AFFAIRS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 637, 13 February 1864, Page 17

AFFAIRS IN NEW ZEALAND.

OPINIONS OF THE ENGLIBH PRESS. The intelligence which has reached us from New Zealand, though less striking in its details than tbat conveyed by the last mail, will be received with satisfaction. The Maoris have evidently determined on waging, as long as possible, an irregular war similar to that which some years since taxed the energies and the valour of the colonists to the utmost; but on the present occasion the promptitude of the authorities, together with the active cooperation of the military under General Cameron, bid fair to nip the insurrection in the bud. Although no engagement has taken place between the troops and the natives since the departure of the preceding mail, the former have been far from idle. Steadily and progressively advancing his outposta, General Cameron has succeeded in securing such a position as must give him a decided advantage in the event of the Maoris risking a general engagement. In the conduct of such a war as that in which our troops in New Zealand are now engaged it is needless to observe that the tactics of what, for want of better terms, may be called civilised or scientific warfare, find no place. Fighting in detached bodies, seldom emerging from forests in which they find ready cover, except for the purpose of nocturnal raids, or the sudden surprise of detached bodies of troops or colonists, the Maoris are enabled to dictate the terms on which they will give or accept battle. Possessing undoubted courage and no little confidence in their own skill and valor, they not unfrequently expose themselves, as on the recent occasion at Kohiroa, to the attacks of the royal troops under circumstances when the disadvantages with which the latter have generally to contend are comparatively diminished. But even then the natives fought under the cover of rifle-pits, and they did not at any time attempt to receive the attacks of the troops on the open ground. Under these circumstances the General in command is necessarily obliged to proceed with extreme caution, and, if possible, to force or to induce his opponents to accept a general engagement. It is with this object that the late operations of General Cameron have been conducted, and there is every reason to hope tnat they will be crowned with success The force of tlie regular troops at present in New Zealand is comparatively unimportant, but there can be no doubt that the Governor will have at his disposal a considerable number of volunteers. The colonists are alive to the necessity of striking such a blow on the present occasion as will deter the Maoris iv future from attempting to revolt. Large numbers of volunteers were daily arriving at Auckland when the mail left. They came, not only from the New Zealand settlements, but from Australia. Measures have been taken for their immediate organisation, and many" have been already employed in maintaining the communications between the several towns in the colony. Independently of the im-? mense assistance given by those volunteers' to the Government, their attitude cannot but have the effect of convincing the natives of the madness of the enterprise which they have undertaken. The calculations of William Kingi, Rewi, Thompson, and the other chiefs were based, doubtless, upon the comparative insignificance, in point of numbers, of the troop 3 at the disposal of the Government. But when they find that every able-bodied man in the colony is up in arms, they will see the propriety of desisting from an unequal struggle. It was impossible for the colonists to submit to the outrages committed, without the slightest provocation, by the natives, and the result of the present war will be that such outrages will not be committed in future. The natives have no cause for complaint, nor can they advance the slightest pretext for the present attempt to subvert the Colonial Govern-

ment. The entire tendency of British policy in New Zealand for some years past has been to place the colonial and the aboriginal population upon the same footing. Every inducement has been held out to the natives to accept the British sway, and to participate in the benefits which are incidental to it. For some time sanguine expectations were entertained that our policy would be crowned with success. But those expectations have been disappointed. Again and again the savage nature of the Maori displays itself, and convinces us of the difficulty of the task we have undertaken. But if persuasion tails, force must be employed. We have, after immense labor, effected a settlement in the colony of New Zealand. We cannot now leave it simply because a race of barbarians is unwilling that we should remain.— Morning Star, November 17.

The condition of affairs in New Zealand is dangerous enough to task all the energy of the Europeans. The state of things has passed beyond relief by policy, for the whole of the white race on the island is threatened with a war of extermination. The settlement is exactly in the position of the first colonies of New England during the great league of the Indian tribes. It was a matter for anxious calculation to ascertain what chiefs remained friendly, or could he detached from the alliance or kept neutral, for numerically the odds were sorely against the immediate descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers. Dealing much more tenderly with the New Zealand natives than the first American colonists ever did with the redskins, we have nursed them into dangerous enemies in much less time. How the result of our consideration should be so completely the reverse of what we intended, is a question that would require a long answer. But, considering all we have done to "elevate the native character," and protect the Maori on the height to which we believed we had brought him, it is not satisfactory to find that, with the exception of the few tribes living north of the Auckland isthmus, or in the extreme northern end of the Northern Island, and a few chiefs and their followers among the southern tribes, viho still remain friendly, the whole native population is raised against her Majesty's authority. Nor are all the clans or tribes in the country north of Auckland to be depended on. The assurance of their loyalty is very frail. Some of them have been tampered with by emissaries of the Maori King, and notwithstanding the good feeling ascribed to them, any success of their countrymen in the field would, we fear, be followed by their revolt. The chief movers in the struggle are the Waikato Maoris, whose lands are on the river of that name, scarcely forty miles south of the town of Auckland itself. These natives are in open hostility to us, and against them all the military operations have been directed. They were driven out of one of their forts at Kohiroa on the 17th of July last, but we now hear of them again in another well-chosen position on the banks of the Waikato. There they have constructed a " perfect network of rifle-pits." Their pah, or fort, is of the "strongest character;" and as the approaches are also described as difficult, the attack, it is anticipated, will entail some danger and much loss. General Cameron was making great preparations for the capture of this stronghold, and we hope to hear that it has been taken as rapidly and with as little loss as the last place of the kind. The Eclipse steamer had twice passed the Maori position and thrown shells into it with effect. This second fort, therefore, could scarcely be considered so strong as the first, which General Cameron took so quickly. But as the war has only begun, and the natives build such stockades with exceeding facility, we might do well to recollect that our regular attacks on these native works have more frequently failed than succeeded. If: the assault be repulsed, the loss of men is sure, to be heavy. If it succeed, the natives have aiways escaped, and the work has to be repeated against another position of the same kind. Should the war last, it ! may be prudent to calculate whether any native pah can be worth attacking by the usual mode of assault. That the natives build them in the hope that we shall thus attack them is evident, and we have always gratified them by doing so, with certain loss in the rush on an invisible enemy who can glide away at the last moment like a snake into the bush. Perhaps the militia and volunteers of the colony may devise some mode of baffling the Maoris quite as effective, if less dashing, than the old practice.—*' Times," 19th November.

A Sleepy Fellow.— l there le»mt that a man, a farrier, at twelve o'clock of the last night, being drunk, had fallen overboard. In the six or seven minutes, during which he was in the water, the boat was lowered, and he was picked up; his eyes, however, were so sealed with sleep and gin that he did not awake until he had been on deck soms time. He now remembers nothing. How delightful this turtle-sailing must be ! He was, however, ia my, opinion, an unlucky fellow, as. he did not sleep through the voyage. \

NEW ZEALAND EXHIBITION, 1865. ] THE BUILDING. Messrs Cornwell and Horseman, the contractors for the Exhibition Building, are making good progress with their work. They commenced actual building operations about three weeks ago; and already 1400 loads of blue stone have been used and the basement is veiy nearly completed. At first, there were some fears as regarded the foundation : the employment of concrete was not considered improbable. But when a i.ot very deep stratum of peaty bog had been removed, a shale or shingle bottom was found, than which nothing could afford a more satisfactory foundation, for so substantial a structure, as is to be raised. There is abundance of clay within the reserve, which is as good for brick making as any yet used in the Province. Half a million of bricks will be needed: and already 200,000 of them have been moulded, and the larger proportion of them kilned. At each corner of the building, a well has been sunk, and a plentiful supply of water has been obtained from between the clay and the gravel, which is useful for other purposes than mor-tar-making. A work shop 100 ft. long is being run up for the as* of carpenters and joiners, of whom a considerable number will be required for a short time*, so that it will be much more economical and expeditious to have them together, on the ground, than to have the work disposed over different yarda : there being as yet no single yard in the city sufficiently extensive to meet the requirements of the contract. The basement will be finished by the 17th instant, when the corner-stone i 3 to be laid; and there will then be a mass of stone work 14ft high towards Great King street, where the land is lowest, aud averaging from 3ft to 4ft thick. The stone which is to be laid, to receive in the prepared cavity the different documents and coins which will be deposited during the coming ceremony, will, when dressed, be 3ft 9in long, 3ft broad, and 2ft deep, being the largest mass yet dressed in the Province. The cor-ner-stone proper will, of course, be of less dimensions, but still it will be a fine block. Both are of bluestone, and have been got from a quarry in the Town Belt, at a point nearly due west of the site of the building, and which the contractors have been permitted to open. The bluestone for the basement has been obtained from a quarry in Maclaggan street.

We have already stated that the building will be 140 ft long and 108 ft wide; and we now append a few particulars as to the intended erection. The style will be Italian, and while appropriate, enough for the purpose to which the building is specially to be applied, it will be particularly appropriate for the ultimate purpose — that of a general market. Except in the basement, brick will be the material used, and the whole exterior will be stuccoed. The ground or lower story will be boldly rusticated ; there being on each side

five flat-arched windows flanking a central doorway. A decorated string-course and cornice will mark the division between the storys, the upper one having two rows of windows ; one series being three-light, divided by pilasters, and having circular heads, while the other will be nearly square and not at all relieved. Should it be found necessary to block up the former series during the continuance of the Exhibition — as will no doubt be the case, in order to obtain a sufficiency of wall-space— there will still be abundance of light in the gallery, from the small square windows and the central lantern. A cornice and balustrade will complete the elevation, which will have a height of 35ft, except that between the central pilasters on each side, a pediment will be intro duced. We have spoken of. a central entrance in each front of the building — towards ' Great King street and Cumberland street. It must be added that this entrance will, in each case, be through a tower which will have a square of 26ft, and will rise to a height of 120 ft from the present grouad level. In the gallery story the tower will have a window of three lights, each long and semi-circular headed, the whole flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a pediment. Then will come the cornice, which will be heavier and more enriched than along the general line of the building ; and above it, in each face of the tower will be a window with a balustraded balcony. There will be still a fourth height, nearly plain, covered by a sharply-pitched roof, and surmounted hj a flag-staff. At each angle of the building, there will be a small turret or miniature campanile, finished after the style of the towers, but less elaborately. The ends of the building — fronting Frederickstreet and Hanover street— will have each a central doorway; and the details of the work will correspond with those in the main elevations.

So much for the exterior, the effect of which promises to be exceedingly pleasant — not at all fantastic, but appropriate and solid. In the interior, there will be a gallery 16ft. high and 26ft. wide, running round the building; and the roof will be slightly coved and have in its centre a high lantern-light, 6C-ft. long. The question of decoration remains yet to be discussed by the Royal Commissioners or those whom they may apDoint.

We understand that the building is to be roofed in and ready for the plasterers by the Ist of May ; so that Messrs Cornwell and Horseman will have a busy time of it, to keep within their contract limits.

The streets in the neighborhood of the building, are undergoing a rapid and most satisfactory transformation. Messrs Lonnie, Geggie, and Co. will in a few days complete their contract for the formation of Great King street south, from Staart street to Frederick street, That portion of the street, from a succession

of hillocks and of clay, with hollows of bog ' and stream, has become a fine level drive, i folly formed, although not metalled to so great a width as might be desirable. But more metal may be found, if the Government, when they see how well the L.35,000 loan has been expended in different parts of the city, can only be induced to advance more money, for the permanent completion of those streets which have now' necessarily 'to be left somewhat incomplete. Mr Mackenzie is at work on Great King street north ; and when he has done there will be a nearly level and perfectly straight road not much less than two miles long. Hanover street, St. Andrew street, Frederick street, and Cumberland street, will Bpeedily be commenced; and when they have been completed, the site of the Exhibition Building will be approachable in all directions. ■ We may add, that for the ceremony of the 17th instant, a large gallery will oe erected, specially for the use of ladies ; and that announcement being made, the Commissioners may expect the politest but the most persistent applications for tickets.