[From the Australian and New Zealand Gazette.

Taranaki Herald, Volume IX, Issue 428, 13 October 1860, Page 4

[From the Australian and New Zealand Gazette.

June 23.J The outbreak of a war with the natives of New Zealand appears to have excited great astonishment in this country, but the few persons who have paid attention to the affairs of this colony have for some time past been prepared for such an event. The causes which have led to this unfortunate occurrence are manifold, but it does not require any deep reseaich to account for them. At any time, a coll'sion between the rising civilisation of European communities and the semi-b.nbaiims tiibes on theii outskirts is a matter of more tluii oi dinary probabi. lity, but in this case there aie m.my peculiai circumstances which have led to it. Ihe Maori, although offering far more favorable oppoi Unities for amalgamation with the English settlers than any other aboiigine that we have evei encountered — a fact which hai> led to most grievous misconceptions of his real character, — is iievertheless a semi-civilised savage i and although many of them are no doubt steadfast in their loyalty, a great number, proud of their ancient traditions, confident in their personal prowess, and endowed with much of the subtlety of semi-baibarous tribes, are peculiarly liable to be aroused to open rebellion by the arts of a few designing and ambitious characteis amongst their leading men. Although ostensibly subject to the lule of the Britit.li Crown, it has been, as a matter ofcourse, found impiacticable to assert the supremacy of the law amongst the tiibes living in the intenor, and indeed in the districts which, adjacent to the settlements, have still not been fully peopled by Eiuopeans. Amongst a gieat majority of the natives, and moie especially in the distiict in which the strife has just bioken out, the colonial authorities have neither had the power nor the means of enforcing the law against evil-disposed individuals, which has naturally, with the half-civilised natives, brought it into contempt. We do not by any means impute the slightest blame to the Governor, who has acted invariably with the greatest consideration in veiy difficult circumstances, anil to whose far-sighted policy it is due that the evil now is not far more widely spread than it appears to be. A series of petty infringements of the law have for a long time taken place, and possibly, if they had been dealt with as they deserved, would have provoked a collision with the natives ; but it would have been more easily dealt with than this affair, which has assumed its present propoitions from the manner in which tho natives have been allowed to act in defiance of the law. But before we condemn the officials, we must ask what would have been said if they had biought on a costly waifare In repiessing some petty act. As it is, the Goveinor will have enough to do to vindicate his policy, although most cloaily in the right, and obliged to act vigoiously in a matter upon which the i'utme progiess of the colony materially depends.

About two years ago a most curious agitation sprang up amongst a poition of the natives, which 'is entitled the " Native King Movement," and shows in a remarkable degiec their peculiar aptitude for civilisation. The Maories, a proud and intelligent race, devotedly attached to then ancient tiaditions, have for some time past become powerfully impressed with the fact that their numbers were seriously decreasing. It is difficult to account for this undeniable fact ; the best authorities differ as to the causes, and we believe it is only to be ascribed to that mysterious agency which dooms the coloured races to fade away before the appioaching civilisation of the white man. Ostensibly to auest this decay of their race, to put a stop to destructive feuds, and to administer the law more forcibly amongst themselves than it was in the power] of the Government to do, a portion of the natives determined to elect a native king, who should rule over them, on equal terms, with Queen Victoria. But there is no doubt that a few wily and ambitious chiefs eagerly fomented the feelings to which we have above alluded, with a view to their own aggrandisement. It does not appear that the " Native King Movement" has had any direct influencp upon this recent outbreak at New Plymouth! but undoubtedly it has indirectly stimulated the insubordination ot the chief Wnemu Kingi (Anglicd, William King.) One of the resolutions come to by tho moic disaffected portion of the natives was to refuse to sell any more of theit land to the Government. Here we have

one of those legacies bequeathed to us by the notorious Treaty of Waitangi, which the Colonial Office entered into under tho influence of the counsels of Exeter Hall, at that time unfortunately predominant in Our colonial policy. By this Treaty, the natives were told that they were possessed of the fee-simple of the Northern Island. In the Middle Island a recent war had exterminated them. No one will dispute but that it was fail and right not only to secure them the possession of the land in actual occupation, but also to make the most ample reserves for their future necessities. But to endow some 80,000 natives with the whole of a country nearly as large as Scotland, the greatest portion of which they had never seen or trod upon, and to which, until they v,ere put up to it by om selves, they never pretended to lay claim, was a stretch of generosity worthy of the Aborigines' Protection Society itself.

In 1858 a native chief and some of his tribe were brutally murdered for persevering to sell his own land, but as his adherents took the law into theit own hands and amply revenged his murder, the Governor declined to interfere. Last year, when on a visit to New Plymouth, he met the tribes, and, addiessing himself to them and Wiremu Kingi in pal ticular, declared that "he would buy no man's land without his consent, and none to which the vendor hnrl not a clear and indisputable title. That being established, he would not peimit any other natives to inteifere."

It must be borne in mind that the progress of the colony absolutely depends upon the acquisition of land, and for nant of this the particular Province of New Plymouth, although possessing by far the greatest natural, advantages of soil and climate in the colony, has not only languished but even retrograded. Accordingly, when a most desirable tract was offered by its owners, their title, on strict investigation, being found indefeasible, it was purchased by the Land Commissioners, and steps were at once taken to have it surveyed and brought into the market. Wiremu Kingi then took upon himself to foicibly piohibit the proceedings of the Government surveyors, who, although not treated with violence, were not aliened to suivey theland. The Governor immediately addressed a warning to the chief, who returned a contemptuous answer, and so the Governor found himself reluctantly involved in a native war. Had ho ac'ed otherwise, had he wavered for an instant, not only would the Queen's supremacy have been lost, but the Northern Island might as well have been at once abandoned to the natives.

Elsewhere we publish from the Taranaki Herald a detailed narrative of the proceedings, which is the only intelligible account which we have yet met with and very different from those which have hitherto appeared. All persons acquainted with a colonial town will readily imagine the excitement which must have picvaileil in New Plymouth, and the number of reports, each more veracious than its fellow, which would be flying about ; but when these rcpoits have been worked up by the correspondents of the colonial papeis, who, taking Mr Russell as their guide, think it the coirect thing to pitch into the authoiities, and again diluted by the correspondents of the English papers at Sydney and Melbourne, it is no wonder that we should have the most contradictoiy accounts. As a matter of course, our leading contempoiaries have had articles upon the question — of which the less in mercy said the better, — but the English public must have a most extraoi dinary notion of the facts of the case. All colonists complain of the very superficial acquaintance which the English public deigns to acquire with respect to colonial affairs. But in this matter, these incorrect conclusions are likely to lead to serious inisappieliensions.

The measures of the Governor appear to have been taken with energy. The outlying settlers were called in, and a few who disobeyed the order have paid for their confidence in their native neighbours with their lives. Stockades have been formed near the town of New Plymouth, a camp pitched at the Waitara, and other steps taken to secure the safety of the town, with the population collected in it. Meanwhile reinforcements have been sent for from the other provinces and from Australia, which have been promptly accoided. The native policy has been to throw upon the settleis the onus of the first blood, and there have been one or two attempts worthy of ancient Rome to secure this point ; for it is btated with authority that upon it the course of a great number of natives in the interior would depend, and it is clear that the fidelity of the greater proportion will depend upon the first success, for some of the most trusted and the loudest in their professions had gone over to the rebels. The Governor was appaiently and wisely waiting for reinforcements, to be able to act with vigour and not run the risk of a temporary repulse, swelling the numbers of his opponents. But fiom the accounts which we publish in another column, it appears that the affair had been precipitated, and so tar tho success augurs well for the speedy discomfiture of the rebel natives. It was unfortunate that after the pa was bombarded the natives were allowed to escape, but lecollccting the results of storming these native war camps in 184G, and the certainty that a failme would have drawn all the waverers to the rebel side, this result, although provoking, was the safest coutsc. Again, an unfortunate difference appears to have occurred between the military leaders and the volunteers. At present we have only the accounts favorable to the latter, and whilst admitting the extraoidinaiy gallantry displayed by them and the indignation under which they laboured from the cold-blooded murder of some of the settlers, we aie inclined to believe that a great misconception prevails, and that their enthusiasm too rashly outruns the more dilatory but more cautious and sure steps of the military. Fiom the accounts published, it is clear that there is not that subordination to a single command which is necessary to ensure success. For the benefit of the House of Commons, and Messrs. Addeily and Childers in particular, who, as professing to study colonial affairs, ought to know better, and to enlighten our contemporaries who have been talking about the capabilities of the colonists to defend themselves against the natives and the futility of the regular troops, we will give a few facts with iespect to the locality of New Plymouth, the relative numbers of the settlers, natives, &c, &c. In the first place, nothing can be more cruelly unjust than the assertion so readily made that the war has been brought about for the sake of the profit to be made in supplying the troops. It is too bad to impute this to men who are fighting for their lives, — whose homesteads are abandoned, whose crops and produce arc destroyed, and whoso families have to be removed to Nelson for security. We have seeu some absurd comparisons with, respect to the

relative strength of the white and native population . It is true that both number about 60,000, but it must be recollected that the settlers are divided between the two islands in about equal proportions, whilst more than nine-tenths of the natives are in the northern one ; and although the natives in the province of New Plymouth itself, a very small district, are not more than 4,000, the tribes just beyond the border, who, although in the other provinces, have ready access to it, number many thousands, and from the expeditious manner in which works have been thrown up by them, it is reckoned that from 4,000 to 5,000 were in arms. It certainly provokes a smile to hear it gravely urged that we should recall the troops and well arm the settlers. New Plymouth is at least two days' sail for a fast steamer from any other Province. 'Wellington anil Auckland have their own natives to watch and guard against. Roads do not exist and access by land is impossible, and, if it were, is cut off by the insurgent natives, whilst the total population of New Plymouth at the present moment is 2,650 souls, of whom 1,167 are under fourteen years of age, 682 females about that age, 33 males over sixty, and 128 boys between fourteen and eighteen years of age, leaving 610 capable of bearing aims, who no doubt will be a very valuable auxiliary force, but totally unable to cope with the natives alone. Tho Governor had with him about 500 men of the 65th Regiment, and with artillery, engineers, marines, and sailors, about 800 men in all ; but it appears that when the defence of the town was provided for, he could not detach more than 350 men for a field force ; the removal of the women and children will relieve this necessity. About 300 men of the 12th and 40th Regiments had been despatched from Australia, with every ship of war on the station, which would aflbrd a most valuable Naval Brigade. Under these circumstances, the wisest course was to wait for the reinforcements before acting in force, a policy, no doubt, ill suited to the ardent tempera* ments of the gallant colonists. We must take this opportunity of calling attention to the excellent spirit which animates the whole of the colonists. No words can do justice to the gallantry displayed by the Volunteeis and Militia of New Plymouth, and their efficiency is equal to their courage. Nelson, Auckland, Canterbuiy, and the other provinces have rivalled each other in offering a home to the wives and families of the New Plymonth settlers, and the hospitality of the former has been piomptly accepted. No doubt, if it is necessary, the volunteer corps of the other provinces will repair to the scene of action, but it must be recollected that in a colony where every man is dependent on his own exertions, it is a serious thing, even if it were desirable, for the settlers, however willing, to leave their ordinary occupations. As there is likely to be a discussion on this question in the House of Commons, we trust that some hon. member will move for the despatches of Col. Browne, for we know that ever since the 58th Regt. was recalled, the Colonial Government has incessantly urged upon the home authorities the inadequacy of the force in the colony, and we have no doubt whatever that this force has greatly emboldened the contumacy of the natives, and will now cause a much greater expenditure. No time ought to he lost in sending out reinforcements and supplies to New Zealand, and we hope that those interested in the welfare of the colonies will urge upon tho Horse Guards the policy of acting with promptitnde, and at once sending out a fast steam transport, which might reach the colony in about ten weeks, and save much valuable time.