The Poetry Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 820, 27 June 1879, Page 2

The Poetry Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1879.

We ask the ' "working men" of Poverty Bay to look upon two pictures we shall place before them, and so allow them to decide for themselves which is tha prettier of the two. • The first picture, a home one, and is taken from an English newspaper published, m Dorsetshire, and this is what it represents : — " The annual hiring fair was held on Friday. The labor market was dull, and m some cases a reduction of wages had to be submitted to. Ordinary laborers were hired at 10s. a week ; shepherds at 125. ; women, Bd. a day, during the whiter, and Is. during the summer ; all without board or lodging." In the retail market column of the same journal -we find bread quoted at 7d. the 41b. loaf, and meat ranging at lOd. to Ud. per lb. Now we shall produce picture number two, which is taken from a colonial journal. In the Otago Witness of the 21st inst., Mr. Skene m his " Labor Report " gives the following : — " Wages : Laborers, 7s. and Bs. a da} r ; married couples, for farms and stations, .£64 to £75, all found ; shepherds, £55 to £65 a year, and all found." In the retail market we find mutton (best quality) quoted at 2id. to 4d. ; beef, 4d. to 6d. ; bread. sd. the four-pound loaf. In some of the provinces bread is higher than what is quoted at Duiiedin ; but where this is the case, the price of meat is generally lower. Which picture is the prettier of the two ? The colonial laborer or farm servant, with three solid feeds of meat m each twenty-four horn's, or the English laborer and farm servant with a small portion of poor meat on Sunday, and Meant fare all the week. Speak, and make answer, O, ye melt of Poverty Bay and the other districts of the two Islands of the colony.

By what we gather from Taranaki papers, and from official organs published m Wellington, Wairarapa, and North Island journals published south of Poverty Bay, there is more than a sufficient force m the Taranaki district to put down any violations of the law which may be attempted by Natives. The Armed Constabulary reach close upon 500 trained, and well-armed men. There are 350 welldrilled volunteers, mounted and foot. These are independent of the cavalry located between Wanganui and Hawera, whose assistance may be depended upon at short notice. The settlers only want one' word from the constituted authorities to start up on the instant, to fight for " hearths and homes j" and who are burning to resent insults, and injuries, that for peace sake they have so long borne with. This time it is the European who is m a condition to dictate terms, and we fully agree with a. contemporary that " there must be no more Maori sanctuary for offenders against the law, whether their offences are grave or light, the known murderers who are sheltered must be given up, and the peaceful tenure of land be secured. The Government can insist on all these terms, and what is more, enforce them, if they choose, by the forces at their disposal. The initiative that the settlers have taken shows conclusively what public feeling is m the district concerned, and it now only requires a firm and uncompromising front on the part of Ministers to put an end to the Native lawlessness which has so long been submitted to, and whilst, so doing, establish permanently pacific relations between the races." An outlay of £30,000, it is estimated, has been already incurred m preparing for emergencies which may rise up m connection with the disaffected at Taranaki ; and this amount must be made good from what the Maories hold m possession.

The old proverb that " Birds are not to be caught with chaff" is strictly applicable to Rewi. He has been feasted aud feted. Has been shown the •' lions" of Auckland. Has Hined at the great men's club. Has shaken hands with the Governor. Has lived scot free. Has been asked whether he would like to make a trip to the South ; and to all this it is possible Rewi may have been recommended to be made a Knight of the Order of St. Michael and St. George ; but Rewi is wary, and is not to be caught with chaff. Rewi is asked- if he and the Kingites do not come to terms with the Government what will follow 1 And Rewi makes answer, and says : *' In suoh case they" — he and the. Kingites — " are likely to see who have a right to the land." They will have a Government of their -own, and settle, their own disputes. If the Government does not agree to Rewi's proposals, then the Maories will know they have been fooled. Rewi, if we be not greatly mistaken, will yet be found to have been humbugging the Aucklanders, and that the time for a mutually amicable settlement as to land and a railway through his country is not as yet to hand. The following are the terms Rewi insists on. We shall see whether the country will so humiliate itself as to submit to them : — " All Europeans leasing land m the Aotearoa to be subject io Maori law. There will be Maori Magistrates." The Maories, therefore, are to legislate for the European. A modest request surely. Then Rewi's stipulation is that Europeans shall be outside and Maories inside ; meaning that the Maories m their territories are to be considerd supeiior to Europeans, which is a modest request number two.