OUR TROUBLES IN NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2256, 29 April 1869, Page 3

OUR TROUBLES IN NEW ZEALAND.

(The Pall Mall Gazette.)

The accounts trora Now Zealand may be said to confirm the worst anticipations which peo; lo acqu intcd with, the colony had formed respecting its condition. There is, indeed, nothing in them to induce us to apprehend any aerious impediment to the general progress of the young commonwealth in material civilization. It is not always borne in mind that New Zealand is not only a region of very great extent, but that it ia cut up by seas and raDgea of mountains into a number of separate districts which have no connection with each other beyond that of a mere geographical name j that that there are scarcely «ny natives at all in the great Southern Inland, which now oontaina a much larger European population than ita Northern s ster ; that to the sheep farmers of Canterbury anil the gold diggers of Otago an outburst of the Maori savages is merely a foreign event, except so far as they may be called onto contribute towards the expense of suppressing it; and that even in the Northern Island itself the great Auckland peninsula and other chief local s-jats of Kuropean enterprise aro far removed, practically, from the dangers of native war. In fact. New Zealand is a country, liko ancier t Greece or modem Switzerland, which nature seems to have intended for the seat of a number of small republics, connected by some loose tie of federation only. And it may be doubted, although the doubt comes much too late, whether her institutions ought not to have been framed to suit this obvious model. In that case, either the districts obnoxious to native incursion would have been held by Imperial troops and authorities, apart from the rest, or, if Imperial force was not employed, settlers would have abstained from occupying those districts too hastily, or else would have learnt the necessity of Belf-defecce. As it is, they spread into such remote and defenceless localities, for instance, as Poverty Bay on the eastern coast, in reliance on the "general government." Bat tho general government is a body chosen and kept in power fy force of a majority, that majority being composed of representatives of little communiti< s scattered all round the ialands, very few of which have ever had any trouble with natives or are likely to have any. To them, therefore, economy furnishes by far the most popular watchword which a Government or an Opposition can use. And now that British troops are withdrawn, economy simply means unpreparedcesß to prevent native excesses by a strong police or to repress native outrages when they have grown into rebellion. People far in tho south, seven or eighs hundred miles away, are not likely to relish taxation in order that a few European stragglers in the extreme northeast may extend their industrial operations in tho face of a multitude of armed savagt-s bt ill less are the youth of those peaceful provinces likely to enlist aa volunteers, in order to encounter gratuitously the fatigues and danger* of campaigns with tho moat warlike race of savages with whom Europeans have as yet bad to deal. Tho conseqneoce of this too familiar state of things in New Zealand is, ia tho first instance, failnre and retreat in the face of an enemy weak in numbers, but who never seems to lose an advantage ; then general discouragement, and unsparing recrimination. How far these unsatisfactory results have already developed themselves may be read ia the recent letter of the Times correspondent from Wellington j masterly, as usual, ia respect iof the clear and precise view which it gives lof events, bat pregnant with reproaches, ex-

pressed or implied, against tho local government and ajjoimt individuals; these will * y-and-by bring a plentiful crop of justifications and retorts, for all which tin public service will be little the better.

Unless thinga take a bettor turn than the last advice* seem to indicate, it is but too probiblo that help from home will bo appli.d for. And we camoS expect that any Government will turn a deaf ear to a call made in earnest, with evidence before it that the fate of lives and property to a very scrioas extent may hang on their determination. Supposing, howerer, that the Colonial Government is «v[ual in its own judgment to meet tho emergency, tho best wars?, in all wotability, winch they could take is one which we scarcely count on tho community possessing civil cocrngo enough to submit to. Tho Northern Island should !bo placed under a temporary dictatorship. 11« resources should be employed at the absolute discretion «■£ the Executive creatod for tho occasion. That Executive shculd be rendered, as nearly as such a word c»n bo with safety used, irresponsible until the emergency ia over. It should enrol a military force, calling it by whatever name might awm adapted to the case. Reliance on volunteets in such a matter ia idle. Volunteers will fight hard enough in defence of their own homesteads, and to punish injuries inflicted on themselves, or in the general enthusiasm of national self-defence ; or, again, where substantial advantages are to be earned by fighting. But thoy will not Bcrve steadily where none of these object a are within view, and the only purpose is to protec* a number of outlying settlers against an enemy continually at hand, by the exorcise of constant and troublesome watchfulness even more than of valour, That is tho business of a militia, or an armed polico, strong in numbers and underabsoluto direction ; not a plaything for " responsible" Ministries in tho colonial sense. But the dictatorship, which appears indispensable under present circumstances for tho Northern Island, is, of course, not requisite for the Southern. Its proper function would bo tho self-denying one of contributing liberally to tha expense of tho general government, without impeding unity of notion by interference with its military or police arrangements. Tho sii'stantial co-operation of all New Zealand for the purpoan of suppressing disturbances which endanger only a small part of it will bo extremely difficult to secure. If it cannot be secured, separation of tho two islands is the only alternative, and it is by no means certain that in tho long run this arrangement will not be the moat advantageous, as well as satisfactory, to both. But in the meantime tho function of the Imperial Government is to make tho htst of ex sting circumstance*. If any assistance in troops is to bo given to New Zealand, tho contribution of the Southern Island, to the full extent of its means, must be insisted on an an indispensable accompaniment. Wo imust take care that tho Colonial Office does not allow itself to bo seduced into tho proverbial tenicney of its mother country to " mako things pleasant" by bribes to his noisy offspring. Already tho old colonial cry begins to make itself heard through tho columns of some of our contemporaries Already wo are told that the want o{ defensive preparation in New Zealand ia owing to poverty —that tho is'ands are " dreadfully indebted and comtequcntly over-taxed ;" that thin n suit is mainly owing to tho " vacillating, now petting, and now again imperious, policy of tho Colonial Office ;" the lestton deduced therefrom being that wo arc to lend or give more money to one of tho most thriving young communities on tho surfaco of tho globe. Tho reasoning in as unfounded as tho conclusion is dan^cous. That tho po'icy of tlio Colonial Oflko has been moat vacillating in relation to Now Zealand is true enough; but tho net result of j tho vacillation has simply been the expenditure of a moat unnecessary anv.uut of British money, not to mention Britinh livea, for the benefit of tho colony. If we had been firmer at homo, tho colonists would hive met with less extravagant indulgence. To mako this a reason for claimiutf further indulgence is a little too bad. It i 8 like tho easo of a spoilt son, who import unca his parents for further advances, on the ground that their | " vacillating policy," in threatening to cloao '■ the purse strings, and then opening them again to his importunities, has led him into difliculties. If Now Zealand absolutely needs tho help of tho stronger arm, given it must be; but not, wo most Bincercly trust, in the shape of money, and least of all as an acknowledgement of a debt due from us.

Once possessed of a really firm defensive organiaation, with an arrnea irregular force raised by compulsory levy, and with fortified posts covering the most endangered locAlities, it ia quite iup'tst'-lo that the settled parts of the Northern Island can bo in serious danger from a few thousand Maoris, brave men and born tacticians aa they have shown themselves, especially when it is evident that we have a large Dumber, probably a majority, of the fighting natives on our Hide. On the eastern coast, indeed, the anvogo msusnero committed by the Haubans, stirring to vengeance not only the Europeans, but ouinativo allies also, will, in all probability, havo brought down ample retribution before tho next advices nro dcHpatched to na. In the west, and especially the neighbourhood of Wanganui, as far aa wo can understand tho accounts before uu, things look more serious. "Tito Kowaru," though hia proceedings* have as yet been unmarked by the ferocity exhibited by Te Kooti and hifl bandits, is in all probability a much more formidable enemy. Ho is apparently in close connection with the remnant of that old Maori organisation which has given us bo much trouble already. A very slight suceeßs on his part may bring the fiercest spirits and most experienced fighters oi the race into collision with tho European in one laat desperate struggle ; for if it assumed tho proportions of a rebellion, it would assuredly prove the laßt. Insulated outbreaks and massacres there would bo for some time to come, but ware no more, unless, indeed, wo sent out more British regiments to render war profitable to all parties concerned except ourselves. Aa for the retribution to be exacted, we shrink from it» contemplation with a most painful sense of impotency to avert it. Our shortcomings may have hem great, our injustice towards these people committed to our tutelage in some cases indefeasible; we hope, indeed, tho account does not stand so heavy against us as some allege ; but, whether or no, wn cannot enter into that discussion now. The blood of our own kindred, our industrious and inoffensive settlers, butchered in their homesteads without provocation and without warning, calls for punishment; and ample security against the repetition of such horrors must bo takin, at whatever cofit to those who have occasioned them. But it is a happy circumstance, and tlie only one on which we can congratulate ourselves in tho whole prospect before us, thai this is not a feud of Europeans against natives, but of Europeans and friendly natives against bands of fanatics. At Poverty Bay our friends were murdered by our side in the proportion of thirty of them to twenty.fjve Europeans ; and (if wo may believe the account*) not a few of these died &* martyrs, choosing death in preference to renouncing the faith implanted in them by the missionaries in those happier days when Christian hope seemed to dawn for New Zealand. We are spared, therefore, that most miserable of spectacles, the indiscriminate and unsparing animosity of ektn against skin. The ultimate destiny predicted for thin unhappy race may appear tut too probable. But before it arrives, if it must arrive, we have, at least, the duty before us of rewarding and encouraging tboso who have fought by our B:de, and of protecting those who nave fled from, instead of abetting, the sanguinary fjinaticiam of the invaders.

{TJve. Standard) To tell the New Zealand colonists thai they most learn to defend thomselvea against the sawgeav—thftt they have no claim upon England for'aMiafeance—is virtually to " cut the^dntcr 1"—to tell them that they are a separate nation, and to declare that our , colonial emjire is dissolved. If we wo not

prepared to say this—if New Zonland is still, a part of our empire, its Ntw ZwUond earnestly priya to continue, it is a denial o£ the claims of nature, no K-ss than an ofTcnou to humanity, to declare that we haro no interest in their nwaacra ; tint they must* take care of themselves ng.iiu<>t the enemy wo have m.ido for them. Tho truer difficulty of tho case, however, ia rather a financial than a military one. Alttnugh it is not rif?ht tint tin; colonists should b© left entirely without military protection, &n«L although they have a e'etr riglt to help* even in tho shape of a rudiment or two of English soldiers, it is u> questionably true* th»i the bt'sfc pennant at h'.«lp wo can givo. them is in the shape t»f money—that m, itt helping them to raise money. The cdony is at present paying something like six and a half per cent, on account of its dobt of nearly six millions. While the credit of the mother country stands so much higher than that of the colony, there is no good reaaou why wo should not make u.vo of it to relieve, tho necessities of tho New Zealand Government, and to relieve ourselves aa well of ouc Imperial obligation,.

(7V Times.) In itself economy is a good thing, but Uiq safety of life and property is a better, and this tho colonists do not r. i'cm to have understood. They will now learn the lesson that to raise a corps of a few hundred Europeans will bo money wellspent. It cannot bedrfiiculfc to find a sufficientntttubi-r in thoco'ouyaadia Australia. Their most available field for recruiting, however, will be the Maori districts themselves. It is quite within the financial resources of the colony to raise several regi. ments of friendly Maoris, and make them, effective soldiers within less time than a body of British troops wonld take in reaching Now Zea'and. On the uther hand, it in but reasonable that tho colonists should exercise their judgment in their dealings with tho rebel natives. If they have to do tha work, they must bo allowed to choose the? measurcß. Tho Homo Government has hitherto interfered continually in this matter, as it had a right to do when it was fighting tho battles of tho colonialß. But we have now abdicated this position with its privileges as well as its duties. Henceforth tk* two races must bo left to Bettlo accounts withi each other ; and the colonists may justly b«t credited with a 1 otter knowledge than » Minister at this sido of tho globo of what ia for the advantage of their own country.