The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-16 00:00:00

NEW ZEALAND.

A letter from Melbourne, dated July 25, says :
I have very little to communicate in the way of
news from New Zealand, but I fear that, such as it
is, that news foreshadows matter of painful interest
in future. Since the termination of hostilities at
Taranaki, in March last, there has been no renewal
of actual strife, but so far as can be collected from
the position which the Governor has assumed, and
the demeanour of the Waikatoes, there seems to be
every prospect of renewed hostilities on a much
broader basis in the early spring.
In my last I mentioned the terms of the commu-
nication which the Governor had made to the
Waikatoes. He had required of them That
they should abandon their pretensions to set up any
authority in derogation of that of the Queen. 2.
That they should restore property which the Waikato
contingent, as I suppose we may call it, had taken
at Taranaki. 3. That they should pay for property
which could not be specifically restored. The
Waikatoes, guided by Tamihana, the King-maker,
answer evasively, and as a matter of fact take no step
towards yielding to the Governor's demand. I have
over and over again expressed my conviction that
this stupid King movement might have been nipped
in the bud, and even turned to useful account,
had Governor Browne made himself better ac-
quainted with Maori habits and feelings than he
appears to have done. Not a shadow of doubt exists
in the minds of intelligent Europeans that this King
movement might have been guided and controlled.
But the Governor has been completely in the hands
of the 11Iinistry and the Native Department, and
several of both bodies had an interest, direct or in-
direct, in bringing the Taranaki dispute to a war-
like issue. Even in this the Governor, guided by
his -War Ministry, made a mistake. A war might
have been provoked on an issue which would have
appeared more just to European eyes. Instead of
this, it was precipitated upon an issue 'which was
manifestly unjust, and which the Governor in his
treaty with the hostile tribes has been compelled to
abandon, by yielding a new inquiry as to the whole
merits of the original dispute—i. e., as to the tenable-
ness of Wirimu Kin gi's claims to his mana or tribal
right. This word " ?mina" simply means authority.
It is also used to denote influence, and since the na-
tives have been more in communication with Euro-
peans it has been used as the equivalent of ideas to
which it could not have been originally applied. I
have often heard it used to denote something like
the Queen's sovereignty, or at least her lawful
authority, in the same sense as we use the phrase,
" the authority of the C-rown," or the " Queen's
authority," that is not the whole sovereignty, but
the Royal authority in a particular point. Of late
years it has been applied by the natives to express
the authority which the chief exercises over land,
and thus what the Europeans call the tribal right
the natives call mana. The word now figures as re-
presenting an idea worthy of being fought for, I
dare say it may seem strange to many of your
readers that I should waste many lines in fixing
the meaning of a word in the language of "savages)
but the idea is one of great intensity in the Maori
mind, and the word by which that idea bas c. ome to
be expressed, though only recently so applied, be.