GISBORNE DEBATING SOCTETY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 834, 14 July 1879, Page 2

GISBORNE DEBATING SOCTETY.

The following is the concluding portion of the debate on the Native difficulty, which was unavoidably crowded out of our Saturday's issue :—"

Mr. Brassey, as seconder, of ihe. affirma- . tive; said he was glad to find they had two seconders. He thought Mr. Cuff w ft to lead against them, but he found, Mr. Ciiff entirely agreed with them.; Mi\? Brassey then proceeded to argue, that if the same state of things occurred m Australia as here, they would not be allowed to exist. He advocated treating these niggers as niggers. He believed really: that we were all cowards. It was a' sign of our rank cowardice , that we did not at once put an end .to the Native difficulty.. He had Seen • something' of "the wiy m' which the niggers here were allowed to behave. There was one old beast at the Thames who had to be floured and sugared before he would allow a line, of telegraph to |>ass through' his land; | £ If the Maoris did not peaceably submit to us and our laws, then they must be made to do so, and the sooner the better. If the Maoris could be brought to justice then there was no necessity for war, but you can't catch them, they commit illegal acts and bolt into the bush ; so, since you can't catch the offenders there remains nothing for it but to make war upon the whole. He concluded m a humorous manner, a speech which was , fluently and good humoredly given on the spur of the mo.-, ment, and though not characterised -by any very deep thought, or elegance of style, was yet unlaboured and pleasing. The seconder of the .negative was Captain Tucker j who regretted that Mr. Carlaw Smith, orignal seconder, was unable to attend ; this would he hoped, account sufficiently for the very unprepared state m which he found himself. He pointed cut the statement of the question for debate was not very explicit. It was then decided by the leader and seconder of the affirmative, that a general, not a local war, was contemplated by the question. The speaker proceeded to argue that the consequences of a general war would be very disastrous to our districts, and dangerous to the lives of out-settlers, and their families. No Ministry would undertake so great a responsibility as to declare war m our present helples state, if war was fairly avoidable. The idea of the generally disastrous nature of war, he thought, was vividly presented by Shakeßpere ; "Cry Havoc ! and let slip the dogs of war." He contended that the Natives at Waimate had done nothing to justify their being killed ; they were asserting a right m a peaceful manner, not as it would have been asserted 40 years ago, with. the tomahawk ; but with the plough. He had heard it alleged, that we could not catch them. The proof of the pudding is m the eating, we had [caught them, and they were now m the hands of justice. It had ! further been urged, that the Queen's writ does not run through the Waikato. True, but was that a sufficient reason for our waging a general war. The speaker begged his hearers not to suppose that he advocated the cause of wrong doers, for every offence there was an adequate punishment, and war was not the remedy for anything done so far. Further, he should have some feeling of commisseration for a race possessing many admirable qualities and fast dissappearing before us. Every generous sentiment for the weakest Bide should lead us to be forbearing. A very few years of patience would put the matter past all thought of war.