DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 24.

Otago Witness, Issue 921, 24 July 1869, Page 13

DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JULY 24.

The comparative cessation of hostilities in the North Island appears to be chiefly due to the gathering of Maori chiefs and their followers at Tokangamutu, the residence of King Tawhiao. The accounts as to the origin and object of this great meeting are conflicting and by no means clear. Rewi's object in promoting it is stated, by those most likely to be well informed, to be the establishment of peace between several tribes of the King natives and the Arawas, our faithful East Coast allies. Another account, however, makes him the ally of Te Kooti, for whom he has obtained permission to enter the King's country with a small band of his followers, and to attend the meeting of which we have spoken. Te Kooti's object is stated to be no less than to invite the present Maori monarch to resign his sovereignty, and accept him as his successor. This project ia gravely attributed to the merciless marauder of the Fast Coast by an Auckland paper. We need hardly say that it is discredited by those on whom we should be disposed to place moat reliance — the men whose acquaintance with Maori ways and modes of thinking is the moat extensive. Te Kooti, though at present a most important personage in our eyes, on account of the horrible butcheries ot settlers and friendly natives in which ho has been the leader, and on account of the blood and treasure which the chase of him has cost us, ifl not a man of such position amongst those of his own race as to have earned a title to the throne by the exploits of the past twelvemonths. To say nothing of inferior birth, he is no greater warrior, or, as some one has expressively put it, he has not shown himself more ferocious and bloodthirsty, than a score of other men of more influential and of more distinguished ancestry. The mere fact that he appears at Tokangamutu as the prottgc of Rbwi ought to be sufficient to convince us that this tale, however accredited, has no substantial foundation. The fact that Te Kooti has been at war with the Arawas and others with whom Rkwi desirea to see all Maoridom at peace, appears to be quite sufficient to account for his presence under Rewi's protection at The point of most importance for ub in connection with this JNative meeting, is precisely the one on which we are the most completely left in the dark. Is it a peaceful or a warlike demonstration as respects the Pakeha ? On the face of things, there would appear to be every reason for alarm, since, if war were not meant, what could bo the object of bo formidable a gathering of cMofe and tribes 9 Thn ( professions of Tawhiao and the more i influential of his supporters, that their

desire is for peace, are discredited by a grtsat many persons. Colonel Whit* MOKEi for instance, in a speech he made in the Legislative Council, ' expressed his conviction that Tawhiao would come to open rupture with us- just so soon as he found that he could ' no longer fight us through others.' To those of this way of thinking, every sign connected with this meeting at Tokangamutu speaks of war. The tfe" moval of the last remnant of the InT perial troops at this very juncture they very reasonably point to as an absolute incentive to a declaration of war against us, by those to whom revenge for Waikato would be so sweet. There is another class of men, however, who know quite as much, if not more, than these croakers do, of the temper of the Maoris, who take an entirely different view of matters. They believe that when Rewi lately said : ' I have caused this mischief and I will now heal it,' or words to that effect, that he was sincere ; and that his present efforts to 1 effect a reconciliation between the Bast Coast tribes, who have been at enmity for more than a generation, are distinctly madein the interests of peace with the settlers too. They also appeal to the tiyi times repeated declarations of T«rf"6iAo that < peace shall prevail.' What we take to be of more significance still is the relaxation of that prohibition of intercourse between Natives within the line of the aukati and our Waikato settlers, which has lately been evident. The very last news we have from Alexandra (Waikato) states that the Maoris had brought cattle and pigs for sale to the aettlers, as if no aukati existed. There is another consideration of no little weight, which does not seem to have attracted the notice it deserves. The Arawas are our oldest and most faithful allies. They are now invited to make peace with hereditary enemies. They are not likely to do so, if the result will be to leave the latter more at liberty to attack the white mnn. We confess that these various considerations make us lean towards the more favourable interpretation of these signs of the times.