Wellington Independent WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21,1871.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3231, 21 June 1871, Page 2

Wellington Independent WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1871.

The yATivn question : what has become of it? The "miserable kill," by which sarcastic epithet Mr Richmond characterised the new era in native affairs, inaugurated by his successor, has, despite of his forebodings, continued without any noteworthy interruption. A " miserable lull v indeed it is for sensational telegraphists and opposition alarmists. Sensation-loving readers must find little pleasure in reading New Zealand journals — there are no murders or massacres to " enjoy." Even Mr Stafford must be put out. The state of affairs, which looked so gloomy when he was at Timaru, seems most unaccountably to get brighter and brighter, beyond all reasonable expectation. That " the King party, which," in his opinion, " was never more hostile," should still never be less disposed to fight, must be to him a source of inexplicable mystery. The journals that supported his gloomy vi&w of the state of native affairs, must be ready to ask ihe question, «• Wherefore the ravishing doth not begin ?'* One of these, and that not very far away, explained to the rebels our weakness and helplessness so completely, and showed them how easily they could overpower any force we could bring against them, that it is wonderful they did not take the hint ! With such " imbecility "in the administrator (Mr M'Lean), it is passing strange how the native department has been so successful as to allow of more actual settlement in the North Island, in his short regime, than in the five years of a previous administration. But "no one, we think, can be more " exercised " than the Hon J. 0. Richmond. That peace and progress should succeed panic and disaster, and without the Middle Island being calkd upon to sacrifice all their revenue to effect " a grand conquest of peace " by one " great war," so utterly scatters to the wind all his favorite theories, that he must only groan in perplexity ; or if he can give voice at all, it must be to take up the refrain of the doleful ditty he commenced last session — " the whirligig of time brmgs round great changes." New Zealand governed without a Richmond ! What a strange and dreary prospect ! Yet, how wonderfully the colony gets on although the seat that knew him knows him no more ! Even the places that his administration rendered historical — the districts whose very names recall the images of murdered women and children, and the cannibal orgies of infuriated savages — all these, under a M'Lean, have undergone a transformation that bids fair to chase away the horrid memories of what they were under a Richmond. Yet there has been no " great war" — no " borrowing for war purposes" — no alternate panic and do-nothing-ism — no " drifting," which we were told was the great characteristic of his Native policy. We think Mr Richmond must vow be satisfied (if, indeed, it is possible to conceive him satisfied) that the management of native affairs was never so successful. The " Nelson Examiner" is, of late, strangely silent on this head ; violent as it is — almost delirious, in fact — in its attacks upon the Ministry. The success of Mr Yogel in the monay mavketof the world, where his very " appearance" was to be enough to ensure " utter failure," is, it would seem, not more galling to that journal, and its gifted band of writers, than Mr M'Lean's native administration. Failure in the former l minister is still confidently predicted, before his policy is successfully carried out ; but no more gloomy prognostications appear of native wars, massacres, and alarms. We may not expect a journal selfopinionative, dictatorial, and doctrinaire enough to please the late member for Grey and Bell, to make an apology to its readers for making them so long "dwell in the midst of alarms," by shaking their faith in the Native Minister, and for leading them to believe New Zealand " o horrible place," by scandalously attacking the members of the Government, and particularly the Colonial Treasurer. Such a confession is too much to ask. We rejoice, however, to notice that other journals, not less violent in their opposition to the Native Minister, are gradually coming round to juster views. Our evening contemporary, that used to be noted for aspersions on the Government, so strong as to be ludicrous, and therefore, with a quiet irony, copied verbatim by the colonial press, is one of the brighest examples. To encourage him in his new-born convictions, we direct his attention to the following ex tract, from the " Hawke's Bay Times " of Saturday last, although the mention in it of the Land Transfer Act may, we fear, slightly interfere with his delectation. No better illustration of the difference between the present and past administration could be conceived than that an article headed " Povjsrty Bai* " should state that " the native difficulty is a thing of the past." " Mr John Hastie, who left this port for Poverty Bay by the s.s. Napier on Thursday night, brought with him a coach which ho had purchased from Mr Rymer. He intends, we understand, to run it between Gisborne and Orraond. This is a sign of progress in Poverty Bay which it is pleasant to observe. There is little doubt, indeed, that that

district will, within the next year or two, progress with very rapid strides. We noticed the other day, the fact of village allotments being laid out there by Mr G. B. Worgan, which are shortly to be disposed of. We have since heard that an old settler, of great activity and enterprise, will shortly be coming into the market with a considerable number of sections suitable for small farms. Sections varying from 50 to 150 or 200 acres. The soil, as every one knows, is rich beyond comparison ; the native difficulty is a thing of the past, and the sections being sold, we presume, under the Land Transfer Act, will be commodities which can be resold with as little difficulty or expense as a horse or a cow could be. We have, therefore, every reason to believe that they will be taken up eagerly, and that the district will shortly gain a large accession to its population of the very best of settlers— " the small farmers."