THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, FRIDAY, NOV. 27.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2126, 27 November 1868, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, FRIDAY, NOV. 27.

Tub most gratifying intelligence we have yet received from the North, is that of the successful engagement with Te Kooti and his followers. The force which pursued them fought no doubt with the desperation of men whom desire for vengeance arms with more . than ordinary courage. If there is any means by which the certainty of victory may be secured, it is the recollection of such atrocities as those committed at Poverty Bay. Tho midnight murder and muiilation of men, women, and children would spur the tamest of us into action ; but those who happened to be connected with the victims by ties more or less endearing would sink under no fatigue and quail before no danger, that stood between them and their revenge. Their temporary triumph on the East Coast has sealed the fate of the Hauhaus. We may rest assured that sooner or later every member of that brutal band will fall by the hands of thoso who are now upon its trail .No men with British blood in their veits, fired by such feelings as those which animate the settlers on the East Coast, would consent to lay down the rifle before it had done its work. No one has yet forgotten the story of the Indian Mutiny. There is much that is now passing in the North Island to remind us of more than one passago in that memorable series of events. We are especially reminded of the deep desire for vengeance which animated the British troops as each successive atrocity of the Sepoys was made known. The hour in which that desire was destined to be gratified was long delayed, but it came at last; and no chapter in Indian history is read with more satisfaction by the English reader than that which describes the remorseless day of retribution.

The death of T« Kooti may possibly have tho effect of disbanding hia fanatical followers, should they escape destruction at the preaent time. The faith they have hitherto placed in him as a prophet as well an a warrior served to maintain their courage through the long captivity in the inlands, and the harrassing pursuit among the mountains and gullies since their return to New Zealand. The faith itself was justified by the skill and daring displayed by him. The escape from the Islands was a thorough triumph ; and the prestige of that achievement was maintained throughout the various encounters with our forces under Major Biggs, Captain Richardson, and Colonel Whitmoiib. So long as this chief remained alive, there was an enemy to encounter whom we had every reason to dread. The spectacle of his almost unvarying successes acted as a charm npon the Maori imagination; and with such a prophet to recommend it, the spread of the Hauhau superstition was inevitable. His defeat and death justify the hope that the superstition' iteelf may receive a fatal check. A very serious check it has in any case received. The war on the East Coast has now lost half its terrors. A successful leader is not easily replaced, even among savages; bnt when tho leader happens to bo half prophet and half warrior, the difficulty of replacing him amount* almost to an impossibility.

Before the surviving followers of Ta Kooti can join the forces of Tito Kowaiht, they will have to break through our lines, which now smroond them. It is noi likely they will •ucceed in doing so, especially »i tho management of affairs is in the hands of Mr M'Lkan Our latest intelligence informed us that Opotiki would in all probability be soon attacked by Tb Kooti. That settlement is but three days' march from Poverty Bay; its means of defence are small; and the Uriweras, who are supposed to have formed some alliance with the Eauhaus, have claims npon tho confiscated land in that direction. We had thus every reason to fear that the massacre at Poverty Bay would have been repeated at Opotiki : but from tliat apprehension we are now happily freed.

There is a circumstance that deserves to be noted in connection with this departed ruffian. Bloodthirsty as he has latterly shown himself to be, he abstained from shedding blood when he made his escape from the Chatham Islands. He apparently gave orders to his followers on that occasion to raise no hand against the guard, or against the defenceless settlers on the Islands. It might have been expected that at such a time the Hauhaus would liave indulged in a revel of atrocities. Embittered with a long detention, they might have availed themselves of their sudden release to gratify their savage propensities. There was nothing to prevent them, from murdering every European within reach. It may have been that the good treatment they received from their gaolers softened their hearts. It was so in the case of Sir Geobok Gbey's prisoners, when they broke their paroh d'Jumii&ir and stole away from the vice-regal groves of Kawau. One murder, it is true, was committed when the rush was made upon the guard ; but the murderer was thrown overboard at sea to appease the storm, and at the same time to wipe away the Btain of blood which rested on their hands. It i» a reasonable inference that, if no attempt to capture them had been made, they would have been content to live. at peace. If anything should have weighed with the Government in considering the expediency of such attempts, it was the recollection that the prisoners had taken no advantage of their Midden release to indulge in cruelty. They sought their liberty, and apparently were satisfied when they had gained it.

We are glad to believe that the gentlemen who have taken in hand the establishment of a market in Dnnedin do not intend to abandon the work because of a little discouragement. They have been fortunate in securing the co-operation of

tho Council of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association. We are sure also that public opinion is with them. The want of & general market is felt by all classes, for such an institution is useful to all. Buyers and sellers are equally of opinion that there ought to be no further delay—that both parties are constantly suffering inconvenience, loss, and vexation for want of a sufficient market. Under such circumstances it cannot be doubted that a little earnest perseverance will be rewarded with success. The attitude which the City Council has chosen to take up is unfortunate, but ita decisions are not irrevocable. At the worst it can only delay matters, if the public is really bent upon having its own way. Tho proposals contained in the report of the Markets Committee are altogether beside the mark. So far a» they affect the Southern reserve they have already been Btrongly condemned by public opinion. Tho expenditure proposed for the Octagon Market may, for anything we know, bo quite necessary to make it fit for the special purposes to which it is devoted, without in any way lessening tho need for a proper Market.

It would be difficult to add anything to what has already been said as to the desirability of such a market. It is a mat*er for surprise that anything should be found to bo said on the other aide of the question. Wherever men gather together to form a mercantile community, tho first natural result is the establishment of a market. Time was when the burgesses of incorporated towns, and the lords of manors on whose lands towns had spru igup, wereonly too anxious to secure a privilege the granting of which was a valued prerogative of the Crown. Some of the best among our early Kings thought it an honeur to erect a market hall for some faithful town, the steady allegiance of whose burgesses had been found valuable in troublous times. The burning of a, market house in a provin: cial capital has even been found important enough to evoke a Papal bull directing its restoration by the hand that destroyed it. In our day it is to ourselves, and not to sovereign princes, that we must look to obtain privileges which, if they have not tho same political importance as in feudal times, have lost nothing of their economic value. In this respect, as in many others, our circumstances are much like those of Saxon England. Before their sovereign lords assumed to themselves the right to bestow or withhold their charters for the purpose, markets had been held in numerous places the origin of which is altogether lost—lost as matters of history, but plainly discoverable by the light "of economic science, or by that even of our wants at this hour. The immemorial custom which was held to have equal force with the King's charter, owed its origin to the necessity of the case. It ia impossible to conceive civilisation of the modern type, even in its comparatively rude developments, existing anywhere without markets. With regard to our own case the wonder is that so great a desideratum should still have to be asked for." We '.have more especial reason to be surprised at this when we remember how often the subject has been mooted before. Not only has the matter been repeatedly discussed during tho past half-dozen years by the Press, but it has more than once formed a staple subject of discussion at Municipal Election meetings. Candidates for the Provincial Council too have not forgotten it when wooing for votes. So much had been said about it as to warraht tho Government of the day in asking in 18G3 for a vote of no less than LIO,OOO for the purpose of erecting a Market Hall in Dunedin. Nor is it only in the estimates of that time of profusion that this is recorded ; the vote forms a substantial line in the Appropriation Bill. The money was spent too; how, we need not remind our readers. Our chief object in referring to it is to show that tho demand for a market is no passing popular whim. The want of one is a long recognised and standing grievance^ and it will be a lasting disgrace to our city authorities if it ia not now definitively abated.

The only plausible objection that has been put forward by those who poohpooh tbe market scheme. is the want of funds on the part of the Corporation fr> erect a satisfactory building. Perhaps it was with an eye to this question that the Finance Committee of the City Council urged bo plaintively in its last report that there should be no more borrowing, lest the burden of interest shquld grow to b* more than the ever-murmuring ratepayers can bear. But this objection has no foundation whatever. If a private individual would have ventured to erect a. commodious Market Hall in return for certain privileges for a terra of years, the City Council can have no difficulty in raising the requisite funds, whilst retaining the same and much wider privileges in its own hands in perpetuity. We may say indeed that the money objection is entirely futile. Any body oE business men could find means to raise the money on such security, and we feel quite slire that the Finance Committee will see its way clearly enough on this snbject as soon as its members are convinced that tho market must be had. * • : ,