THE WHITE CLIFF MURDERS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 868, 13 March 1869, Page 3

THE WHITE CLIFF MURDERS.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. Summary Vengeance on the Murderers. — Tho Wellington Independent says : — " The intelligence of the wilful mnrder of bo venerable and so esteemed a Christian minister as the Itev. John Whiteley wo'ild be alone sufficient to do this. This good man meets au untimely end on a Sabbath morning, when going to perform his peaceful and holy duties, at the hands of bloodthirsty savages, to the advancement of whose best interests he hud devoted a long and laborious lifo, and whom for nearly forty .years he had been earnestly striving to Christianise. The bare fact of itself, without auy artificial aids, is sufficient to nerve the arm of every settler., agaiust his murderers, and to withhold them from resting satisfied until the miscreants and their abettors have suffered the penalty due for their crimes. The Eev. Mr. Inglis stated the other evening that amongst sa.-ages the tribe wns held responsible for the act of any of its indyridual members. It is absolutely necessary that we carry out the same principle in the present instanoe. These murderers must be surrendered by the tribe to the authorities, or every male belonging to it must be considered implicated in their atrocities. If the Government issnot able to take thut summary vengence tho emergency demands, it must not preveut the settlers and friendly natives themselves from making the attempt." Selp-Reliance.— The Nelson Examiner Bays— "Our correspondent blames the Government for not having retained the regiment, and urges that the Colony BbWd acknowledge that self-reliance has failed and should beg the Home Government to help ns with troops. Wo connot agreo with him. It is not self-reliance that has failed, but stupidity and incompetence : and we are a little surprised at the people of Taianaki taking a course which implies their belief that Imperial olhcers are exempt from these causes of failure. The war will be over whenever the Maoris are convinced that the colonial forces — the forces permanently here — can beat them wherever they are. If we are to ask for English help it must be in another 3hape." Treat them as Tigers.— The Nelson Evening Mail says : — " We have read, how in India, when a tiger has rendered himself formidable by repeated raids npon a native village, the authorities have placed a large reward on his head, and that this proceeding has generally been attended with success. True, we have not tigers in New Zealand but we have to deal with, what is fur worse, a creature, that with the ferocity and thirst for blood which characterise those animals, combines the cunning and the superior sagacity with which the human being is gifted, while at the same time he is armed with some of the most perfect death dealing implements that science has yet discovered and therefore is far more to be feared, and as little to be spared. With a foe such as this, it is impossible to carry out the amenities practised in oivilised warfare ; true it is, that he is made in the image of his Creator, but he has voluntarily cast aside everything that is either divine or human and we believe that the time has come when we must, in self-preservation, however much it may be against our will to do so, look upon tho perpetrators of such deeds as we have, twice within the space of three months, had to chronicle, as something less than human, and treat them as we would the wild beasts whoso cunning and ferocity they so successfully emulate. This is written in no spirit of revenge for past injuries, but rather with a view to protecting ourselves for the future; there is simply left to us a choice between two eviU, either we must suffer our out-settlers to be brutally murdered whenever the Maori feels that oraving for blood, that he seems so powerless to resist, or we must take the iuitiativo, and having proclaimed the tribes who scud forth or harbor the murderers, outlaws, treat tliem as such, aud by these means endeavour to rid ourselves of an enemy who has of his own accord placed himself without the pale of civilisation. In the face of all that has taken place within the last few months, there may still be found persons who will plead for the Maori, and argue that he is susceptible to kindness; to such we would say, remember Volkner and Whiteley." Treat them A3 Savages. — The Tlimies Times says—" The highest and purest motives have, we know, influenced the men who in New Zealand without fear of danger or of death, preached the religion of the great Redeemer, and we are also well aware of the seeming success which at oue time appeared to have blessed their efforts, and we do not even now wish to assert that the preachings have been futile, not from a lack of zeal on the part of the preacher, but from the want of capacity on the part of the disciple. Recent events would almost force upon us the conviction that the Maori is untameable and unchangeable, that he is in truth a savage and not a barbarian. If this be the case, the sooner he is treated as a savage the better — the sooner he is made to understand definitely that while we are willing to allow him justice, we will withhold the mercy which another ibe might hope for from us the better. That will be on our part a fair and honest mode of dealing with the question, one which, whilst it will enabie us to act in a definite and unwavering manner, will also not prevent any ultimate attempts at civilizing and reforming the Maori."