From the Fiji Times, November 28, 1900.

Sir,—The Governor's speech to the Fijians at Wainibokasi was certainly a lamentable piece of ineptitude. It reads like a speech made for party purposes by an irresponsible politician, careless of the accuracy of his facts, satisfied so long as he can make a point for the time being against his page 11 opponents. No doubt the Governor succeeded at Wainibokasi in sending his Fijian hearers away filled, for the time being, with detestation of the New Zealand Government and of the white men in Fiji who support federation with that colony, and no doubt the colony of New Zealand will, for some time to come, be regarded by the natives of Fiji and elsewhere in the Pacific, in a light very unfair and very injurious to its Government. But, after all, what has been gained by this speech?

The charges contained in it are unfounded in fact, and are easily disproved, and it is only a matter of a short time when they must be withdrawn as publicly as they have been made; for it is impossible for New Zealand, with her mission in the South Seas, to allow herself to lie under the stigma which has been placed upon her by the Governor of Fiji, who, be it remembered, is also the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific. The holder of these high offices is expected to possess the qualities which distinguish a statesman and a diplomatist from the ordinary official.

The great French Foreign Minister, Tallyrand, is credited with having declared that in a diplomatist a blunder was worse than a crime. Certainly Her Majesty's High Commissioner for the Western Pacific has committed an egregious blunder in making accusations which will be bitterly resented by New Zealand, and which are without warrant or excuse. Happily, the Government will have no difficulty in refuting the charges made against it, for it has spent in purchasing lands from the Maoris over two millions of money, as any one interested in the subject may learn from Blue Books and other official publications, and the Maoris in addition draw from rented lands more than four hundred thousand pounds sterling a year. To impute, therefore to the New Zealand Government unjust dealings in the lands of the Maoris would be laughable where it not so cruel and unjust to the people of New Zealand, who, with every right to do so, pride themselves on the benevolent and enlightened manner in which they have always treated the Maoris. To the Maoris themselves it will come as strange news that they are a down-trodden people, unjustly deprived of their hereditary lands. But the Fijians will, of course, believe the allegation until it is contradicted in the same authoritative manner as that in which it has been made.

Until that is done, Tongatabu and the Cook Islands, and page 12 all the natives in the Pacific will believe the fable, and look askance at what they have been told to regard as the land grabbing policy of the New Zealand Government. How that Government, must love Sir George O'Brien for having opened the eyes of the natives in the Pacific to the danger they will incur if they permit New Zealand to have any hold in the management of their affairs. New Zealand used to aspire to be the predominant power, under the Crown, in this part of the Pacific, but perhaps she will abandon those aspirations now that Sir George O'Brien has stated it to be his opinion that she is not fit to be entrusted with the care of natives. Of course, on the other hand, Mr. Seddon, the Premier of New Zealand, may disregard this very remarkable expression of opinion on the part of Her Majesty's High Commissioner as to the character of the Government of which he is the distinguished leader, and may still pursue the traditional policy of New Zealand of gradually including all the Western Pacific Islands in a political union with her. In the latter case, the Premier must hasten to remove from the native mind the damaging impression which has been created against New Zealand by the speech to the natives at Wainibokasi.

That speech has been published by his Excellency in the Na Mata, the native official newspaper, and has, by his Excellency's order, been read by the chief of each village in Fiji to the villagers assembled for the purpose. "On receipt of this Na Mata, you will appoint a day for a public meeting at which you or your nominee will read the Governor's speech in order to make its contents known to all." Such is the direction which has been issued to the chief of each village in Fiji, and it is signed "By order of the Governor. Wm. Sutherland, Native Commissioner."

There is no mistake about the official character of the accusations against the Government of New Zealand, and the supporters of Federation. What was his Excellency's Executive Council about when it allowed such pernicious stuff to be officially spread broadcast among excitable natives? Can it be that they were not consulted on the subject? What was Mr. Allardyce, the Assistant Colonial Secretary, about when he took part in the propogation of unfounded slanders against the Government of New Zealand and the people of this colony? Is it the case that he knew little or nothing of the matter until called upon to interpret the speech? What was the Native Commissioner about? He must have known the (lunger of page 13 inflaming the mind of the native against the white, or is it that he, too, was not consulted beforehand but simply treated as a conduit pipe for the conveyance of the Governor's directions to the chiefs of the villages?

The rumour is (and probably in this case rumour is correct) that his Excellency consulted no one on the subject If so, what a crushing commentary is afforded on the mischief attendant on "one-man Government," and what a strong argument it provides for the abolition of that discredited system, and the bestowal on the colony of Representative Government. After all the sacrifices in blood and treasure by the loyal New Zealanders in the hour of the Empire's need, it is nothing short of an outrage that they should be officially held up to public opprobrium by a high and responsible Imperial official.