NAPIER.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1661, 15 June 1875, Page 3

NAPIER.

(From our own Correspondent), Thiaday,

A Retraction

The Telegraph on Saturday retracted the "statement contained in a leader of March last re Mr Vincent Pyke. It regretted having ' been misled in the matter, especially in the statement made by that journal that Mr Pyke had at one time been engaged in grog-Belling. Native Lands Scandal. The following is a copy of the letter sent to the Native Minister by Mr Hamlin, in 1869, referred to by Mr. Travers in the examination of Mr Hamlin in the Omaranui case:— "Napier. "20th Sept., 1869. "To the Native Minister, Wellington. "Sir,—Before entering on the subject I am about to write upon, I would explain that I feel a great delicacy in the matter, and would have felt it a great relief had some other person taken the task in hand. But as delay is dangerous (as is inevitable in the present case) I feel it my duty to bring the subject to your notice, hoping at the same time that bo offence will be cast upon me for so doing. I have now the honor respectfully to bring to your notice the wholesale manner in which lands are being alienated from the natives under the deceptive cloak of mortgage. Mortgages some time past were entered into for the sake of the protection of merchants for outstanding debts, and up to the present time it has been carried on with a view indirectly "to disinherit the natives of their possessions, and also to deprive them of the yearly rents which they have heretofore been in the habit of receiving. I would not omit to state that this, scheme is not a general thine, but is only practised by one person in particular, Mr Sutton, who is assisted by Mr G. B. Worgan, every one else having set their faces against it. I may add that the barefaced manner in which the trade is carried on is beyond credence. Several natives have come into ,the town without the slightest idea of treating for land; they have been watched in the street by Mr Sutton, who, I need not say, had Mr Worgan within his call. The natives were decoyed away, introduced to a glass or two of spirits, then into his shop, where he or she is "invited to take an unlimited quantity of goods ; at the same time a deed is introduced and requested to be signed, which, considering the state they are in is not genelally refused. I must not forget here to add that some of the most foolish and delusive ideas are put into the natives'heads. Some of them have • the idea that by forfeiting their respective shares of rent for three years everythi»*r they draw in the shape of goods (for thej ildom see any money, thns giving about I | n the pound in reality), will bepaid' Hnd be ready to re-mortgage. ■ L Straw1 he idea that they will stiU Wc9' -o^rly share of rants, and by SPtS. **&' cnifeble device thoir respective a«owSj/y oe) all Off in the space of three ; Jews. N^th e f l6 instances many of them

dont really know what they have signed cSed antTF* Pitch haß the traffic h™ XrA ? at L n ? ne IDsta*ce I could relate where a native had secured his creditors by bttW 1° hlr hi 3 interest in cert*in blocks of land, and the deed was registered. ™°« * S. aS Tl<l lx<iste& by Mr Worgan to execute another deed in favour of Mr Sutton. in this the native deserved great praise as he could not split his J an d in two ■he had signed one deed and he would be acting wrong lfhe a j gned a second {or Jand and for the same purpose, to which ■a / ~ol£a n' m a reproachful manner said (alluding to the native interpreter who had been engaged in the former case. " The ; Jvengatira Bawa te tangata ko houma hoki iJakmo mau rawa ikoe aua kupu." To say the least of this it is teaching the natives to be unprincipled. lam happy to say in this resPect the natives have, to the present period, behaved iv a most creditable manner, lne effect of this iniquitous and baneful traffic has yet to be felt by the province, and Idon t think I shall be wrong in saying by the country also. The natives will he made destitute, and will consequently resort to stealing and highway robberies, together with all other attending evils, and I fear the terrible consequences will be infinitely worse, namely, bloodshed, &c. I perceive by a late amendment of the Native Lands Act that some alteratiou has been made with respect to undivided grantees dealing with their respective interests, but I fear that while such an unprincipled mode of dealing has already exhibited itself. A majority of grantees will be closely overcome. The power given to licensed interpreters to act in such cases is unlimited, unless his own conscience prompts him that he is acting in such a way as will be injurious to the colony. I allude to the wholesale manner in which this has been and still is carried on. To my certain knowledge deeds are at the present time in course of preparation for the farther transaction of the above nefarious traffic. I would therefore bring under your notice the necessity of withholding the license as a native interpreter from that gentleman (Mr Worgan)—at all events for a tiinepending your pleasure to again re - grant at some future period. If this is not done, I fear there will be no redress, or redress will be too late. "E. Hamlin-. . " The Hon. Native Minister, 11 Wellington. "I cerbify that the within is a true copy of original letter. "John She eh an, "June 14, 1875."