The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 801, 5 June 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JUNE 5, 1879.

The columns of the newspaper press published m the North Island teem with comments on the present threatening aspect of Native affairs, not only at New Plymouth, but m other disaffected districts. It is well, then, that our readers who naturally feel deeply interested m the possible outcome of the Native difficulties, should have placed before them the opinions expressed m other journals who appeared to have studied the subject from the variotis sources of communication that have been placed within their reach. The Auckland Stanr makes the following comments : — " The old days of panics are being revived m Taranaki. Seven settlers m the Oakura district — -the scene of a massacre m 1863 — have received the usual Maori notice to quit which often is the precursor of violence ; a knife has been brandished m the faces of a settler's children, and small bands of Maori raiders are at work asserting their right to re-occupation of settled portions of confiscated lands by running a plough-furrow through them. It would appear that there is a revival, on a small scale, of the superstitious mania which accompanied the Hauhau fanaticism when frenzied prophets deluded an ignorant and credulous race into a belief m their invulnerability and excited them to recklessness. Te Whiti, m whose madness there appears to be some method, has acquired a powerful influence over the minds of his followers, and their numbers have considerably increased since the Waimate meeting. Probably by this time Pariaka has become the

very focus of a band of ruffians and desperadoes with a natural thirst foi loot and bloodshed, and such instru ments are ready to the hand of a fanatical leader like Te Whiti, whc wields with tenfold power over the minds and lives of the Natives the influence of the " tohungas." Noth ing but promptitude and firmness can stamp out the small flame whicb has been kindled at Oakura. Vacilla tion and temporizing at such a juncture would be mistaken bj Maoris for weakness and fear, li must be admitted, however, that the condition of unpreparedness foi attack and abandonment of vigilanct into which frontier settlers m various parts of the North Island have fallei since the war, leaves them ilipreparec for emergencies like this at Oakura and renders them peculiarly sus pectible to panic. The spectacle o a few Natives going from house t( house and scattering consternation is not one which could exist under ai organized volunteer defence system." Referring to the overt acts of ag gression by Te Whiti, the sauii journal says. "The fact that * murderer of helpless women anc children, or harmless bushmen, ii allowed full liberty within a few milei of centres of population; is enough t< unnerve the settlers, when everything does not go smoothly. We are n< prophets after the event, and do no wish to raise the cry of wolf need lessly, but we long ago foretold tha trouble would arise m this part of thi island through the vacillating policj of the late head of Native affairs There has been no firmness m ou character when dealing with th< natives, and the latter have not beei slow to observe the fact, or take ad vantage of it. Perhaps the greates exhibition of firmness on the part o the Government of late years was Si: George Grey's ultimatum at Kopua when the Premier was enabled t< withdraw an offer which, m ou; opinion, ought never to have beei made. We trust the same firmnesi will be continued m our future ne gotiations, and that the settlers wh< are m immiuent fear of a Maor rising on the West Coast will b< promptly assisted to repel anything approaching thereto. The experienc< of the past is painful, and thosi settlers m isolated localitie: surrounded by such villains as T< Whiti's followers, possess no as surance of safety. The condition o helplessness m which they find them selves must be one demanding no merely our sympathy, but our assist ance, and we are pleased to find tha there are not wanting on the Thamei men willing to volunteer thei: services m such an hour of need. W< trust their praiseworthy oiler wil not require acceptance ; but the ol< advice about keeping the powder drj cannot be too strongly commended t< the notice of the authorities ; and i gratifying to find that a small bodi of armed men have been quickly con veyed from the Constabulary depo m Wellington to the nearest port t< the scene of the difficulty, m readinesi for any emergency. Whilst deprecat ing any rash step likely to pre cipitate a series of Maori attacks oi defenceless settlers, we nevertheles: approve of prompt action with a viev to the defence of districts where thesi threats are made." The Bay of Plenty Times says :— "The Native outbreak at Oakun has assumed a more serious aspec than the first accounts led us to ex pect. The Maoris, m the assertiot of their supposed rights, have no only driven the settlers off their lands but signalised their proceedings bj plundering some of the business es tablishments, and seizing on anything they could find. All threats of lega proceedings they regard with con tempt, boasting that their number* leave them quite secure from arrest as no officer of the law would dare to trust himself on such an errand ir their midst. By way of protest we suppose against pakeha intrusion these dusky patriots donned theii feathers and mats, and hoisted flags of triumph at their pahs. If the perpetrators of such outrages are allowed to go scot ftee, the effect will be tc embolden the natives to commit further deeds of violence, and we hope that m this case the offenders will have meted out to them that measure of punishment to which their deserts entitle them. There is no reason m the world why exceptional privileges should be accorded to Maoris when they commit offences against the peace of the country. The law should know no distinction between European and Maori — both should be taught to feel that if they transgress the law's behests they need not hope to elude the grasp of its strong arm. Thus writes the editor of the Thames Advertiser : — lt is quite time that the aukati lines of Maoridom were abolished, and the land thrown open for the introduction of capital and speculation. In no other portion of the Empire is the Queen's authority treated with so much contempt, as m this our Southern Britain. We venture to affirm that our Gaellic friends would long since under similar circumstances have cleared the Maoris from the face of the land, or have made them humble dependents on their country. This, however, has never been the humane policy of Great Britain ; but let Afghans, Zulus, and Maoris alike learn the same lesson— taught Sepoys, Abyssinians, Ashantees, and many other races of equally wild dispositions and sanguinary passions — that

the British flag must be supreme where'er it flutters m the breeze. Under the present aspects, we consider it fortunate that the Colony is possessed of such a Volunteer force, as our Thames corps and others, consisting of men who have been trained to believe that they can look an enemy m the face. In. calling the Maoris to book for their proceedings at Oakura, we trust that our rulers will remember that they have the means to enforce both respect and obedience, and that they will show no timidity or vacillation, but treat the aggressors m the same way as they would transgressors of a whiter hue." Other journals write m the same temperate but firm strain. The Maories must not be allowed to retake j possession of the lands of the European settlers who have .long told them is lawful occupation. All attempts to do this must be met with prompt and determined resistance, if indeed the dwellers m the North Island outlying districts are to live m peace and security. If the Maoris feel that they have been illegally deprived of their lands, there are the same law Courts to appeal to for justice and redress as there are for the Europeans ; but such aggressions, as are now being made, allow of only one mode of settling them, and this mode, if we mistake not, the Government is prepared to adopt.