The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-16 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

PLYMOUTH, Fla Day, 10 A.M.

The ship Suffolk, 1,100 tons, Commander J. B.
Martin, belonging to Messrs. Money Wigram and
Sons, of London, from Melbourne May 30, was off
Start Point at 5 p.m. on Wednesday evening,
bound to the Thames. She has on freight 10,000
ounces of gold, valued at £4,000, a full cargo of
copper, hides, wool, and tallow, and 215 passengers,
viz., 35 cabin and 189 steerage, who have among
them about 500 oz. of gold.
The Suffolk rounded Cape Horn June 23, and
crossed the Line July 18 ; from the north-east trades,
very light winds, and calms prevailed.
She spoke June 15, lat 49 37 S, long 143 21 W,
the Aurora Australis, 21 days from Hobart Town
for London ; 17th, lat 5 34 S, long 22 30 W,
the ship Golden Rule, bound southerly; 18th,
lat 1 13 S, long 23 43 W, the British ship Robert
Peelsford, 97 days from Calcutta, for Liverpool;
20th, lat 7 13 N, long 24 W, the Hamburg ship La
Rochelle, 90 days from Akyab, for Falmouth ; 20th,
lat 7 13 N, long 24 W, the Dutch ship Nova Zembla,
bound southerly; 23d, lat 13 29 N, long 24 32W, Nor-
wegian barque Celeritas, 28 days from Hamburg for
Bombay; 27th, lat 22 27 N, long 34 36 W, the British
ship Chickwickbury, 108 days from Bombay, for
London ; Aug. 3d, lat 33 55 N, long 39 50 W, the
British brig Falcon, bound northerly ; and 4th, the
American ship Bonsteid, 142 days from California,
for London.

The Alfred, Captain Dickenson, sailed from Ply.
mouth Sound last evening, and the Copenhagen
Godfrey, on Wednesday evening—both for Mel•
bourne.

NEW- ZEALAND.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
MELBOURNE, JUNE 25.

Within the last few days very serious intelligence
has reached us from New Zealand, placing the com-
mencement of war in the north almost beyond a
doubt. The Waikatoes had a large meeting of
chiefs and others, adherents of the Maori King
movement, at Ngaruanhia, which is in the northern
part of the Waikato country. To this meeting of
chiefs and people so assembled Governor Browne
has addressed a proclamation in the following
terms :

" I can now only look with sorrow and displea-
sure on what has been done in the name and by the
adherents of the native King.
" 1. An authority has been set up inconsistent
with allegiance to the Queen and in violation of the
treaty of Waitangi.
" 2. A large number of the adherents of the na-
tive King have interfered between the Governor
and other native tribes in matters in which they
had no concern ; they have levied war against the
Queen, fought against her troops, and burned and
destroyed the property of peaceful subjects.
"3. Other adherents of the King have assisted,
encouraged, and harboured men who have committed
these outrages.
"4. A war party of several hundred men some
time since assembled and advanced within 40 miles
of Auckland, for the purpose of interfering with
the due course of administration of justice.
" 5. Her Majesty's mail has been stopped, juris-
diction been usurped over her Majesty's European
subjects, and other offences have been committed,
to the subversion of her Majesty's sovereignty, and
of the authority of law ; at this very time the ad-
herents of the native King are using most strenuous
efforts to possess themselves of arms and ammuni-
tion, for the purpose of effecting their objects by
intimidation and violence.

" The Governor cannot permit the present state
of things to continue. No option now rests with
him ; he has been commanded by her Majesty the
Queen to suppress unlawful cominations, and to
establish beyond question her Majesty's sovereignty
in New Zealand.

"The Governor states specifically what his de-
mands are,-1, From all submission without reserve
to the Queen's Sovereignty and the authority of the
law; 2, From those who are in the possession of
plunder taken from her Majesty's European or
native subjects restoration of that plunder; 3, From
those who have destroyed or made away with pro-
perty belonging to her Majesty's subjects, European
or native, compensation for the losses sustained."
By the last mail I was enabled to communicate
the views expressed by Tanukuna (Thompson),
the "King-Maker," as to the character of the
King movement. He denied that it was intended
to r3Ct up an authority in opposition to the sove-
reignty of the Queen, bet that they demirca nn
authority subordinate to it. It may be admitted
that by taking this step themselves they clearly
bring themselves within the lawyers' definition of
rebellion; but, taking this as a local agitation for
local self-government, I say that the Government
of the colony ought to have seized the opportunity
of establishing some local Administration, under
the solemn sanction of the Legislature. This King
movement has been agitating the native mind in
the North for more than four years, but long before
that the natives complained that no law was estab•
lished among them. The Pakehas, they said, are
well cared for by the Queen. They have magistrates
(kaimakawa, or persons to inquire) among them,
while we are left without, Faint murmurs to this
effect grew into loud complaints before the King
movement was heard of, and when Te Whero-
where, or Potatau, was invested with authority it
was expressly stated that it was to supply that pro-
tection which the Queen extended to her European
subjects, but denied to her Maori subjects. In 18G0
a report by Mr. Fenton, resident magistrate, "as
to native affairs in the Waikato districts," was
printed, and from its full and complete information
on the state of feeling among the natives it has pro-
bably been reprinted in a Parliamentary blue-book.
He says :
" The feelings and desires of the Maori popula-
tion with respect to their present social position
may be succinctly stated, as they are entertained
almost with unanimity, although the plans by
which these desires are proposed to be effec-
tuated are various and conflicting. (The King
movement was one of these plans.) Recognising
generally the advantages derived from the Euro-
pean connexion, they are conscious that they are
gradually losing ground before the greater indi-
vidual energy and more complete social orga-
nisation of the whites ; and they are anxious
to arrest their downward progress before the
disproportion of the races shall render the)
attempt hopeless. They observe that the Govern-
ment of the country is more anxious to obtain
possession of their lands for the augmentation
of the intruding body than to elevate the present
possessors, and admit them among themselves as
a component part of our people, and they desire,
therefore, to devise measures which shall tend to
advance them in civilisation, and entitle them at
some future period to demand the rights of citizen-
ship on terms of equality. They perceive that Go-
vernment is unable or unwilling to prosecute and
elaborate any scheme by which law and order may
be introduced and enforced in their villages, and
they now seek by their own intelligence and ac-
tivity to discover some means by which these de-
sirable objects may be attained.

" They know that when an assault is made or a
murder committed a reprehensive article is written
in the Maori Messenger, or a letter is despatched
from the Native Departments, pointing out the
sin of what has been done, and urging the Maories
not to do so again ; but they have failed to observe
that punishment follows guilt. . . . Believing
that the cause of the regular success and the origin
of the imposing position of the Europeans exist in
a perfect concentration of action, resulting from
order and organisation, they have resolved to use
their utmost efforts to introduce those prime requi-
sites among themselves."

Nov, this may appear to put European notions
of " civilisation," order," " organisation," and so
forth into native heads—but the fable of the bundle
of sticks was invented by men ruder than the
Maories, and their speeches at their runanga (or
meetings to deliberate) or filled with illustrations
that such things are in their minds, and the whole
of Mr. Fenton's report was a warning to the Go.
vernor of the intense agitation of the native mind
in favour of what I venture to call by the well-
known phrase " local self-government." This re-
port, though only brought to light in Aug. 1860,
was presented to the Governor in March, 1857, and
I believe that any reasonable steps to satisfy the
wants of the Waikatoos would have prevented the
King movement altogether, and when it did com-
mence it might have been regulated and directed
to beneficial ends. Every succeeding Governor
seems to have thought that smooth words and
polite demeanour were all that was needed to amuse
and placate savages, A speech of Tarahewaiki, a
cousin of
:retatau's, delivered on the 9th of March
z
1857, expresses this

cc when the Vakehas first came, the Gayernor said