LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 198, 5 July 1860, Page 2

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

July 3, 1860. Sir, —It is with feelings of regret that I consider it my duty, to call attention, through your columns, .to., the too- prevalent ill feeling that is fast being .engendered by.theEuropeans •towards the natives, I may say of New Zealand in general,-and this district particularly. And while I give my opinion of their .character from twenty years’ experience, let no one think that I come forward to justify them in carrying on the present war. and plunder.againstour brethren at New Plymouth ; much-less to, sanction or justify, the late cold-blooded murders they have committed in that, district. No,.sir, so far lons. thst,r consider oim-."government will not be justified in making any terms that will not bring them to justice without delay as soon as possible .after; the proposals for. peace (of which I see very little signs at present.) may be made.

Now,, sir, I .am -not. going to notice the cause of the present war, or in.any, Wa^;allii(le to it, as I think it is quite irrelevant to the question I mean to go into./ Blit let,illsbegin with the foot that we are . carrying oh war at present with a. considerable portion (arid J am justified in saying the worst portion) ot.tlm,native population of, these when this is a well known fact, I dp./not consider tliat we are justified in denouncing the wjiolej’as fiends and demons ; for, may I ask,' what nation is' there that does not. foi'get 'the claims of humanity, while’they take, ad vantage of the awful license that a declaration of hostilities,affords them of perpetrating deeds that even.some of our native friends would, shrink from, and. I am confident that many of your readers will agree with me that there are many noble intelligent men among them, .wi)ile, taken as a whole, they are not so far behind,' some .of. our own colour ; and. I have no {hesitation in , saying,, that. had.they been ,treated as ,we would .haye had to treatJ, : .aV r ciyiiizett. people, .whose country we,had invaded, the present and any other war.would have been averted. ...For instance, who ever beard-, of, a handful of, settlers risking their lives among a warlike people, whose daily avocations are only 1 co inspect and watch:their.'slow progress toward a settlement amongst them, and who, instead of bringing a sufficient body of troops to protect them until they completed the necessary negociations for their permanent’.security, immediately commence to cultivate and make themselyes homesteads, while a government steps in and establishes a custom-house, and begins levying taxes on both races, the’ whole of which are nearly required to pay .the- gatherers. ..Now, sir, I maintain that the most of our time in this country has been solely taken, up with ourselves, while our. powerful neighbours/ have been left to themselves; with little or no intercourse with us‘,except through one or two individuals who have been .employed to purchase a piece of ground .from them whenever the extension of our borders became necessary, and even .this has seldom, been done in a common businesslike way ; as witness the purchase, or rather,the attempt to purchase,’, the Waitotara block, which, is now reported to be handed oyer to the Maori,'king, ; .'We' are .:all - well aware that had Mr. McLean set to work when he was here, in good earnest, as the natives wished him, the purchase would have been completed; within a mouth, and by this time the half of it would have been re-sold.. , Another most absurd and blindfold policy has been adopted with respect to the land the natives did not wish to sell; which is, that if they will not sell, they must not lease. Now, sir, if we look, hack, we find that in some instances where the law has been. violated, as in the Wairarapa, tlie result lias been the sale of the whole of it riii a very short time; arid even were it riot so, the government have never attempted to bring any one to justice for not submitting to the law, which has been evaded in our own district wholesale. After these exposures I am justified in stating that our governriient.has only itself to blame for the present state of anarchy that prevails amongst the natives, for it has taken no pains whatever to make them respect us or our laws ; even the war we are waging is carried on in such a manner that they treat our troops with contempt, and have no more fear of encountering them than a lot of,, schoolboys would have in driving a flock of sheep; in fact, were it not well known that all the troops in the British army are the same, we might almost accuse the Home government of sending us out a spurious article, and riot a portion of the army that has always made its foes respect it in every clime wherever they hav6.Unfurled, their flag. In conclusion, sir, there can be no doubt that we have never been able to assume our proper position in this country towards the natives, or things would have been very different from what they are at present. In fact, so little has been done, that it would be much better for all concerned had we the chance to begin again de novo. On a future occasion I may trouble you again on this subject, and will endeavour to point out to my fellow-settlers what I consider a policy that will tend to repair the present breach, and prevent any more of these quarrels with petty chiefs such as the present with W. King. l am, sir, your obdt. serxant,

Philanthropist,

July 2nd, 1860.

Sir, —In your last ' week’s issue a letter appeared, signed by Mr. J. 7/andley, in which he has taken as a text a few words I made use of, in answer to Mr. H. C. Field, concerning the Stafford ministry arming the natives, &c. It is always ray wish that the right horse should wear the right saddle ; and for that reason I do' not wish to impute to any man, or body of men, any blame for that of which they were not the sole cause. I expressed my belief that the repeal of the restrictions on the sale of munitions of war was caused by a number of merchants representing the then existing state of affairs, &c. Such was my belief, and is still, with the addition of a large body of friendly (?) Maories, representing to the government, that those natives- that were not favourably inclined- to the Pakeha, could get arms- ammunition, &c.'' in places .where they (•the friendly natives)-could not; and considering that they were loyal subjects of her Majesty Qufeen Victoria, it was a hardship that those- restrictions should debar them from purchasing Weapons for their Own defence— I cannot see the great error, in the repeal. • I will leave the Auckland merchants , to answer for themselves. I do not believe that Governor. Brown and ministry was so onesided. as to do any such thing on the mere representation of the Auckland merchants.

If so, where wqre the members of the General Assembly? Was'it not equally tirtlie advantage of riierchants in /Fellington arid Wanganui,, and elsewhere, as it was to the Auckland merchants? Had A/r. /faridley written a letter of this kind at the time of the repeal, or , when ' the ‘ Governor was’ in Wanganui, I shoiilitriiaveriliought it more manly i if-him/ -1 am not one/’ that' when I see an individual or a government in a dilemma, will threw impediments in ’ their" way. No, bat will set my shoulder to’tife wheel, and ? do; what I can to extricate them, and I believe it to be the more manly course. lam nbt : a : onesided Government man, and never JiaVe been an admirer of the policy of the' native' ’department,'which' I .consider has heeri badly managed. - It appears to me that at the'commencement of the present Government an opposifx m party was'formed; that prophesied that the Government as at present constituted could hot possibly last ’long; They find, to their own chagrin,'that it has stood for years ; and now}t that-this..’repeat'’-of.the r(3strictjdris f on the sale of munitions of war is the only charge they can bring against them ; if so, it is all bosh ; to my certain knowledge the natives in the Taranaki district - were nearly as well armed four or five years ago as now. I have never written anything concerning the confusion of our province (of the Council of which Mr. Handley is a member), but as lie has suddenly sprung into action, I must ask a few questions on the subject. What steps did the Provincial Council of Wellington take to prevent the- repeal of 1 the restrictions on the sale of munitions of war ?—and what have the Wellington .Council done for the safety or defence, of the, province. during the anticipated hostilities ? My humble opinion is, that instead of our Provincial authorities acting together for tlie mutual benefit of the province, they are opposing each other merely for the sake of holding and obtaining office and salary* —and consequently I fear the province is drifting into great difficulties. In conclusion, I sineerely hope that when our Provincial Government is again placed on a public trial, they will have the saine : verdict as he so sincerely hoped that our present ministry would obtain. I am, sir, your humble servant;. JoiiN Treweek, Senr. .