E—No. 7
//. Halse, Esq.
Drummond Hay, Etq.
out above. That this was the true though not the avowed and original meaning of the movement, has been recently demonstrated at Taranaki. And it is remarkable that the leading men of Waikato were rather drawn into the vortex of war, than leaders in it. I have, &c, H. Hai.se, Resident Magistrate, Waikato. The Native Secretary. No. 5. THAMES. REP»RT FEOM G. DRTTMMOND HAY, ESQ., DISTRICT LAND PURCHASE COMMISSIONER. The tribes to which this report has reference are Ngatipaoa, Ngatiwhanaunga, Ngatitamatera, and Ngatimaru; also Ngaiterangi and numerous small parties of Natives who are dependent on the tribes already named. With the exception of Ngatimaru and Ngaiteraugi, these tribes are well affected towards the Government; and though sympathising to a certain extent with their own race, they recognise the elements of disorder in the movement, and are quite conscious of the inevitable result of any attempt to resist British rule. Tribal jealousies will always prevent any general combination amongst the Natives; but the idea of preserving their dignity as a race by endeavouring to establish a sep irate nationality, is well calculated to enlist the sympathies of every Native, and the assertion that the Government opposes any movement which may tend to unite them, in order to deal more readily with them in detail, is well adapted to create more or less distrust even amongst the more enlightened natives. The want of confidence exhibited by the Natives may be attributed to the too general impression that the two races are not identical, and that the European necessarily seeks to establish his prosperity on the downfall, or perhaps through extinction, of the Native race. However preposterous the arguments with which the Maori endeavours to establish tins his pet reproach against the European, it is evidently the conclusion drawn from his own experience as a people, that of two races inhabiting the same country, one must become subservient to the other; and, to the savage, subservience means the lowest state of dependency. Every plan that is suggested for their benefit becomes a cause for distrust, unless the results are immediate. Incapable of performing a disinterested action themselves, they reject the idea of anything being initiated except with the ultimate view of conducing entirely to the benefit of the European race and their own complete subjection. With the exception of the exultation shewn by the more turbulent Natives when any report of success on the part of the Maoris reached their settlements, the late disturbances do not appear to have affected their disposition and conduct towards the Europeans. They are generally anxious to retain amongst them those traders with whom they are acquainted, and are always eager to obtain some white man to reside with them; but dislike the idea of large settlements being formed, as they are afraid of having their rights encroached ou, when outnumbered by the white race.
With every proof to the contrary, they assume the want of ability or will on the part of tho Government to protect them, when the European population shall have increased to such an extent as to preclude all possibility of resistance on the part of the Natives. They mention as one of their pleas in justifying the King movement, that their only chance lay in making a stand for what they consider to bo their rights, while they were still in a condition to render such a movement of sufficient importance to demand recognition ; adding, that if they trusted to promises in the future, their claims would sink into utter insignificance before those of the settler, and the Government having no longer cause to fear any movement on the part of the Natives would view with indifference the fact of their becoming the drudges of the Europeans. This is as nearly as may be the view taken by most Natives; many, perhaps, maintain it without believing in it; but the mass believe it firmly because to them it seems the natural course of events.
Improvident to the last degree, the Native, as a rule in his present state of transition, will always be a poor man ; and a poor Maori is a discontented Maori, for he has acquired habits he cannot indulge in. and learnt wants which he has not the means of satisfying. He will not see that want of steadiness and energy prevents his prospering equally well with his white countrymen; but believes, or pretends to believe, that the European is anxious to check the progress of tho Maori, as interfering with his own interests, and from a wish to keep the Maori in an inferior position.
Whatever shape the question which has agitated the Native mind may have assumed from time to time, it appears to have arisen from anxiety as to their future position with regard to the white race, the prospect of wdiose predominance they dread, and of whose prosperity they are jealous.
They see themselves dying off, and the white population steadily increasing ; they know the course Natives would adopt in a similar case: hence their fear. They see the settler prosper, while the Native, whatever money he may acquire by sale of land or otherwise, lives from hand to mouth; hence their jealousy. The Native mind, influenced by advice which from their state of doubt and anxiety it was only too ready to accept, conce'ved the idea of the land league, to carry out which originated that combination which, under the same or similar prompting, resulted in their electing a King.
11
ON THE ARRIVAL OF SIR GEORGE GREY.