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Waka Maori, Volume I, Issue 22, 22 February 1879, Page 316

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Monday, 21st October, 1878. MR. FOX ON THE NATIVE POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. (Concluded.) Mr. Fox went on to say that the House had been told that the meetings of Sir George Grey and Mr. Sheehan had been voluntarily brought about bv the King; that the invitations came from the Natives themselves; that it was their burning desire to see their old friend Sir George Grey. The Native Minister had said, " I had a whole batch of invitations, that, piled together, would reach as high as this." But none of these invitations were shown to the House. He, Mr. Fox, had in -his • possession communications from Na'.ives which would show that no voluntary invitations were sent at all; thai the whole affair was got up by the action of the Government themselves!. It was said that an invitation had been sent to the Governor asking him to visit Tawhiao. That invitation was not among the papers before the House, nor the answer to it. If such an invitation had been sent, it should have been published. It was said in certain Government subsidized newspapers that Kewi had made an offer of a munificent gift of land in his fertile territory for the purpose of constructing a railway. But he, Mr. Fox, could not find in the papers before the House any allusion whatever to anything of the kind. He could not find that Kewi made any statement or speech to that effect. If such an offer were made, why were we not in a position to take possession of that country ? If such an offer were made, why was it not thought worthy of - record ? Are these facts^ or myths ? It was stated in the account of the meetings laid before the House, particularly of the Hikurangi meeting, that the Natives were delighted, that Sir George Grey was never so well pleased in his life, that they were all very merry, &c. [We may say that we have it on good authority that a very intelligent Ngatiraukawa chief, named Whitipatato, who was present at the Hikurangi meeting, wrote a true account of the proceedings at that meeting and sent it to the Wananga for publication, but it was suppressed.] Mr. Fox then, to show how these things appeared to the Natives, read extracts from a letter which had. been sent to him by a Maori chief, as follows: "To the Hon. Mr. Fox, the former Premier, the protector of the New Zealanders and their land. " Fbiend Fox,—We, the Maories of the Province of Auckland, approve of your endeavours to suppress the false utterances of Captain Grey and Mr. John Sheehan. I will explain to you: During Sir George Grey's and Mr. Sheehan's first visit, Manuhiri stood forth and said, ' My heart is not at rest, nor is my mind clear. It is seventeen years since Thave seen Grey. Welcome, George.' Tliat wasall.Manuhiri said. These were jeeriug words of Manuhiri's,

because he did not believe in the deceit of George Grey. I will explain to you. Tawhiao's answer to Grey was, ' I have houses of my own.' Whereat Sir George Grey looked foolish. On Captain's Grey's second visit to Hikurangi, five hundred pounds and five hundred acres were offered to Tawhiao. Tawhiao's reply to Captain Grey's enticing words was, ' That is your work which you consider right.' Captain Grey urged him to accept his offer atonce, in order that the work of the Government might be rendered easy. Tawhiao's jeering answer to Captain Grey was, * Let us have a Pakeha dance, that,l might see what it's like.' This was the second time Captain Grey was made to look foolish. The Maori King will on no account consent to the enticements held out to him by Captain Grey. He (the Maori King) is well aware of the tricky nature of the descendants of Henry VIII. Captain Grey is one of them. Friend Pox, Tawhiao's first word to Te Wheoro and "Wiremu Patene was, ' I have nothing to say to Captain Grey, but simply to see him, and no.more/ One unjust expression made* use of by the Captain of New Zealand was when he referred to the poverty of the Hau-Hau people. It was not the Maori tribes who invited Captain Grey. He was permitted to come on account of the word of Te "Wheoro that the Waikato lands were to be returned to Tawhiao The word of Tawhiao's people is, 'lf Grey had made peace- with the land, and the Europeans had removed from "Waikato, then peace would have been made with the people.' This was said after Grey had left." With respect to the Native Licensing Act, Mr. Fox thanked the Native Minister for bringing it down. He said the country would thank him, for all were interested in preventing the extinction of the Native race. If there was one thing hanging like a millstone round the neck of the conscientious men of this country, it was the fact of having introduced intoxicating liquor to the Native race. We, instead of raising them up and making them a better race, had, through the instrumentality of this miserable, wretched poison, destroyed hundreds and thousands of them, until now they are struggling for a bare existence.