THE NATIVE SITUATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3852, 30 September 1881, Page 2

THE NATIVE SITUATION.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. The Hawke's Bay Telegraph of September 23rd, says : — " Te Whiti's recent address at Parihaka is the most hostile to the peaoe of the colony that he has yet delivered, and it bears a significance which his previous speeches did not possess. As long as the Government were merely preparing by survey, and by road-making to take actual possession of the confiscated lands on the West Coast, Te Whiti confined his utterances to vague threats. The presence of a large force of Armed Constabulary changed his tune, and the knowledge that his best fighting men were in prison, prompted the assumption of the character of a prophet of peace. With the alteration of circumstances the mission of the prophet has changed. The prisoners have been released, and have returned to him, with a firmer belief in his power than ever, and prepared to do his every behest. Te Whiti's words require no comment, for, they show, as nothing better could show, that Mr. Bryce, the late Native Minister, was right when he insisted upon the capture of Te Whiti. It may now so happen that the colony will have to pay dearly for its folly iv allowing Mr. Bryce to retire for the sake of keeping a weak and pusillanimous Ministry in office.''

The Dunedin Morn in <j Herald of the 21st September says — " What these chiefs counsel, their people will frantically do ; and it is clear that " pakanga" in downright sober earnest is intended. It is useless, and worse than useless, to attempt to gloss over the imminency of the impending danger. The Maoris are a wily race, and never speak their thoughts until they are resolved upon action. Hence we may be sure that the speech&s of Te Whiti and Tolm are not mere bounce and bravado, but words of solemn import. Probably Mr. Bryce could throw some light upon this if he |would. That he desired to arrest Te Whiti, and incarcerate that great propounder of mischief — that he was refused permission to do so by his timorous colleagues, and by the philoMaori Governor, who sent Home a wrongful and injurious statement of the causes of Mr. Bryce's resignation — these be matters of history. Had Mr. Bryce been allowed to have his way we should not now have heard anything of "pakanga." The evil would have been nipped in tho bud. But the course pursued — pusillanimous from beginning to end, aud unjust from alpha to omega — of arresting Maori fencers, imprisoning them without trial, and releasing them without form of law, has brought this trouble on our heads. Bryce, being obstructed by his half -hearted colleagues, and thwarted by a dilletante Governor, resigned his seat in the Cabinet, and Kolleston took his place. " Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," and assuredly the poets words have been confirmed in the case under review."

The Hawke's Bay Herald says — " But while fully concurring in the demand for means to deal effectually with any rising, we cannot acquit Ministers of blame in this matter. Had the advice of Mr. Bryce been followed, Te Whiti's power would now have been utterly broken, and we should not see Parliament asked for extensive powers to repress rebellion. Instead, the question of removing the large force on the Plains would in all probability have been now the subject of debate. To some extent Ministers hands had been tied previously — tied by their own action, or the action fathered by them — we refer to the sending of Captain Kuollys on an ambassadorial mission to the Maori ' prophet,' thus placing him firmer on his pedestal of assumed power. Then, also, there was the cry of mauy that Te Whiti was our real saviour — that had it not been for his pacific addresses and counsels to passive resistance we should have been plunged into war. Now the aspect of things is changed, as Te Whiti himself says. He no longer counsels peace, but war-— his last address was •as full of treason as an egg is full of meat,' as an infamous judge once said of the works of a great reformer. No further justification is needed for the adoption of Mr. Bryce's policy. Another point not in favor of the Miuistry is this : that if the crisis be so serious as it is represented to be — if it be sufficiently serious to justify the exceptional powers they ask for — then Parliament should be called together at the earliest opportunity, so that in the event of gloomy anticipations being realised, the Legislature may decide what steps should be taken. But, judging from their past, if a hundred equally cogent reasons were urged for the speedy summoning of Parliament, Ministers would still persist in retaining office to the last possible minute, whether the country pronounces in their favour or against them."