THE VOLUNTEER MILITIA MOVEMENT.

Southland Times, Volume 3, Issue 102, 16 October 1863, Page 6

THE VOLUNTEER MILITIA MOVEMENT.

IW (From^hc DctHytFimes, Qcfc 8.) p The; aJiMjrity with which Che invitation icjof thei(i<»WchnieiitiotiN^>r'-Zealiiii(l to vjbli p'fnhteers for the Militia Force lias been nPtsponded to, <is one; of tlie.tinost interesting f-fFeatures of ,the present" war Those who Hdoubted the ability of the-Eifropean popuiflal'un tio raise a.cqlonialjqrc.e, sufficient at £|leasl foVtlie puxp'iac'of 'defence, must now tlbe convinced that_it_ only required the ||effort to be made, to secure a loc;i I army. pThe experiment;made.by the t<Jew Zealand pGovernmenUia3 been.eminently successful, f |and one, can #ji !y7 V.eft re* " 'that th c s : ep ol' '■^organising ; colonial force 'was not adopted In; Ihe last war.; .It- inay.bc spf -ly [jcalculatedtKafil lie ;Militia"aud' Volunteer jf Force of the coionyLri umbers now some i I J6OOO men; From Australia over 2000 men i '? jhavebeen raised, and Otago has contributed •to ihe Auckland andTuranaki Militia and • I)efence : F6ircesat ; Napier and Wellingl |ton somewhere about 900.' To these musf ;'.lbe added the Militia .arid; ' Volunteers confstituted from the .local population. 1< Will of course take some time to. render Uthis large fbrcej superior as it is in the Equality . of "material to the regular mi li- ; ftary, available for the purposes of actua-i; if warfare. In facV-we doubt much if i; : , hrou^d be*deMrable to, use it for such pur- < ; jposeC The Militia raised under the special j ■ | conditions of occupancy of, Native land i.s ■• j essentially a defensive force, and as such' I; must be regarded. - Its utility will consist ■i ; in finding garrisoHs for outposts, and the ■ I chain of redoubts, which it is Genera' ■ I Cameron's intention to establish round the B {districts which feed the insurrection. In KTco'urse of lime-eadh little band will become ■|j thoroughly acquainted l.wi.h the country i'l Rithe vicinity of its post ; the men are not ■ [inexperienced raw recruits, but inured to ■ almost every hardship and trial. The. ■ji great proportion of the Volunteers raised ■: ;ini Otago and Victoria, consists of men H ! to whom the inconvenicnofs and priI; ; vation3 of bush life offer no terrors. I; Those who have been accustomed I : to encounter in the wilds of Australia and I Otago all the vicissitudes of hunger, coil], I nnd the thousand obstacles continually oc--1 [ enrring to n,eu of their vocations, are not i i likely lo be daunted either by the natural [ j intricacies and difficulties of the New Ztw '',': land bush, or the prospect of an encounter : ! with the natives. We question if at any ', /previous time a force so admirably adapted ? for the purpose for which it is intended, I was .collected, togtther as the Volunteer ; ■ Militia now being raised ; and whatever ' result may attend the offensive movements ■ of General Cameron, we may safely con elude that the defence of the co'onial set- : tlcments will be fully ensured by the i civilian forces. We are strongly of opinion that the proposed military settlements should at once be organised, and the men employed in the construction of the necessary blockhouses. The sooner this is done i the sooner may we expect to hear the last of the murderous and sudden onslaughts by the rebels, which at present keep the whole of the Auckland frontier in an in- ' secure state. As General Carnero:; gradually drives the insurgents before n:m, his rear should be followed v;. ■ and occupied by these military settle ni . njts,. _ which will serve not only to ke p open the communication, but to pre- ' vent the chance of the enemy securing i any advantage b} r a flank movement — a ' contingency to which, in a country of so intricate a character, an attacking force is i a' ways more or less liable. ;; Fears are expressed in certain quarters 1 . that the Colonial Government has not the power to alienate the lands of the rebels nnd that the home Government will not consent to such a sweeping measure. There is a good deal of plausibility in the nrrguements brought forward in supper' of thie view, but nothing can be more certain than that the confiscation programme will be carried out At a tims and under such circumstances like the present it will not do to draw too fine lines of distinction between what is strictly fight and what is a military necessity. Th > treaty of Waitangi has been used as a weapon by the philo-Maories on both sides of. the question. At one time it was the fashion to speak of the treaty of Waitangi as so much waste paper, so far as the Maories themselves were interested. " The Natives did not-understand its obligations ; it was a treaty only partially acknowledged," said they, in disenssing the questions which gave ri.-e to the last war. Now the trenty of Waitangi is burled in the face of the advoca'es of confiscation. "The treaty guaranteed the integrity of the land of the Natives, therefore you have no right to deprive this or that tribe of its land." Common sense, however, is quite sufficient for the consideration of these finely drawn arguments. If the treaty is of any value at all, its provisions must be of a compensating character. The privileges conferred, and the obligations demanded, were dependant on each other, and any departure from the one warrants the deprivation of the other. The plan of coniiscation'recommends irsdf in every way. It is in a military sense a necessrjry part of the scheme of sell-defence: legally it is right., morally it is just. The most ardent well-visber of the Maori race could not devise any measure so calculated tosnve the aborigines from rapid toial extinction by imposing a, cheek on their disorderly tendencies, as the formation of military settlements. Besides, the word of the Government is pledged to the measure, without which the large volunteer force would not have been- secured. We fancy _it is ' intended to carry out , the military settlement erheme extensively throughout the North Island, as we notice that a recent Gazette contains the following conditions upon :which land .''situated in the North /sland of New Zealand" will be granted to volunteers — an enlargement evidently of the Waikato and. Taranaki schemes. Sufficient land not only for the purpose of the proposed military settlements but for the purpos'eof colonisation, wtti fall in under the ( o Confiscation Act without making, the condition: of the Maori'pbpulation any worse Thousands upon thousands acres of valuablejlan'a" are in the hands of the - Native owners, .absolutely worthless, not ; . the slightest attempt being made to cultivate them. Supposing'the land of every, insurgent tribe; to be confiscated, there would still, be ample room for the Government to • make suitable and extensive reserves for, the native population sufficient for their requirements, and leave an enormous area ofland .for profitable occu- , f *j»atjon ,'by. Europeans. We notice it is |^^j^ge|iWd^to offer giants of land to the the proposition is a ;; &%f66lißn^he f "althoiighdQai)t]essweH intended. Tlis Occupation of the land is the most mi pqH ant feature of the military settlement scheme— a condition which the soldiers of .the line could not comply with. It might be desirable to make offers to men whose term of service has expired, and it would^not he a bad plan to periodically

■ draft, say from; India, soldiers whose term ;of : service was .up.a nd Who "wo.iild gladly accept the conditions of military occupancy. In this way the colony rai^ht constantly calculate on receiving an accession ot military strength year by year, until any t extraneous assistance could be entirely'dispensed with. In' whichever way we look at the military settlement scheme, it appears to be the most reliable sys" em of* defence, ani to liold put the greatest hope for the prevention of native outbreaks. The colony has reason to congratulate itself on the magni-w ficent body of men which has been raised under the auspices of the Government. When the present war is finished an ele ment of strength will have been created which will render the colonits as abioas l\\ey are willing to defend themselves for the future.