The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 4 November 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1880.

Whex Mr. Bryce, the Native Minister, took office, it was confidently expected on all sides that he would dispel all the clouds that overhung the native districts of the North Lsland. He was reported to be supremely honest. His admirers heralded his possession, of this rare quality in a politician, with emphasis that was most uncomplimentary to his latest predecessor, and Parliament and the country accepted this assurance with feelings of hope and satisfaction. One of Sir. Bryce's first 1 official acts was to announce his native policy. His coup d'etat created no little surprise. He, emboldened by fulsomely expressed criticisms of his character, confidently assorted his i in macula teness and the shocking corruption of the whole of his predecessors. The gravamen of his impeachment was that the public money had been criminally squandered by successive Ministries, but more particularly by Mi'. Sheelian, to whose peccadilloes, magnified by interested ! detractors, Mr, Bryce cwed his promotion. It is too well known that the native department had been a creature with an insatiable ina.*v—that it had been, too, a political Utopia. It has caused a serious drain upon the Colonial funds ever since its establishment, and but few know more regarding this expenditure than that they are called upon to pay the interest on the money thus absorbed. I}nt is there jmy improvement in this respect 1 ? We have only to point to the alarming expenditure on the W^est Coast, Instead of retrenchment, wehaveincreasedprodi* galifry. Mr. Sheehan frittered away money heedlessly »nd unnecessarily. That we have long since confessed, with shame. But the bulk of his expenditure was warranted. He had an object in view. The acquirement of large tracts of : native land would more than compensate for liis putlay. Has Mr. Bryce any such design ? Tfao question is too easily answered. For the West Coast expenditure the Colony gets the benefit of the Waimate Plains, but nothing else. Several hundred pounds a day drawn from the Exchequer, and such a quid pro quo. It would have been better to have altogether abandoned i this confiscated land than to have ' added this extraordinary, to the 1 already heavy ordinary, expenditure ' in connection with the native department. Then, what return is he to get for his ordinary expenditure 1 He appeal's to think that the Colony expects none. The native department ia now kept alive almost exclusively for the benefit of a few dealers in native lands. This deplorable fact had existed at intervals before the advent of Mr. Bryce ; but the Colony has never hfd a Native Minister who so resolutely abandoned all claim to what is virtually the Colonial estate. Mr. Brvce is a lamentable deception. " Honest John Bryce ''—the name by which those who succeeded in foisting the Native Minister upon the Colony delighted to call him, in contradistinction to his predecessor, is no better—he is worse—than those whom he has denounced. " The Senator is bnt a man," after all; and we are more convinced than ever that the only cure for what is termed the native difficulty is the total abolition of the native department. All that we have realised of Mr, Bryce's super-excellent character are the persistent protestations of his friends, and they are growing fainter. We had almost forgotten—we have his own word for it that he never told a lie in his life. He made this announcement when subjected to a scathing commentary on his past acts by Mr. do Lautour. "What a rara avis. The House attentively waited for the protestation, " I thank God I am not as other men are •" but they heard nothing bnt the irreverent interjection, " What, never?' We would not like to say that Mr. Bryce has been guilty of falsehood, bnt we happen to know of several instances of what appear to be repudiation. During last session his chief secretary, instructed by him, wired to Col. M'Donnell to hasten from Rangitikei to Wellington, as he wished to see him upon important business in connection with certain Government land purchases. The Colonel obeyed the behest; but, in the meantime, Mr. Bryce altered his determination, and when he whom hs bad caused to be summoned waited upon him, hp rgised the excuse that a clerical mistake had occurred — hemeantM'Donald, The pakeha.-Maori, who was adjudged guilty an 4 punished for shooting coach horses in the Wellington district about two years ago! Such are the tools with which Honest' John Bryce works. This is not all. His officials, he would lead us to believe, are the veiy essence of muddlers. The latest instance of this was the gazetting of Major Kemp tho plucky and conscientious native who fought during the war for the. Queen, and who steadfastly refuses to be a party to swindling his countrymen ; out of their patrimony—as a Native , Assessor. This notification appears to i have given offence to the land specu- 1 jators—the political friends of the Go- ; vemment—and the Native Minister ] wrigglos out of the dilemma occasioned 1 by his experiment, by attributing the gazetting of Major Kemp fo " a stupid < blunder of a clerk." Supposing that 1 wo, putting the most charitable con- ! struction on this business, accept Mr. j Bryce's explanation, we are still en- ]

titled to ask, "Who is responsible! for these stupid blunders?" Who but the Native Minister. The context of the telegram containing information of this latest instance of " blundering " is suggestive of the evil effects of such loose morality or carelessness in. the Native Office. Major Kemp "was lately dismissed from the public service because he refused to bow the knee to those who hungered after the lands of his tribe. The wound caused by such a requital for his past valuable services has now been re-opened, and he has become an active opponent of the Government. Perhaps it is better that it should be so. Kemp's opposition to Government purchases means opposition to private monopoly. This Government only negotiates for lands so that they may abandon them to speculators.