The Taranaki Herald. NEW PLYMOUTH, FEBRUARY 23, 1861.

Taranaki Herald, Volume IX, Issue 447, 23 February 1861, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. NEW PLYMOUTH, FEBRUARY 23, 1861.

In the Journal below will be found a Proclamation from Major- General Pratt on the recent defection of some of the friendly natives, adverted to in our last issue. Acting on a report (which we must suppose was officially communicated), the MajorGeneral has felt justified in attributing the defection to the settlers. " Certain individuals resident in New Plymouth," so runs the Proclamation, " have informed the natives that the war will be waged against the Maori race indiscriminately." On this report the Major-General cautions " all persons " to refrain from using such language ; but in the next line he calls upon some of these much abused persons to reassure the natives on the subject of our intentions towards their race. Surely we art entitled, as a community, to ask who are the residents who have been inciting friendly natives to insurrection ? Our criminal code provides a remedy for such an offence, and, by all means, let it be put in force. But it is neither just nor fair that the really guilty should escape with a warning addressed to the whole community. Such a knowledge of the maori language as the subject demands is limited to a small proportion of our com-, munity ; and the natives in question, at least, know who they were conversing with. But we may challenge information and enquiry in vain, for no hobgoblin stories of an aggressive policy could shake the loyalty of the well disposed, simply because they would not be credited. The native is far too shrewd to be misled on the subject. He knows as well as ourselves what we arp fighting for — his knowledge is only inferior to our own as to the ultimate issue. He looks around, as well he may, and casts his lot with his rebel countrymen. Judged from the maori view, there is, it must be confessed, much to encourage. He is supported where he should be opposed, and a twelvemonth's struggle with the most powerful nation in the world has not satisfied him of its hopelessness to himself. He has, besides, an innate taste for the kind of life, and has not been so weaned from it as not to return to it on very slight pretexts. Apropos of v the subject the News of Thursday contains a letter signed. W., in which the mostmalevolent remarks are made on our people. The war is pronounced a " godsend " to us, the ruin and bereavements that surround us notwithstanding. We can guess with tolerable accuracy the quarter from whence the letter emanates, and may, therefore, return to the subject on another occasion. Meanwhile we must express our surprise that our contemporary should have permitted such a document to find a place in his columns without comment.

Some months since we called attention to the very unsatisfactory position of the friendly natives, pointing out the probability that if they were allowed to go at large over the country they might be mistaken for rebels and fired upon, particularly if seen in the neighbourhood of the settlers' houses or grounds. No steps appear to have been taken to guard against this obvious danger, and on Monday last a number of natives seen leaving the orchard and garden of the late Mr Hursthouse were fired at by a party of militia and volunteers who were out in search of natives cattle stealing. There appears to be some doubt of the character of these men, but acting on the supposition that they were friendly natives, Colonel Sillery, who rode up at the time, ordered the party to cease firing. It is very probable that they were natives

from Fort Herbert engaged, as it seems, in ! the very friendly act of pilfering from Mr i Hursthouse's orchard, but there should be no room for doubt on such an occasion — if rebels, the order to cease firing allowed them to escape, if friendly natives their position and doings rendered them liable to be shot in mistake. When rebels are allowed to come in large bodies within rifle shot of the blockhouses, as is the case at the present time, it is but a necessary precaution that any natives seen prowling about should be fired at, it is an act of self preservation that will be adopted whenever the occasion requires it, orders or no orders. At a time when it is known that the southern natives are cutting off the unwary settler who ventures beyond the protection of the blockhouses, it is expecting too much to proclaim that the native is to have the first shot, particularly when no attempt is made to rid the neighbourhood of the town of these bands of murderers by sending out skirmishing parties to dislodge them from their hiding places. Another evil attendant upon the absence of organisation of the friendly natives was forcibly demonstrated when an expedition was dispatched recently to the site of Mr. W. Bayly's flour mill. On that occasion it was thought necessary to send out an officer of the Native Department beforehand, to prevent any mistake with the friendly natives ; but this, of course, acted as a warning to the rebels also, and, upon the arrival of the expedition, the latter were seen in full retreat for Ratapihipihi. It is seldom that any really secret expedition is attempted to be carried out by us ; but the circumstance that the friendly natives are allowed to go where they list is quite fatal to their success. It is natural to suppose that many of them convey information to the enemy, and, uncontrolled as they are, they have every facility for doing so. The remedy for this evil is simple enough. Let the friendly natives be told that if they roam about the country they are liable to be mistaken for rebels and fired at. They know that their countrymen are skulking about for the purposes of murder and plunder, and that no means exist of distinguishing between the two parties. Their own instinct of self-preservation will convince them of the reasonableness of our taking ' every precaution to defend ourselves, and will at the same time lead them for their own security to adopt any course that may be thought necessary to prevent mistakes. The practical lesson received by the Fort Herbert natives (if they were the parties fired at on Monday last) of the danger attending roaming over the country, may of itself deter all the friendly natives from similar courses ; but the effect of any fatal mistake might be so disastrous that stringent rules should be laid down for their guidance ; if these are departed from, they would have only themselves to" blame for any consequences that might ensue.