The Westport Times FRIDAY, SEPT. 30, 1881.

Westport Times, Volume XV, Issue 1938, 30 September 1881, Page 2

The Westport Times FRIDAY, SEPT. 30, 1881.

The Native difficulty is again seriously occupying the attention of the Government and the people. The firebrand speech made by that crack brained fanatic Te Whiti, ac the late meeting at Parihaka, has been productive of great uneasiness. This address, added to the subsequent behaviour of the Natives, has resulted in the Armed Constabulary force taking on a number of recruits, and the hurried formation of volunteer companies in the Waimate Plains district. The following is a translation of Te Whitis speech, as furnished by the Press Association :- This is the September meeting, hut it is unlike other September meetings. The aspect of things are changed. Hitherto I have carried your (the Native) troubles on my back. I have done this as long as I can, but now you must act for yourselves. The trouble in reference to the land is not of the present time. It belongs to the past —the olden times. The Government say the land is theirs, and I say it is mine. I do not speak of the small pieces here, but I speak of the whole world. I do not care for the Governor or the King, and I now say to you carry on everything yourselves for yourselves until the trouble is over. The pakanga (war) commenced at Waitara ; then there was the ploughing ; then there was the fencing, and then you were taken prisoners. That time is all past, and the Government have returned you here. You must not be taken prisoners again. I see nothing but trouble, trouble, trouble, before me. Talking has been for years, but it has come to nothing. Thore are not so many ways of doing things as formerly. We were alone here ; we were by ourselves ; now we have enemies all around us. The land question is all settled ; it is settled now. Pakanga (fighting) 'has not been all settled ; it is not settled now. The fighting has been hanging over you for a long time. The King and the Government are close to you, but don't be alarmed. The fighting must come ; they say it must go on. It is not you who are the cause of all this. It is those who are around us. If my hand is wrong to-day my thoughts are wrong. What I have said to you at former meetings was correct. We have talked about Atua at them ; we have talked about the land ; but this I say we will talk about fighting, and nothing but fighting. All I said formerly was right; I have left nothing behind. I am the land and the people are in my hand. All the evil which formerly existed in the land is upon us. From the time of Israel there has been fighting in the land—fighting against the Government .and against the King. All our talk to-day is of fighting, and nothing is now left but to fight. The peace that existed is passed away ; there is no peace now. You have tried to keep the peace but were not allowed. Whatever you do be not boastful, for the Atua looks at at all your doing. Thore will bo no teaching to-day, for all is trouble around us, and all the talk will be of fighting, for nothing but fighting will put what is wrong right. All that I said before was on account of the land which is dearer to us than life, but the stranger has come and settled upon it, and we are driven off what is our own. The evil of the world is loose now amongst us, and there is nothing to stop it but to fight. Let the Government and the King, and the people listen to the words of this meeting ; let them take heed what I say. Let them go from the land ; let them cease to bring their evil to us, for so sure as they do will this great tribe melt away. I do not say whether it will be by guns or anything else, but that great tribe will melt away before you. This meeting alone can settle the matter between the two tribes. Go, go, all of you, and look upon me as your protector. Take your arms, and the blessing of the Atua will be with you. Although this meeting may look insignicant in the eyes of the Pakehas, still we are doing what is right in our defence. I am disquieted and vexed with to-day's work, for it is merely the talk of my lips. Go you all on with your land work. All will yet be straight. When I said formerly that there would be no more fighting it was the Atua who made ine utter those words. The sufferings of the prophets and the apostles were great, and our time is now come when suffering must be broadcast over the land. What I am saying to-day is for the ears of all the people. It is only talk to-day, but I send for the pakanga (war) on the land to-day, on to the land sold by the Governor. If when pakanga (war) goes on to the land, they strike you with a stone, strike them with a stone. Likewise if they hit you with their hands, strike you thus yourself. If they bring guns take your guns likewise. If the pakehas come and say it is the Governor's land, and lift hands to defend it, strike them down. Those are my words. They are the words Atua put into my mouth. Te Whiti, rising again, said—Every year we have been talking. The Atua (almighty) talks to-day. It is different to-day. You will stretch yourself over the land and hold it. The Atua said that 50,000 men walked round the walls of the city, and the walls fell on those who were in the city and killed them. If there were thousands at Pungarehu the bank of the redoubt will be a sepulchre for them. The land te-day is in my hands, and those on it will all fall, they will all perish. Takeu literally the meaning of the prophet's utterances is piain—they point to rebellion pure and simple But there are Maori scholars who assert that the speech must not be taken to mean what it appears to convey ; that Te Whiti .speaks metaphorically, and that the war jhe advocates is by tongue only—tongue--thrashing, in fact. This may be as it will, butTe Whiti's speech certainly ap pears to be of a .very ominous character, and the chances are that reckless bloods

amongst his tribe will accept the commands of their chief in a literal sense. At the present state of" this apparently interminable difficulty, the conviction must be forced upon the minds of observers that Mr Byrce's policy, to seize Te Whiti—the root of the trouble—and place him in gaol, was the best. Appearances portend that this will yet have to to be done.