The Star. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1868.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 192, 23 December 1868, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1868.

The Press of this morning contains Another of its doubtful, meaningless articles on the state: of Native affair^. The . article opens,, a sort of maudlin repetitiorTof'the old, old atory of turning our backs qpqn our countrymen in " their extremity," and so 01 . v We venture to say that the people c f ' this island are tired, heartily sick, cf that sort of stuff. jTo the vast majority of them it cannot *be anything eles than the silly ite^atidn-of a sentiment ■which has been V#qrn bY those who profeaa'^tp believe in i ;. What does it mean ?.x. /What lesso a doe? it teach? What would the Pre, s Lave the people of the Middle Islaud do? We have asked our contemporary, tyro or three' times, to answer that question as plainly as he can, hi it no reply has yet been vouchsafed. A -c Canterbury, Otago, Nelson, and tlie other Middle Island provinces to sei <£ up", say a thousand' /..men l each, to fig it for the hearth.B. a'n^ homes, the wiv 38 and little one's, Vf the men ofWai- .-■• gahui, rtiid other- in the Nor;h 'Island? Is tMt . r what the Pnss ■means ? If nof, , .we ask"again, vrh at ;■ ,:does he mean?- ♦„:,*,. - ; ■ In the Press bl Saturday last there ; v ' 'appeared an ar'ttejfe/r which, 'if it-meant vi'l^auy thing at al^. t '^e^tit tha|; the peojde * in the distuij^^dj fliatricts -of. the North Island were quite able to defend themselves, if only they were

animated by the proper spirit. Quoting from the Wanganui Times, which pointed out that 1500 able-bodied men could be, and therefore ought to be, i raised in that district alone for the purpose of opposing, at the most, 800 Maoris, the Press said — "If the settlers " of the North were all animated with " such a spirit, native disturbances " would soon be over. . We should " never again hear of a country laid " waste for a hundred miles, post after " post abandoned, and even the fcown- <{ ships threatened by. the marauders." Now, we cay.it is impossible for any ordinary man to read the above without coming to the conclusion that the Press thinks the North is quite able, if it lilies, to defend itself. The quotation, taken with what precedes it, means that if it means anything. And yet, the Press of this morning talks of deserting our country-men in their extremity ! What extremity? Have they turned out the 1500 able-bodied men in Wanganui, which one of their local journals say they can turn out? Have they done their very utmost to defend their own. ? If not, why should we of the Middle Island be told that we are deserting them in their extremity ? . We say it deliberately/that if the Wanganui district can turn out 1500 able-bodied men to fight £00 Maoris, it ought.to be ashamed of the howl Bet up on its behalf. We are told, by the gentlemen who would, if they dared, advocate the immediate enrolment of the Middle Islind Militia for active service in the Noiith, that our forefathers would have acted a nobler part than we are acting. Looking down from a lofty eminence upon what they call our grovellingspijrit, they exclaim — " VVas this the spirit " that peopled America? Was fhis " the spirit that animated our f^re- " fathers when they first went but " from the old country to found a jbew " one in the far West ? " ] To these scathing questions we nave one reply, and that, we believe, wilKbe considered satisfactory by nine-teitlis of the people of this island. It is simply this : Are the men of the North; Island exhibiting the spirit that peopled America? Are these people, on whose behalf you make taunting appeals to us, animated by the spirit that animated our forefathers when they first went out from the old country to found a new one in the far West ? Show us that they have behaved in that spirit, aud that they are still beaten ; then we shall think it time to go to their assistance en masse. But, do these people who talk so glibly about the early American colonists know what they actually did ? We shall tell them. The men of one settlement did not cry for help to the men of another ; each community defended itself, and this was true self: reliance. The self-reliance which has been preached to the people of New Zealand is a miserable, sham, and; like all shams, it has utterly broken down —we - say this notwithstanding uhat the Press still asserts — when put to the "test/ Ifj therefore, these so-called self-reliance people will go on harping about the spirit of our forefathers, the men that founded America, and all the rest of it, let them tell us what these noble colonists actually did— that they did rely on themselves, each man,' each community, each state, and did not go howling : from' one. to the other fop help. If, self-reliance is still to bj? j preached, let us have the real article!, not the spurious th'ing'tbat has passed current for Y the. last, three or four years. ' _I_. i