THE PETITION OF THE KINGITES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6758, 16 July 1883, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE PETITION OF THE KINGITES.

The following is Wahanui's petition read in the Honse of .Representatives :—To the members of both Houses of Parliament,—This is a petition from us, the Maniapoto, Haukawa, Tuwharctoa, and Whanganui tribes, to Parliament. Greeting : You will fully look into and carefully consider the matters which are the cause of much anxiety to U3, and are raising a barrier in front of us, because these matters that are causing us anxiety bare principally emanated from you, the .Europeans, in the form of legislation. XS e have carefully watched the tendency of the laws which yon have enacted from the beginning up to' the present day. They all tend tj deprive ua of the privileges secured to us by the second and third articles of the treaty of Waitangjy which confided to us the exclusive and undisturbed possession of our lands. We do not see any good in any of the laws which you have enacted affecting our lands when they are brought into operation in adjudicating upon lands before the Native Land Court at Cambridge and other places. All the practices carried ou at the Laud Courts have become a source of anxiety to us, and a burden upon us. Through our ignorance of those laws, we have been induced by speculators [land swallowers] and their agents to allow some of our lands to be adjudicated upon, so that our lands might be secured to us. Sir, having allowed some of our lands to be adjudicated upon, who is it that became possessed of them ? It is true that after the investigations the natives received a certificate of title showing their right to the lands, but through the superior knowledge of the Europeans we accepted foolishly what the lawyers recommended to us by the speculators [land swallowers], thinking that they were to act in our interests ; but in reality they were intended to prolong the investigations,. thereby increasing the expenses to so great an extent that the natives were unable to defray them, so that they [the speculators} might siezo the land, the result being : that we secure the shadow and the speculators [land swallowers] the substance. We are beset on every side by outrageous practices, and the temptations we are exposed to by the speculators, and even Maoris and hall-castes who the companies have secured to deeoy us into the arts of the companies are great. In our perplexity to devise some means by which we could extricate our lands from the disasters pointed out we ask, is there not a law by which we could suppress these evils 1 We are told that the only remedy is to go to the Court ourselves. Now, while we are striving to keep our lands, we are aware that your Government is trying to open up our country by making roads, carrying on trig surveys, and railways, thereby clearing the way for all these evils to be practised in connection with our lands before we have made satisfactory arrangements for the future. Are we to allow the present system to be carried on without remonstrance ? We wish to state that the abovementioned practices are to be carried on in future. We think that it would not be right that our lands should be rendered liable to such an objectionable system. What possible benefit would we derive from roads, railways, and Land Courts if they become the means of depriving us of our lands ? We can live as we are situated at present without roads, railways, or Courts, but we could not live without our lands. We are not oblivious of the advantages to be derived from roads, railroads, and other desirable works of the Europeans. We are fully alive to these advantages, but our lands are preferable to them all. The matters set forth above are the cause of our anxiety. During the present year, certain persons were selected by the hapus, to define the boundaries of lands and erect posts, to mark out the land still remaining to us, your petitioners, upon which the Europeans, to the best of our knowledge, have no legal claim. We, therefore, pray that your honourable House will give effect to the following :—l. It is our wish that we may be relieved from the entanglements incidental to employing the Native Land Court to determine titles to lands, also to prevent fraud, drunkenness, demoralisation, and all other objectionable results attending the sittings of the Land Court. 2. That Parliament will pass a law to secure our lands to us and our descendants for ever, making them absolutely inalienable by sale. 3. That we may ourselves be allowed to fix the boundaries of the four tribes before mentioned, the hapu boundaries in each tribe, and the proportionate claim of each individual within the boundaries set forth in thi3 petition, which are as follows. [Here the boundaries are described.] 4. When these arrangements relative to land claims are completed, let the Government appoint some persons vested with powet to confirm our arrangements and desires, in accordance ' with law decisions. If, after any individual shall have had the extent of his claim ascertained, he should desire to lease, it should not be legal for him to do so privately ; but an advertisement should be duly inserted in any newspaper that lias been authorised for the purpose, notifying'time and place where the sale or the lease of such land will be held, in order that the public may attend the sale of such, lease. There is no desire on our part to keep the lands within the boundaries described in this petition locked up from Europeans, or to prevent leasing, or roads from being made thereon, or other Public Works being constructed ; but it is our desire" that the present practices that are carried on at the Land Court should be abolished. We wish you to understand that, if our petition is granted, we will strenuously endeavour to follow such a course as will conduce to the welfare of the Island. And your petitioners will ever pray.—Wahanui, and 415 others.