THE TARANAKI QUESTION.

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E—No. 2

nary law which would require still more force ; —that, whilst they complained that offenders against the existing , law could escape with impunity, they should expect to apprehend more easily offenders against the proposed law ; —that they should propose to render a population more open to our influence by a process which could only isolate and harbarize them:—that they should wholly disregard the effect of such a law upon our own people, very many of whom likewise would be led to become smugglers by such a law Durin - the discussion of this Bill in the House of Assembly, great excitement prevailed iD Waikato, But happily the Assembly was unwilling to sanction such a measure. The Ministers succeeded in carrying the second reading, but it was found impossible to proceed further. This result has done much Yet the alarming fact remains, that we have been already brought near to that stage of misgovernment, at which a wrong, done in haste or in ignorance, is deliberately followed up by further and worse wrong ; at which a Government, having by its own negligence and mismanagement created or greatly strengthened distrust, then makes that distrust an excuse for extreme and ruinous severity; and punishes the people, committed to its charge, for that which is less their fault than its own. 20. The evils and miseries of our present condition have not been unproductive of some ffood. Our legislators have come to a better understanding of the relations between the two races, —have become aware of the largeness and importance of the problem to be solved, and of the need of some sustained and systematic effort to solve it. The " Native Council Act,'* however imperfect, is an evidence of this. It is also an encouraging fact that, at the end of a protracted Session, the Waikato Committee investigated, with the greatest care and patience, the causes and history of the King movement ; and recognised its true character "as an effort to obtain law and order." In their Report they expressed emphatically their opinion, " that what is wanted is to prosecute vigorously and effectually the education and instruction of the Natives, so as to fit and accustom them under European guidance, to take part in the administration of law, with a view to incorporate them into our own system of Civil Institutions, giving them the utmost possible share in the work of their own government." Of the extent acd nature of the work to be done, this is not the fitting place to speak. Long and patient efforts will be needed, but by such efforts the work may yet be accomplished. There is no obstacle which honest and persevering effort and hearty co-operation may not overcome. The essential condition is that confidence be re-established. The restoration of peace will not suffice, unless peace be so made as to produce confidence, to create an assurance that injustice is not intended, to leave no suspicion or rankling doubt behind. 21. If the great object of our endeavour is to be attained, we tnust abandon all thoughts of a policy of intimidation or repression. We must adopt the only rational policy. Wemust set ourselves patiently and heartily to discover the causes of the existing irritation, and to remove them. We must satisfy the people that our government yields to them direct and permanent benefit, which they cannot procure for themselves. There still remain, amongst our politicians, men who hold that the Natives are to be governed by demonstrations of physical force, that we can depend upon nothing else. They appear to hold that justice does not concern human nature in general, that it is a refinement very good and useful for civilized people, but that in Native matters it may be dispensed with. They Save not seen enough of the Natives to know, that men may live in poor houses and be ill-clad, and yet have as keen a perception ot fairness or unfairness as ourselves. They are not aware that, throughout the past history of the Colony, ou: strength in dealing with the Natives has been in proportion to their belief in our honesty and jus'ftcs. ■, —nay, that at this moment our t:hief strength, that which saves the Colony from evils greater than those we have yet seen, is the belief still entertained that injustice will not be persevered in. Even the wild and vengeful practices of the Maori grew, not from a lack of the sense of justice, but from a misdirection and abuse of that sense. Be just, and you may easily govern the Maori. Be just, and a moderate force will suffice. Be unjust, and a force far larger than England can spare will not suffice. Force is good, if subordinate to justice, but is a sorry substitute for it. The Maori is not to be intimidated ; but other human creatures, he is to be influenced through his sense of fair dealing and of benefit received: he is governed by the same motives, and led by the same inducements, as other men. What is needed for the government of the New Zealanders is neither terrorism nor sentimentalism, but simple justice: —that plain promises be plainly kept ; that our policy be perfectly open and friendly and straightforward; that we deal with the Natives as our fellow-subjects and fellow-men. If we really desire to benefit them, we shall have little difficulty in governing them. But men will never govern well those whom they despise. If we are ourselves sufficiently civilized and christianized to act in this spirit, the great work may still be accomplished. Our success in civilizing this people will be the truest test, the most correct measure, of the civilization to which we have ourselves attained.