NEW PLYMOUTH TELEGRAMS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 822, 30 June 1879, Page 2

NEW PLYMOUTH TELEGRAMS.

! [To tiie; 'Editor Of .<*« HBBAL4] , : .Slß,—ln^oHbraliv of SaturdAj %\ \ find in the wir«s j'that tl -Te Wetere ha» declared' war against the/Europeans/ and also, " the Bettlers at Mokan have been ordered to leave the place, at once." The latter information would have been much more intelligible and petspicioua if it had been related by whom they were so ordered. 'If the former sentence had informed us how war had been declared it would have carried more weight. pWhat;One man may think a declaration of war on the part of a Maori, might by. another be said to be nothing of the kind^v Many of us would be glad to Icnowin what way 'this," dßclaratten of -war" (sic) has been nia^le. ; The most practical unequivical mode is by chopping off a white man's head, or giving notice that if certain things are. not dojie, or desisted from, by a certain time ; or, th&t if a certain place be not vacated, bioodrwUl be shed, y - ... ; ' So far, late' telegrams appear contradictory, or at least conflicting,' for we .are sometimes told, that the Natives ailowthomselvesto be ejected in the r mßdt good-humoured inanner j> that they are acting under the' advice of Mr. iHjTgghibotham, a celebrated lawyer ; that they will not fight ; that they Wll allow themselves to be shot like pigeons, &o. This latter piece of n6ws, 1 think, I may go the length of saying; is quite unprecedented ; and, <so far as my experience goes, they resemble anything but pigeons, except when they get into trees overhanging the track; to get a smack at the unsuspecting pakeha as he comes along. But intelligence on Native matters appear just now to be of a very unreliable nature. Take .for instance a late telegram from Napier, about Major Ropata, and I feel quite certain that, the political bias of 'the' sender has a great' deal to do with the nature of the telegram, the wish is vei^r frequently allowed to ' become parent to the thought. Among the present Opposition et^A. Uie^ fiends there is undoubtedly i ! desire' for strife aud trouble^ in Native matters, and anything of that nature^ is hailed by them with delight, as giyiug some cause of dissatisfaction withi the present Government, indeed it is well ;knovvn |that muoh of the disquietude 'how existing may beHraced to European

agency^ ■" . •-■ :.■ ':< • ' j * * There » also a section of persons. who have predicted wary and who have -an axe to grind thereby ; they, of course, are desirous that anything of a warfike nature may be exaggerated to its utmost limit, and if we should really come to blows, how they Would chuckle and Bay, i". There, we always st»id bo ;" then they wUI make hay while. the sun shines, and rejoice in the opportunity of aggrandising themselves instead of deploring the" rm'n that would ensue on many unfortunate settlers'; ; ; . ; It is very likely that Te Wetere's declaration of war will resolve itself into his assertion, that' if the pakeha meddles with him, he will show tight, and that he will not allpw )his land.- to be/taken away without striking a blow in its defence. ■ : „.■:■■_;.■:■■ " As well lose life as all your land," is an old Native proverb, aud in those' days their land really was their life, as indeed; it now very largely contributes thereto. i^--.- />;■-■ ; - .. --. ; ' : . ....^ 1 think itmay be fovind that hostilities will not very quickly ensue, notwithstanding the " declaration of w^r;.'' r : - Yours, &c, ~ ' .. ; : ..,.,. ._,.;■ . Pax. .;