THE STAFFORD MINISTRY AND THE MASSACRES AT POVERTY BAY.

Colonist, Issue 1165, 4 December 1868, Page 8

THE STAFFORD MINISTRY AND THE MASSACRES AT POVERTY BAY.

(From the Neio Zealand Herald, Nov. 17.) From first to last, the management of native affairs, first by Mr. "Weld, and then by Mr. Stafford, has been characterised by vacillation, by acts at one time of irritation and. at { another of weakness, and altogether by the grossest incompetency. To what but to the action of the present Government is due the ] late horrible outrage on the East Coast? It was by the carelessness of the Government that Te Kooti and his band escaped from the Chatharas. It was indeed the insincerity of the Government towards them, as prisoners, that drove them to attempt an escape at all. It was the recklessness of the Government and those acting under it that drove these natives, when once escaped to the East Coast, into such a state of desperation as to be capable of any enormity ; and again, it was the gross carelessness and incompe- i tency of the Government which left to its j fate the settlement destroyed a week ago, ! although ample warning had been received that its safety was in great danger. Notwithstanding the protest of Mr M'Lean, the Superintendent, and others, the local forces were withdrawn from Hawke's Bay find deported to "Wanganui. Even when Mr. Stafford was made aware, through Bishop "Williams, that the Tauranga settlements were in imminent danger, he, for political purposes, read to the Assembly the first portion of the Bishop's telegram only, but suppressed the latter, which contained the warning. He not only misled the country and the House, but consistently ignored the latter part of the telegram. "We refer to that telegram furnished by the Bishop of Waiapu to the Government, in which his Lordship stated, when asked as to the probable conduct of the natives, " that no immediate danger existed at Napier. The ITauhans were planting potatoes." So far, Mr. Stafford quoted the telegram in support of his assertion that there was no alarm for the safety of the East Coast, and that he was justified in removing Major Eraser and his men from there to Wanganui. But Mr. Stafford did not read the remainder of the telegram which went on to say " that ■when the planting was done an attach might he expected on the Wairoa or Poverty Bay." A more disingenuous use of a public documonfc was never made than that made by M". Stafford of the Bishop's telegram. A i-rosser blunder was never committed than when, having suppressed the truth for a political purpose, in the Assembly, Mr. Stafford neglected, in his department, to avail himself of that warning which was well known to himself and his colleagues—though kept back by them from the country and the House—and left the unfortunate people at Poverty Bay, some to be murdered in their beds, others to escape with their bare lives at the loss of their property and their homes. Is this Government? Is ifc for such a measure of general protection as this that civilised communities give the reins of power into the hands of a few ? Will our Auckland members who kept the present Ministry in power by their votes come forward, at the meeting to be held at the North Shore this afternoon, and tell the electors there, that they still believe in the judgment of men who could thus act, or in their measures ? The odium of these East Coast butcheries must be shared by the eight Auckland members alluded to. It is they who have assisted, who will, so long as they can hold their seats, continue doubtless to assist, the present powers in plunging the Colony, aud especially this Province, still deeper into war and poverty. Aretheelectorsof the Province of Auckland content to stand by and make no sign ; to see the dogs of war again slipped on them, and to take no stand, utter no complaint against those who assist in slipping the leash, and who, if they chose, would be all powerful to prevent its being slipped at all ? Well may Auckland members who have stood by the Province, and indeed, by the interests of the Colony as a whole, protest that, in the apathetic neglect of the electors to call the anti-Auckland members to account for their treachery they are reproached And yet this apathy arises from no lack,of strong feeling. On .Friday morning last, when the news of the massacre became known, there was a time, we are credibly informed, when the excitement in the public street was so great, that men openly talked of ducking in. the Bea the first Auckland representative, a supporter of the Miniistry, that came along.