Correspondence.

Wanganui Herald, Volume III, Issue 537, 20 February 1869, Page 2

Correspondence.

TO THE EDITOR OF THB CTBSING HERALD

Wansranui, "Feb. 20, 1869,

Sib, —It serins to me, Mr Editor, that the colonists of New Zealand are not only gradually 'departing from the customs ant! manners of the old country. but are; also forgetting those British attributes1 of pluck, dash, and bull-dog courage, which have rendered old "Brig-i land the-Queen of the ocean, and spread her sway ; over so many millions of the human race.The present war in "the' North island has, I am sorry to say, proved the fact, that Colonial, troops are not fitted to cope with the natives under like equal terms. They have been so frequently out-manoeuvred, outgerieralled, and out-fought, that, at the' present moment, a single shot from the bush causes a panic among the bestdrilled men, -which it is beyond the power of their officers to allay, and fifty of the enemy, .distributed indiscriminately, are quite sufficient to keep in check and give employment to 1,000 of our forces. Our rulers are beginning to seethis fact, and, shame be it to say that, steamer after steamer is arriving in the W'anganui river, with a number of Arawas or other friendly tribes, to whom is to be entrusted the active working of a war, which ennnot be decided by our own devices. This is no doubt a wi*e and long-sighted policy, if the aborigines fought on the principle of the Kilkenny cats, and we were to find nothing afterwards but their tails; but when we not only find those appendages, but arms supplied by us ad. lib., then, I contend, that the powers that be are pursuing a suicidal policy, calculated to lower us in the eves of the natives, and render us despicable, both at home and abroad, by refusing the aid of the strong and long arms of the Imperial Government, and trusting the very existence of the Colony to the fragile thread.of Maori fidelity. The war has now spread its branches throughout the Island, and, as I have said before, has proved beyond the power of our rulers to bring to a successful issue. Let us then, under the circumstances, put all paltry pride in our pockets, and, as a body, confess our mistaken ideas of self-dependence; let us humble ourselves to the old mother country, and without doubt her birch will not be applied to the back of her repentant children whilst their enemies are in the field. A Repentant Ciin.n. [The "Repentant Child" has exemplified the absence of pluck which he deplores, and exhibited that want of self-confidence which makes the Colonial soldier, man for man, not a match for the Maori in the bush. The." Mother " country can do nothing for us if we are not true to ourselves.—Ed. E. H.]