NATIVE INTELLIGENCE. [BY TELEGRAPH.]

Waikato Times, Volume XVII, Issue 1446, 8 October 1881, Page 3

NATIVE INTELLIGENCE. [BY TELEGRAPH .]

A Prkss Association telegram, dated Wellington last night, reports .-—The Government steamer Hinemoa sailed this afternoon for Opunake with 100 Armed Constabulary men on board. Nothing fresh lias been received from Parihaka.

The settlers who have recently commenced the work of making homesteads at Nga Kunrikumi have become alarmed at the demeanour of the natives, and two of them have determined to bring in their families to New Plymouth for the present, until native affairs are established on a more satisfactory footing. There ia every reason to believe Te Whiti will not sanction any raid by the natives on the settlers, or surprisals of the A.C. Force, but it is difficult to say how far his influence will extend in preventing wild young fellows, who are eager to fight. It is believed Te Whiti has been coerced into making his late inflammatory speech, as he found his influence among his people was decreasing by his continual preaching of peaco. The Post (Wellington) interprets telegrams from the Native Minister as throwing considerable doubt on the report as to a surprise of the Constabulary camp having ever been really contemplated by ' ' Te Whiti's young men. ' ' Mr Koileston states 1 that the natives are sowing and planting extensively, and that there is not the slightest warlike symptoms in their . behaviour. Everything has a thoroughly peaceful aspect, and the natives appear good tempered. At the same time they persist iv their ' encroachments by fencing, &c, and the Governmenfc deem it prudent to keep up a strong

force in the district to' be prepared for all contingencies." The Times (Wellington) writes in a similar strain. '.' Te Whiti is said to have toned down his bellicose utterances by adjuring his hearers not to accept what he said too literally. They were not to resist violently. Three natives who oame into the' camp from Parihaka expressed surprise at the reports current of the attitude of the Parihaka nativeg, and averred there was insufficient ground for them. We sincerely hope that ii is so, but the menacing tone of To Whiti's speech cannot be overlooked. He is evidently on t{ie turn, b'ufc' hesitates at taking a step of such tremendous consequence to himself and hie dupes. 1 ' The Herald (Dunedin) is particularly wroth with the whole affair. It writes : — " And what will be the result ? A few more millions of money expended in Taranaki, a few more Maoris exterminated for the benefit of the people in New Plymouth, the stoppage of public works under the pretence that al^ surplus funds are required to suppress the native rebellion — that is about the sum total of consequences. Bettor and cheaper would it be if every Taranaki settler were cleared out of that very dear part of the country, and presented with land elsewhere. Auckland has been founded on commissariat expenditure cemented by rivers of blood shed in warfare ; Taranaki's trumpery and insignificant progress is due to the autne sources. The sooner the South Island cuts the painter and conserves her own property for her own uses, the better will it be for her." The Times (Lyttleton) answers : Government has so far acted wisely in directing the Constabulary to refrain from interference with the fencers. Mr Bryce's retirement from the Native Office ia thus brought more than ever forward into congratulatory relief. The well-known caution of Mr Rolleston is preferable at this junction to any quasi-Napoleonic policy. A week ago the first thing to be done to avoid war was to send an order to the Constabulary officers to do nothing, and that thing was done. " Per- i siatence in the course hitherto followed" being ended, time has been gained for reflection. Reflection ought to produce the j negotiation with Te Whiti which should have been entered into at first, before the outset of the policy hitherto persisted in. It is not an extravagant supposition that Te Whiti sends men to fence in order simply to get the Government to negotiate with him ; and that finding it useless to send a small body of men with orders to submit, he sends large bodies with instructions loudly proclaimed to resist. Inflammatory writings addressed to the superior race are as much out of place as they arc unfeeling. They mean that nothing but the extermination of the natives of the Taranaki country will settle the difficulty. Such a settlement we ought to scorn as both beneath the dignity of our civilisation and the spirit of our manhood.

Mr H Sfceele, secretary of the Hamilton Presbyterian Church Committee, returns thanks to the ladies and gentlemen who so kindly assisted at the late concert. Mr J. S. Buckland's sale at Ohaupo on Tuesday next will commence at noon sharp. The new quarter of the Cambridge Choral Union commences on Monday next.

[For continuation of reading matter bee fourth pifffe.]