prom many causes, the officers in charge had been unable to discuss with Te Whxti and his people the question of confiscation, and of the allotment of reserves for their support. This circumstance is referred to as having no doubt helped to generate distrust in their minds; for, seeing the Waimate Plains in course of survey after a delay of about 12 years, they professed, and perhaps to some extent believed, the whole of their land would be next taken, inasmuch as nothing had then been said to them of an authoritative character as to the intentions of the Government with reference to their particular tribal estate, although they were well aware of the effect of the proclamation issued under the New Zealand Settlement Acts.” After making reference to the position Tb Whiti occupied—not only in regard to his own particular tribe of Taranaki, but also in regard to the whole of the West Coast people, and to many individual members of tribes in remoter districts—as being the most important and powerful of all among the elements of disturbance—the Minister mentions that Mr Mackay had informed him that Tb Whiti set up no claim whatever in respect of any promises made or alleged to have been made. In the course of his discussion with Mr Mackay, his talk had reference only to violation of promises said to have been made in respect of the Waimate Plains. Following upon and resulting in some respect from discussing of this Cabinet minute was the appointment of the West Coast Commission (Sir William Fox and Sir Francis Dillon Bell), and in their third report, as laid before the General Assembly during the session of 1880, the Commissioners in their review of the position, expressed among other opinions that it would not be enough to make regulations for the reserves. Power should lie taken to deal with the whole of the Crown land between Stony River and Waingongoro in the way best fitted to prevent new troubles, and to insure the settlement of people on the land. Administration was, in their opinion, more needed than law. It was no use to wait for the express consent of Te Whiti’s adherents, whatever was decided on would have to be done by the almost unaided exercise of the Crown’s authority, power should be taken in wide terms to declare obstruction an offence punishable with imprisonment, and such new executive powers should be taken as might be wanted in any emergency, to ensure obedience to the orders of the Governor, to repress all outrage, and to keep the peace. Assuming that the Act (West Coast Settlement North Island Act, 1880) would be passed, the Commissioners further recommended that Tb Whiti should not be left alone in his isolation, and they expressed opinion that the West Coast question would never be settled—unless with resort to force—except by some arrangement with him. To fill gaols with prisoners for a political offence, in which there is no sign of criminal intent, would be a harassing and perplexing process, and would not advance the one thing needed —peace upon the Coast. “As Mr Bright said in the House of Commons, in a debate on the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bill for Ireland, ‘there is no statesmanship merely in acts of force and acts of repression;’ Such acta can only be justified on grounds of political necessity and in selfdefence.” The Commissioners finally recommended that Te Whiti should be invited to concur in the sharing of the lands with his Excellency the Governor, but he should in any case be made to understand that the Government would take their share. Before sending in their third and final report, the Commissioners communicated with Mr Sheehan to clear up one particular point on which there was some little doubt, namely, what really was his intention, while Native Minister, in regard to miking provision for Te Whiti and the Parihaka people, and what previous Governments had either promised or intended to do for them. The reply made by Mr Sheehan, under date 37th July, 1880, was that he had expressed opinion that Te Whiti had done good work for years in preserving the public peace ; and that he (Mr Sheehan) was disposed, in the event of his pursuing a similar line of conduct for the future, to recommend the restoration of the Parihaka Block to the original owners, such restoration to be entirely dependant on good behavior, and expressly that Te Whiti did not actively identify himself with the obstruction of the survey, or with any breaches of the peace. Mr Sheehan further mentions that the return of the land would, nevertheless, have been subject to reservations of sites for lighthouses, for roads, and other necessary public purposes ; and also, that this intention — i.t., the restoration of the Parihaka Block—had never been mentioned to the Natives, and never assumed the aspect of2l s lP rom i se i! ll P on

which they could found any claim whatever to such restoration. The intention was first publicly notified in the House in the first session of 1879 ; two or three months afterwards the Ministry, of which Mr Sheehan was a member, resigned, and consideration and settlement of the question devolved upon their successors, the present Government.