MR. JOHN BRYCE BEFORE HIS CONSTITUENTS. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.]

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1362, 24 March 1881, Page 3

MR. JOHN BRYCE BEFORE HIS CONSTITUENTS. [BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.]

(press association.) Wanganui, Last Night. At his meeting to-night Mr Bryce spoke as follows : — With reference to native affairs, and now I come to the question of my retirement from the Ministry ; it is a step which has, I think, been made rather too much of, and it is a step which ought to be more common than it is. If a gentleman belongs to a Ministry, and he sees that there is a difference between him and the bulk of bis colleagues which he cannot compromise, he should leave the Government, more especially if the point of difference has reference to something connected with his own department, because it is somewhat unreasonable to expect a man either to carry out in hi 3 own department the views of which he does not approve, or to abstain from doing things which he believes ought properly to be done. lam in somewhat of a difficulty in regard to this matter. Of course it is not my place to divulge anything that ought to be kept secret, nor do I intend to do it : and again, as I believe the plan I suggested for dealing with Te Whiti will still have to be carried out. I do not think it would be right to describe that plan in all its details. I think if an impartial observer had marked my conduct and my utterances he would have seen that I had one consistent plan in my mind from the beginning, and that there was unity of purpose, at any rate, in my own mind. At any rate, when moving the second reading of the West Coast Bill, I said the object the Government constantly had in view was the settlement of the claims of the Maoris ; but at the same time the state of affairs which had existed on that coast for so many years must exist no longer, and settlement must proceed on that coast on the authority of the law that must be established. There justice to the natives was to go hand in hand with a thorough determination on the part of the Government to estabh&h the authority of law upon the coast. These were the principles I laid down, and everything I have said or done since, has been consistant with those principles. The two things were so closely connected that, really, they must be regarded as one. Now, how was this to be accomplished. That was the question : the whole of that coast with regard to claims and promises in respect to land restored, or to be restored, was in the most tangled and complicated condition that it was possible to conceive ; and the more you look into it the more you will see the difficulties of the position. Well then, the Government came to a determination to appoint a Commission to enquire into the claims and grievancies of the Maoris. Let me point this out, that that had also been the determination of the previous Government, in fact they had appointed Mr James Mackay a commissioner for the purpose. But we, while agreeing that a Commission should be appointed ; that it would bo better to appoint different men, thought it was necessary to appoint the Commission to bati«-fy the Natives that the colony meant to do justice to them ; but afc the same time I thought that it was necessary to show the Maoris that we were fully determined to carry out our purposes and have our own will upon that coast, to show them in fact that settlement must go on aud the authority of the law be upheld. It was with the latter idea of convincing the Maoris that we had the power and will to do it, we moved tho Armed Constabulary across the Waingongoro. Since the time I did so, much has been done on the coast. Such great changes have taken place that people have almost forgotten the state of affairs that existed there 15 months ago. Why, when I apked for money ta make roads a member of the late Government tried to get me to promise that I would make no road without the consent of the native people, and felt convinced that it meant war, and from various influential quarters the Government were urged not to tidvance the Constabulary across the river until the Royal Commissionhadcompleteditslabors.lknew that in some cases the Royal Commission would be a farce ; I knew that the only tiling to give the Royal Commission a chance of success was a display of force at the same time. I therefore moved the force across the Waingongoro. and I did it in pursuance of the very principles I had laid down at the outset. Do not suppose I took that step without a deep sense of my responsibility. One may not regard it so now, but at that time it was very generally regarded as a most important step — a step which would not improbably lead to war. There were scarcely two men in the colony who thought different ; and I knew if things went wrong —if settlements wre ruined and people were murdered — I- should be resting under a heavy responsibility, and should be accused of bad judgment, and so on. It was a time of grave anxiety to me, and in the innocence of my heart I did think that, at any rate I had some little right to expect sympathy and countenance and support from the press of Wanganui. But how did I get it, sirs 1 In the very agony of the time, at the most critical period, when the balance was quivering between peace and war, a paper in this town took the I opportunity of publishing a series of sketches inflammatory to the natives, and degrading to Europeans. What did these sketches teach ? They taught the Maoris they might revel in the blood of our countrymen, that they might come down the coast and kill every man, woman, and child, and that the poor deluded pakeha could be caught just in our trap, and then another in their simplicity of heart, that they could carry everything before them until they reached a certain point, and then went on to teach them that the white man was unable to fight the Maoris, and would have to call in the aid of foreign races. Degrading thought and inflammatory sketch. 1 settled my plans in anxiety, but still I prosecuted them, I, acting of course for the Government^ f ' moved the Constabulary across I made roads, and I made : 'ih*i» without the consent of the Maoris. I completed telegraph lines while Te Whiti had resisted j I caused the lighthouse to be begun, to which Te Whiti had refnEti his consent ; I falsified all his predictions and pat the camp within two miles of Parihaka, and the law was vindicated. The fencers, ■which -were Bent down to obstruct the road making were captured and pnt in prison. That served two purposes. It vindicated the law, and it weakened Te> Whiti'o strength ; land was surveyed and prepared for the market, and everything" went on well till September laat. Till then we continued to advance, ahpl my plan had proceeded without iatemiwiop,

! I admit; there was a pause then, and I am now coming to the point of difference between myself and the majority of the Cabinet. What I ought to have been permitted to do at that time was to hay« paid a visit to Te Whiti. I ought to have gone and _ seen him with suoh a force at my back as to have commanded respect. I ought to have gone in point of fact with as large a force of the A.C. as could have been collected together, and ought to have said this to Te Whiti — " This is a very small country, too small to hold two seperate authorities'. If you are the man of sense some people suppose you to be you will see that for yourself, and you will also see which of the two authorities must prevail. Either the Queen or you must prevail, and I must see that the authority of the law shall, from this time henceforth, prevail at Parihaka as well as elsewhere." I would have told him that he could no longer be permitted to har- ! bonr criminals — that such a thing was fraught with danger to the country. I should have told him that particularly he could no longer be permitted to give refuge to murderers ; and I should have told him that there was one murderer there who must be arrested, and that I had come to arrest him, and then and there I should have arrested that man. You will not expect me to detail the plan I had made to render that arrest effective. I have little doubt but that it would have been effective. If Te Whiti had quietly consented there would have been no necessity for the arrest of Te Whiti himself, except this, that it would have been the one thing necessary to destroy his prestige among them ; his prestige, so far as it was hostile to our authority. But lam bound to say this, that if he had resisted I should have apprehended him with as little hesitation as I would have apprehended any other person who resisted the law, whether he resisted or not. This step would from that time forth have placed him under the oontrol of the law, and his manner, so far as it was hostile to us, would have been severely shaken. Ido not think he would have resisted. He would have seen perfectly well that hia means of resistance was too weak, that our power was too strong, and he would have known as wellas I knew, that within ten days I could have concentrated 2000 men upon him, and another thousand within another ten days, and he would not for a moment have entertained the slightest idea of resistance if he had resisted, and I am bound to dwell upon it, because I knew the point had weight with my colleagues. I should have arrested him, and that I believe would have been the best thing which could have happened for the solution of the Coast difficulty. I have been accused in the public Press of a great many things. I have been told that I was going to make a desperate advance and occupy Parihaka and violently arrest Te Whiti and bring on war ; in fact, I have been represented as a bloodthirsty wretch who only wanted an opportunity to have his name handed down as the perpetrator of another massacre of Glencoe. I am not going to defend myself from all these charges, but there is one charge which has run through the Government section of the press, which I should like to say a few words upon, that is, that I had departed from the lines of recommendation of the West Coast Commission. I cannot say that I felt myself particularly bound by those lines, but I deny that I have departed from them. (The Hon. gentleman here read extracts from report of Commission, setting forth that, while liberal provision should be made, the provision should, and must, be conditional upon the European settlers'gettinga guarantee of good behaviour from the natives). I think, therefore, no one can accuse me of departing from the line of the recommendations of the West Coast Commission ; and that before making such charges these gentlemen did not ascertain what those lines were. I have now indicated generally the point of divergence between the majority of the Cabinet and myself, and I should like to say this : If you leave Te Whiti with the power of harboring criminals at Parihaka, in it not a very indirect encouragement to crime ? I believe Hiroki murdered McLean out of private malice ; but immediately he went to Parihaka, and paid it was because of the land, he became a hero and an honored guest, and so remains. It is not, then, in human nature to suppose that, after that, the Maoris, who may be a little disposed in that way, will go and do likewise. No doubt, if Tuhi had not, by the activity of the act, been prevented from going to Parihaka, he would have told the same tale, and would have no doubt been similarly treated and believed, and we would have gone anil arrested him ; but if it would have been right to arrest Tuhi, it must be also right to arrest Hiroki. Jt has been said that we were not more bound to arrest Hiroki than any of the murderers in the Waikato or in the King country ; but to my mind that argument has no force. It would have been undesirable to have attempted the arrest of the murderer of Moffatt at Upper Wanganui, because it would have been useless to do bo; but puppoKe they had come up to Putiki, and stayed thero week after week and month after month, would wo not have been bound to go and arrest them ? Certainly. So with the Waikato and King country. That would simply bring about a war. But here we have a strong force within two miles of Parihaka, where Hiroki is flaunting himself. Ido not attach so much importance as some people do to tho expense, because I know it is over-estimated ; but one thing Ido attach importance to: There are several little quarrels in various parts of the colony, and as a result of keeping this force on the Plains the law cannot be vindicated at Napier, the Waikato, Thames, and other places, and so long as these matters are allowed to hang on, there will be a constant risk of such an outhbreak as would, if it occurred, necessitate the withdrawl of a part of the force from the Plains. That is another reason why something definite should be done at once* I may be asked, and indeed have been asked, " If this view presented itself to you last session, why did you not then resign ?" That seems a reasonable and pertinent question. My reply is, as a matter of fact was : I did resign last Sept. I sent in my resignation on the ground of divergence between myself and the Cabinet, but I withdrew that resignation, because I thought I had good grounds for hoping that, by that portion of the Ministry which differed from me, I should get my own way on the essential point, and between September and the time of my resignation I was always trying to promote union in the Cabinet on the subject, I consented to some things against my judgment, in order to get that which I had hoped for with a great deal of assurance up to last. When I tound I was unsuccessful I retired from the Government. It was a very painful thing for me to retire, because I was associated with men whom I highly esteemed — whom 1 believed were necessary to the oarrying out of the good work of restoring the Government and condition of the colony to something like a proper tone ; and yet I felt compelled to resign. There was another thing that added bitterness to it,, As a rule, I am not an ambitious man ; but I had some personal ambition in this matter. ,1 did Btronglydesi)?e to'dssociate jny name with the settlement ; of = the i West Coast difficulty, which had baffled successive previous Governments forjyears. u l thought I had brQagw^ltbings- to suoh ,a State thßtthe frwfcj'of ' my aosioua Jabauv

might be fairly gathered, and I assure you it was a bitter moment for me when I turned away disappointed. Nevertheless, I am bound to say, and I -say it with the most perfect sincerity, that the members of the Government who differed for me, (It has been said the Government, was unanimously against me, but that is not so), had a perfect right to their judgment. It was by no means ,a departmental matter, but a great matter affecting the whole colony. And then they had a perfect right to exercise their judgment. I do not doubt they exercised it in the most conscientious manner, and in a manner which they believed to be to the interest of the colony. The question is, what is to be done now ? For my own part, I do not think it is of any use to negotiate with Te Whiti. I do not think there is any case in New Zealand of any Maori having consented voluntarily and in direct terms to confiscation, and from the character of Te Whiti, I take it he is one of the last men likely to do it. I bolieve the idea of negotiating with Te Whiti to be perfectly preposterous. There has been an idea mooted of forming a military settlement, but I cannot see that any good would result from that. (The hon. gentleman illustrated by a map the position of the country, and argued that there was far too much frontier to be protected by a military settlement). If you establish a [military settlement, you would either get men who would be useless as settlers, or men vho would not fight unless paid for it. Certainly, I am convinced that not a single sixpence would be saved. No doubt the present policy'may proceed settlement. The population will increase and in time the difficulty will be removed, but remember, so long as Te Whiti is there with his present mana, there will be a danger of crime being committed and criminals seeking refuge at Farihka. There is anothe r point : It is due to the Maoris themselves that Te Whiti's influence over them should be broken. I believe they are in a state of most intense fear of him. It is true that their faith in him has to a large extent gone ; they no longer take to Parihaka clothes to clothe the dead who may be raised to life by Te Whiti ; they no longer expect any great things fiom Te Whiti ; but they have a dreadful fear of being bewitched by him, and it is about time that that fear should be broken. Moreover, there is another very great practical difficulty. There are a great many Maori prisoners in gaol at present, and if Te Whiti's supremacy is allowed to remain, I do not see how the prisoners can be liberated, because, as aure as they return, they will increase his power. I have no doubt that, until the power of Te Whiti is broken, these prisoners cannot safely be returned. That is a practical difficulty which I think the Government will haro to bear in mind. There is this one other point, that while our success upon that coast has been very great — and it has been very great, as you will see if you compare the state of tilings 14 months ago and the present aspect of affairs — it has been due to the impression that the Government had the will and the determination and the power to carry on settlement and establish law and authority there. It has been entirely due to that. Ido not,know that the Royal Cummission has yet succeeded in detaching one single man from Te Whiti, but our success has been due to the fact that we showed determination to have our own way.