The Poverty Bay Of Herald AND East Cost News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1094, 13 August 1880, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Of Herald AND East Cost News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING.

EEIDAY, AUGUST 13; 1880.

It- is an opinion,. ifully : expressed by those acquainted with Te : Whiti and his ! followers, i that : the former, •in quietly aUowi^^many of bis men to be taken 'prisoners^ is playing a deep game ; is, in short, playing into the; -hands of thfevJGovernment. If, says.. the/. .Neti) :i^6ala>7wi Times, any body had |hree months ag6 that !s tne''(dlnly Bppositiotfto the irdadmaking w^d>b^Jft ; 'Wchnical-J protest in the shape" of : fen^jg,^ndjjthat,the best fighting men in ..the., district would^quietly give *ii^ in convenient Mtches of fours, he would have been^^-regarjde^ a* Junatic,^ There arVnow anout eighly* Maories in custody : for fencings and as our telegrams show tW number is daily augmenting. ■' w^ .; '•■.■'".'•'' ■■■■ We'hear that; Te ; "Whiti has an-' nouricedhis determination to keep up his daily continent, of four* who are to surrender without.'resistance, tmtil the whole adult 'male population of the district are in th'ej; hands of the esfssj>b'fi^'^iin'sdlf v . i^nd ToHVji yfliio are^t^ remain behind to take v care of the' women and children, and watch thexpurse of events.. Now if we knew how r many 'adult males there are; in the "district/ it would only need a simple sum -. ; ih Arithmetic to ascertain how long i&would be before Te "Wb|Tl and Tpißttr^ifbuld have tlah district to themsblyes. Unfortunately however, we dofnot know, liow many adult males i thef ejare' in the district — - at'le'ast we ont^'hi^ve-^r. Maca^ dbew's Bpectacular^computation that there are. '"three 'hundred wretched Maories " there. But supposing that insi^d of three hundred there are eight "hundred adulf males iir the district, besides Te Whiti and Tomj, it wouldrobvibusly take two hundred days to get them all safe under lock §nd k£y. „j>" ln, a libtje-^y.e^ six ; months, thence^ Ns^e diffic^ty onltheiWese'; Coastal have settled itself, as far as any^^ iFear ; of &^ oDricerned ; and.theiGoyernmen^ wilf be absolutely masjters' 'pi the situation. They will be able- to* define rese^vjes and . lay off, settlements, and make roads, and carry out surveys, , and d© whatever is necessary to be done towards preparing the districlblf^ peaceable occupation by Maories and Europeans, side by side, fhey have done all HfliM' th^r r wilf jbji in -a' 'i^estbre ■ the natives to their homes on such tejms as will afford a guarantee "for th9r good behavijp|ir as will best •t^^ secure the peace and prosperity of the district. Meanwhile the only drawback to the Government

is the expense of maintaining so large a number of healthy and voracious natives in idleness. Food, however, J is very cheap, and the . mere cost of eight hundred rations for a few months 'is' a trifle compared with the loss that would ensue from either abrefach of the "peace on the West Coast, or an indefinite prolongation of the armed "uncertainty which has so' long prevailed there. It seems to us that Te.JWhiti^s playing; » straight into r the hands ,ok. the. Government, and we cannot help/, thinking that" he is doing so deliber-T ately, with a view of -■ assisting them in settling all disputes in a manner satisfactory alike to the Natives and to the settlers. This theory (says the Times), wemaintain, isquitecompatible with ; Tb; Whiti's past career. He has really been the great peace-maker on; the West Coast, and has never shd'wri any disposition seriously to thwart the Government when the Government have treated him with jreajsonablestraightforwardness. When Mrj. SHEEHANwent to Parihaka last' year and' tried to bounce Te Whiti; with idle threats which: lie knew- and theji Natives knew he was quite uuabje, to fcarry outj Te Whiti turned upon" ,hi 4in a rage, called him a thief, andi gaVe him pearly, to understand that he fi would have nothing to do with hiriL Even then, though actuated as heij was by fear and well-founded distrust of the Government, he did nothing violent. He had the surveyors removed without ill-treatment, and he seethe Natives to ploughing. When the road came to be finally made by. Parihaka; there was some excitement among the Natives, and Te Whiti, cleverly interpreting popular opinion, we have no doubt, delivered himself of ambiguous predictions which, whilst ,s endouragMig the Natives to hope that v the road^Kould not bßTcompleted,. yet taffoKfc&fchem^not tte ¥*** c9 coura » c r T ; men't to^esisiii'iis' completion. Subset fqu^ntly, when their excitement . Mirease^.^d^wlen ' f ifr became ex : tre'inely dr&cul<l t» restrain tne more violent among them, he conceived thehafepy thoughi^of commanding them . joljtence acrdssthe road,' but to give themselves up quietly when arrested by; ! the ; Constabulary. He took. care, ; as jwe. have seen, to send thos.e first wHo were most likely to be troublesome, aud-'he thus ; rid the district of the chief element of violence.

Now, if the Government had had an European Commissioner at Parihaka would he have kept the peace •knd studied the interests of the public any better than Te Whim has done? We doubt, it very much. -We doubt whether any plan that the Government could adopt would have answered their purpose' half 'as well as Te Whiti's apparently capricious but really syfitfemfctic -influence has served it; He appears t^lis" to be aboutf the 1 ablest and beat public man in the* colony. He has alHb.e'finest quaKtie.S| of a/ruler. He is resolute andc patient,, and sagacious &nd '■- jusV Heo^S X thoroughly unselfish 4 ; . .while, his .policy -— liis art of '^overnnieiit-^is slibcessfui' to" an extraordinary, degree- No; European statesman that', we know of exercises, so overwhelming an influence, as Tk ''' Whiti does without the aid of either force or money.