THE AVAR IN NEW ZEALAND. (From the Sydney Herald.)

Otago Witness, Issue 489, 13 April 1861, Page 6

THE AVAR IN NEW ZEALAND. (From the Sydney Herald.)

We are glad to see, from an article iv the Times, that the duty of the Crown to assert its sovereignty in New Zealand is accepted with all its consequences. There can be no question that war having come upon us, there is but one way in which it can be determined with honour or safety. We believe that inquiry will show that it has not been provoked by the colonists, and that the Government has done more rather than Jess, than ought to have been done for the preservation of peace. It is however, necessary to recognise clearly the causes of that difficulty which besets the war in New Zealand. Our soldiers are praised and blamed often with little consideration. We shall in a few words point out what we consider to be the real state of the facts, and what is," in our opinion, indispensable to establish firmly the authority of Great Britain. In the first place, the New Zealanders, man for man, are equal to European soldiers in pluck, in activity, in strategy, and all those qualities which may be considered as individual We do not know that this is any dishonour, for we are not aware of any charter from heaven to the British or Irish peasant which renders him superior in physical faculties to the finest aboriginal race in the world. Considered in this light, what are the circumstances of the two combatants ? The English are in a country where all the ordinary forms of war are unavailable. The enemy has behind him a thicket absolutely impenetrable excepting by persons armed ana accoutered only like himself. He is trained from infancy to pass through tbe forests of his country. He has trodden the land he defends ; the European has not. He has, therefore, every advantage in the knowledge he possesses as well as in his habits. On the other hand, the British soldier is often unsuitably clad. The warfare to which he is called renders use"less a large portion of his training, and he would be far more successful had he been accustomed to bush life than possessing the utmost advantage to be derived from parade and ordinary military training. In fair open fight the result has proved that the British soldier is a match for the Maori, and superior from the ordinary quality of his arms. It is, however, a mistake to suppose that the natives are so badly provided with ammunition or weapons of war. They have the means of procuring them from dishonest or traitoi-ous Europeans who make a profit by the troubles of their kindred. It must be remembered that the natives have nothing to defen 1, and that this constitutes one great difficulty our troops have had hitherto to meet. We are obliged to maintain our communications and to defend the towns. The native retreats from one point to another with silent celerity, and when his pah is demolished — however elaborately constructed — he has only to secure a retreat in time. This circumstance alone must make a great difference in the extent of force necessary for *l»e si> sg;igation of tbe native*.

From all the facts that nave come to our knowledge it appears most desirable thaj. tho English soldiers Bhould be clothed and arine<3i for bush fighting, and that so large a force should be stationed in New Zealand, as may secure the protection of the towns against sur-

prise and strengthen the moral power of the Government over the hesitating natives. The best course England could pursue in the crisis would be to despatch military colonists to settle on the lands of New Zealand, and permanently garrison the country. It is hopelesa to suppose that the natives will be subjugated but by the continued presence of a formidable force, and by a steady repression, which will make it impossible for them ever to rise again with the slightest chance of success. If this fine race of men are to be saved from slow but perfect destruction, the power of England must be asserted with vigour, and the value of New Zealand must be appreciated, not by its immediate capabilities, but by the position it will inevitably occupy in the chain of civilisation. We believe it is quite impossible for England to over-estimate its worth.

However, to make it sure, force and money must be employed beyond anything, perhaps, even the Colonial Office has yet contemplated. A mistake upon this point will only entail a long and disastrous war, or a succession of petty wars, and, we have no doubt, a much larger sacrifice of human life. Fifty gallant men haVe already fallen in this miserable conflict.