NATIVE POLICY. — MINISTERIAL STATEMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1152, 30 August 1865, Page 5

NATIVE POLICY. — MINISTERIAL STATEMENT.

(From tb: Wellington Independent.) MZ.ITIA ACTS BEPEAJi BUX. [In the House of Representative on the 18th inst., during the evening sitting.] The DEFENCE MINISTER (the hon. Major Atkinson), in moving the second reading of the "Militia Acts Itepeal Bill." said he proposed to ask the indulgence of the House, while aa briefly as possible, but '11 with sufficient detail, he went into the ■■- %-ile question of what the present Government undertook to do when it came into office, how it proceeded to do that, and what it intended-to do in future. First of all he would glance at the state of the country when the Government came into office. It would be in the recollection of hon. members, that the war bad then ceased, or rather, that hostilities had cea?ed in the northern part of the island, that they were trembling in the balance as it were of peace and war, that the prisoners bad eecaped from t'be Kavvau, and that the Northern Peninsula was in a very critical state. At Taranaki, Colonel Warre had just taken two native strongholds, but the country was still unsafe, even within five or six miles of the town. He might .state that he could not go ssfeiy to his own place with less than twenty-five armed men, and that was within five or six miles of the town. The Hau-hau fanaticism had taken deep hold on the natives, and was spreading fast throughout the Island. At the very time the present Government accepted oifice, a soldier had been killed at Mataitawa, and his head was cut off and paraded down the coast from Warea to Waitotara, and then sent to the East Coast with the avowed object of exciting the tribes to a general massacre of the Europeans. That briefly was the state of the country when the present Government came into office, and what they stated then was, that it was absolutely necessary for the pood of the country, that the seat of Government should be at once removed to the central part of the Colony. They also euid tha if peace was to be further established, a self-reliant spirit should be instilled into the minds of the colonists, and thf.t they should be prepared to depend on themselves. Those were two cardinal points that the Government declared absolutely necessary for the good of the country. He was not going to speak on the question of the removal of the seat of Government, because he thought all hon. members, both from the North and South, would at any rate give them credit for effecting that. They certainly did so, despite the warnings of hon. members frcm the North, that great calamities would come on the ' olony in consequence of that step, and in spite of the assertions of hon. members from the South, that the Government could not carry it out. The Government proceeded Ettadily to work, and events justified them. He would say no more on that subject. What he wanted to gay now was, that the present Government did also proceed to carry out their determination as to the removal of the troops. They had a distinct idea on the subject, and they carried it out to a legitimate conclusion as^far as lay in their power. He would also say that the whole action 'the Government had taken was foreshadowed in the statements they made last session when tbey took their seats on the ministerial benches. lie also proposed to show that what had been termed the new war, was simply a carrying out of an arrangement bet, wen lln Excellency and the Whitaker Ministry, which was declared by them absolutely necessary for the peace of* the country. He wished the House to mark this, because it had been the custom of the papers to say that they commenced a new war with a bad object, and some hon. members had made the same accusation against them. He thought the House would excuse him if he took one or two extracts, to show that the Whitaker Ministry arranged this campaign, and considered it abjohitt ly necessary for the peace of the country that it should be undertaken. He found in E No. 2, page GB, the first mention made of operations in Taranaki and Wanganui, which would show that that eampiirm had ben intended by the Whitaker Ministry. (The Defence Minister then read the extracts, bj' which it appeared that the Whitaker Ministry recommended the campaign.) He then found in E 2, pa^c 69, a further memorandum. (The Defence Minister here read it.) There was very clear evidence that f the whole of that country was intended by i the Whitaker Ministry to be occupied. ( They actually named the places, and re- 1 commended that blockhouses should he < erected there. (An hon. member : What is ( the date ?) The date was 27th June, 1864. 1 At page 102, E 2, was a memorandum by I the Governor to his responsible advisers, in 1 -which he found a quotation from a letter of 1 General Cameron referring to instructions i for such operations. He might state that i the then Ministry complained that the Go- i veruor did not give them very good in- i formation about the operations required, i (The Defence Minister here read another i extract.) He would not trouble the House I with any further extracts than those he c had read, because he thought they s ■would prove clearly the position he ' maintained, and these too from the Blue ( Books and not from the press of Auck- i land, for he could not admit that as an j authority in the matter (a laugh). He i now came to the point as to what they un-' 1 dertook to do when they came into office. 1 In the speech which the Governor was t pleased to deliver to the House, he stated ( that he regretted that the Province of Ta- i ranalu remained in a disturbed state, and < that it was his intention to take such steps 1 as would bring security to that district. It 1 might be said that hon. members knew ] nothing about the speech, but at any rate i they would admit their reply agreeing that c Steps should be taken to pacify that dis- £ trict. He would ask any hon. member if c a Government, having agreed to that i Bpeccb, and given that reply, was not c bound to act upon it. He then came to ] the point whether it was the duty of the I Government to employ troops for the pur- c pose, or whether, having determined on t the withdrawal of the troops, they were t justified in employing them. He would s read Mr Weld's memorandum to the Go- s vernor in A 2, page 1. (The Defence "* Minister read it; it was to the effect that ( pending the decision of the Home Go- i •vernment the Colony should undertake a ] reasonable liability for the troops actively \ engaged in the field, on ■ the special re- i ~commendation of the Ministry and such " -nly.) That perfectly justified the course 1 the Government took, because it showed i

clearly that they did contemplate the abso lute necessity of the troops remaining ii the country until his Excellency had hai time to hear the -decision of the Hom< Government, and also that they di( contemplate the employment of them in which case they were to be pai< for by the Colony. He would ask thi House to consider the position in whicl the Government was placed, and whethe! they could have taken any other cours< than the one they did. He had showr that the lare Government had engaged tc undertake that campaign, and that General Cameron \vas preparing for it The Go vernor had also written home to say that it was necessary. He had also shown thai it waa impossible for them to do anything but employ the General; and that it was utterly impossible—in fact, it would have been wrong to have sent their own colonial troops down there, and done the work themselves. Some notice had been taken of a certain memo, put in by him and afterwards-withdrawn, which related to the subject of the operations between Taranaki and Wanganui. It was right that he should explain to the House the history oi that memo., for it actually contained sentiments which he held then as now, and which he regretted that the circumstances of the country precluded the Government from acting on, at that time. As hon. members knew, they determined on the removal of the seat of Government immediately on taking office. The Premier left Auckland immediately after informing his Excellency what he wanted in Taranaki. He (the Defence Minister) was left in Auckland ivith the other members of the Ministry. They found his Excellency was much opposed to commencing operations in Taranaki. They had no means of finding it out publicly, but only privately. It was expressed in private correspondence, since published, which his Excellency did not then consider himself justified in showing the Government. The General said, in that correspondence, it would take 20,000 men to finish that campaign and twenty years to do it. That was not encouraging to the Government, who were of opinion that the thing could be done in six weeks. On that, the memo, was written and submitted to his Excellency. The members of the Government had many conferences among themselves as to whether they could dispense with ti«e General and do the work themselves, but lor the reasons he had stated, they came to the conclusion it was quite impossible. That memo, was put in when the Government found out the views of the General. His Excellency then said that the Ministry had agreed with him that this campaign could be conducted by the General, that he had agreed on it with the previous Ministry, and he considered it was a breach of faith to put him in a fix by sendin a memo, of this sort. The argument appeared reasonable to the Government, and they withdrew the memo. The General then went to Wanganui, with orders to the effect that he should give the Government possession of the country between the Patea river where it struck theforcst and the Wanganui river, in order that the Waitotara road might be proceeded with. The General did not carry out those orders ; he went along the coast and not inland at all; he left the Wereroa Pah right in the line of road. His Excellency went to Wanganui about March, to see how things were going on there, and the country was then ia such a critical state from the bad management of the General, that the Government were obliged to take action themselves with regard to Wanganui. The Upper Wanganui natives, m 'he House was aware, had had two or three fights with friendly natives and had been beaten. His Excellency was at Wanganui when a native came down the river and told the Governor he was chief priest of the Huu-haua, that he entirely approved of the soldier's head being carried through the country; that he could not take the oath of allegiance, and that he was not at all frightened of the Governor. His Excellency g.ive thin man twenty-four hours to cle-ir out of the place, saying, that if he caught him after that time, he would imprison him. He went off, and the friendly natives said that meant war in Upper Wanganui. He had not the slightest doubt that it was owing to the General's inaction; the Government, therefore, agreed to take the matter into its own hands, in order that it might show the natives they were not afraid to go into their country, when and where they thought proper, and to secure such posts as might bs necessary to cut off the Maoris' communications The keys of an uncivilised country were not the same as those of one that was civilised, for a Maori could carry everything he wanted on his back; persons, however, knew what it was to turn a native from the beaten track which led to the p:ih. The Government took Pipiriki, because all the pahs converged there. He would tell the House of a little incident which occurred there as he went up, because it showed the necessity of altering their tactics and incurring some risks, if they wished to deal with the natives. As he was going up, he met Mete Kingi, who said to him, " you have done wrong in bringing 200 men, you should have brought 400." He said " why;" Mete Kingi said, " Look at the General; he builds a redoubt and puts 400 men in it, and then goes on a little further, puts up a redoubt, and again places 400 men in it." (A laugh.) He (the Defence Minister) asked how many Maoris would be necessary to occupy Pipiriki, and the answer was "a hundred." He (the Defence Minister) was a little nonplussed at this, and told him that the object of having so many men was that there might be sufficient to form a convoy, but Mete Kingi still said 400 men w.s the proper number. He did not wish to be misunderstood as casting any imputation on the army; he was merely stating a fact showing the views of the natives. The country should be prepared to run considerable risk, to establish its prestige, and occupy the country. The occupation of Pipiriki was a wise measure. They should be prepared to go into the heart of the country, occupy it, and let the communications take care of themselves. That was the only way in which they could possibly do any good in the country. It was not necessary to detail the further operations at Wanganui. The House knew that the General had failed to accomplish his work, and that his Excellency took the Wereroa Pah. That brought him to a very important point—that it was said by the Auckland members that to accomplish all this the Government had abandoned the Waikato, and left it in such a state as to destroy the scheme for settling that district. He

might tell the House that there had never been less than 1600 men of the regular troops, and for a great part of the time more, in the Waikato during the whole of the year. In addition to that there were 2122 of their own men during the month of January on pay there; in February, 2170; in March, 417; in May, 1061; in June, 970; in July, 1204; so that altogether the smallest number of men that had been there at any time was 2600. He would ask hon. members if the district could be in danger. He was not quite clear that the Government did not do wrong in. leaving sa many men there as they did, all the soldiers might have been taken away with safety. He might he told that it was a large district, and that there were extended lines of communication to keep up. He admitted that, but considered that a military commander could hold the district well with that number of men. If he could not, it was perfectly useless for him to take the counsel of the Government. He wished to refer to one other question in which the Government was mv 'h blamed (be was bound to say it) without causs.. That was for not taking more vigorous measures with regard to the horrible murder of Mr Volkner. One of the most painful things connected with that murder was that one having a knowledge of the country, and of the natives, should accuse the Government of being accessory to it, because they removed the Seat of Government. The Government had done everything in their power, and he regretted they were not able to do more than they did. He would like to have despatched a force to Opotiki to secure the murderers, or to punish the natives, but the state of the country and the relations of the Government with General Cameron were such that it could not bb done. The Government, however, requested his Excellency to send a ship of war there. The Government carefully considered the subject of offering a reward at the time, and came to the conclusion that none should be offered. The country was now in every respect in a better state than when they assumed office. (Hear, hear.) The escaped prisoners were abroad then in the North, they had now gone to their homes; the state of the Waikato was satisfactory, and the tribes had given up the confiscated land without indulging i;i any hope of regaining it. The state of Taranaki he had before alluded to. The East Coast would no doubt for some time be a cause of anxiety to the Government, but wi',h the measures which were being taken he had no doubt that in a few months matters would be on a satisfactory footing. With regard to the withdrawal of the troops, the Government had carefully considered what men would be necessary to replace them, and saw no reason to modify their views, except with the object of doing the work with fewer men than had been proposed. The whole matter rested with the Imperial authorities, for the Government had already informed his Excellency and the Imperial Government that they required the troops no longer, and would not pay for them. The Government had not yet proceeded to the enlistment of a permanent force, simply because they had, and should have on pay for some time to come, a larger number than they proposed to have altogether. The Government had at present 2,200 men (Colonial troops) who could not be got rid of, till land was obtained for them ; they were principally in Auckland. It was proposed to commence enlisting for the Colonial force as soon as the Imperinl troops were withdrawn. Another point was, that the Government relied on the population of New Zealand to take care of itself, aided by the Colonial force, who would form a nucleus round which they might rally. With regard to tlie Bill, of which he had moved the second reading, there waa nothing at all new in it, except two points; it provided for the training of the first-class Militia, and for the embodiment of a permanent force. The Bill would be a test of the sincerity of the desire of the House to get rid of the Imperial troops, for unless they were prepared to have a stringent Militia law, and to have the population properly trained, the country could not be defended. He would introduce another measure with regard to the Volunteers. It was intended by the Bill, that there should be compulsory training for the first-class Militia. Under the Act they did not intend to make any distinction between the two Islands. The exemption clauses had been carefully considered, but there might be some objections to them. Natives were exempt, except in certain districts by proclamation, lie might mention that the Government had in their service 103 natives who had been sworn in as Militiamen. Miners were also to be exempt. By the Bill the Governor would be Comm-ander-in-Chief, with the view of having the work under the Defence Office. The Defence Minister then explained some other clauses in the Bill, and concluded by saying thit they should approach the consideration of the Bill in all seriousness, not in any spirit of self-sufficiency, or with any great notion of their own powers, but as practical men, who had a great work given them by God to do, and whosa duty it was to do it. The House should this evening by their votes show that they were prepared to undertake that work, and relying on the strength of God, work out their own salvation in fear and trembliug.