"LET THE GALLED JADE WINCE."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 666, 2 April 1879, Page 2

"LET THE GALLED JADE WINCE."

[To the. Editor of the Evening Herald.] Sib, — There appears in your paper of April 1 an editorial, and a communication from an esteemed correspondent. The former says : "The efforts of tho repudiation party have ended in discomfiture, and has inflicted incalculable mischief on the districts of Poverty Bay and Hawkes Bay." I think you will admit there are two sides to every question ; that one often looks very well till you see the other ; and I feel sure that you have no desire to create a false impression to the detriment of the district, or to exaggerate that which is said on one side, while you suppress on the other. I will, therefore, ask sufficient space to reply as shortly as possible to such sweeping assertions as are contained in the articles referred to. Firstly, then, in reply to the editorial. The efforts of those who in Napier sought justice for natives who had been Bhamefully or shamelessly imposed on and swindled have been fairly successful ; at any rate quite enough redress has already been obtained to show that it was greatly REQUIRED. Here, it is absurd to speak of discomfiture, for nothing h«B been attempted but has-been successfullj accomplished and everything is to come ; the proof of the pudding remains, and it is likely to be humble pie for some. Who they shall be is locked in my breast. As to any difficulty of leasing or selling native lands, that applies almost equally to any lands, ns witness the late auction sales ; and the true solution is the tight state of the money market ; ! and also the Banks suddenly turning and rending their customers. The assertion that " natives are advised to repudiate what they have sold and been paid for " is so extremely indefinite and general that one must ask

when 1 where ? and by whom 1 One can't undertake the defence of every native doctor all over the island. So far as this place, and the natives acting under competent advice 'fere ia concerned, I feel "-'confident that you cannot deduce an example to justify the assertion. That the natives are utterly demoralised, lam quite ready to admit. I may perhaps be allowed to enquire — by whom? As to repudiationists being men of straw, it may be so ; you will, however, admit that they are men of brains, and pluck. ■--■-. ..-..,, This, however, is becoming personal, and it strikes me that those who call others Btraw, have themselves a somewhat intimate acquaintance with one of its products — paper. If no other causes lead to the ruin of any paper here, at least repudiation won't" harm it. Now f>r the "esteemed correspondent " who says that we are drifting into the same unsettled condition as regards native matters as the West Coast. I would ask any sensible, reflecting man, who has a fair share of .brains, and who is unprejudiced and uninterested, to say whether there is any similitude between the state of natives who proceed in a perfectly legal manner, and whose only remedy is sought in a court of law, and those whose idea of obtaining right is by resort to arms. Your "esteemed correspondent" is evidently either entirely uninformed, or misinformed, or else desirous of creating a false impression regarding the matters of which he strives to write. But his own words show his in consistence, for he says-: — " they are quietly taking possession ;" whereas, he first would create the im pression that we are on the verge of a native disturbance. As to all he says about Mr. Bees, the greater part is absolutely garbled, and untrue. The trust deed does sit out the committee. But Mr. Bees will hardly care what the esteemed correspondent thinks. The true criterion as to the good that Mr. Bees will do, is the feeling with which he is regarded by nine out of every ten men in the place. It is true there are a. few who will be affected, and who, even now, are setting up a howl, and blubbering before the rod is laid on, but the majority deaire to see the titles settled satisfactorily, and the land opened for settlement by the small farmer. What does the great majority care whether the one or two like it or not 1 It would be far wiser if those- having dickey titles were to pay more attention to patching them up, than to trying to write, articles which if they were true would be simply amusing. — I am &c, Troth.