THE HON. JOHN SHEEIIAN'S ADDRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume X, Issue 2923, 27 August 1879, Page 2

THE HON. JOHN SHEEIIAN'S ADDRESS.

The Native Administration

The announcement that the Hon. Mr Shoehan would address the citizens upon the questions of Native administration and land purchase had the effect of drawing to the Mechanics' Institute last night an unusually large assemblage of citizens. The building was crowded 10 the doors, while crowds of people had to content themselves with an audience front the outside of the windows. So great was the throng in the interior of the building that the desirability of adjourning to the Theatre Royal or Choral Hall was suggested and considered. The idea was however given up. His Worship presided, and by a short prefatory address introduced the speaker of the evening to the audience. He said that many of them would remember that at the last meeting held under the auspices of the North New Zealand Association the audience signified their determination not to pass any resolution on the subject of Native administration until the Native Minister and (lie Premier had had an opportunity of addressing them uponthe matter, and of disclosing to them the views of the Government. Well, ill pursuance of this expression of opinion, the secretaries of the Association had waited upon Mr Shcchan on his arrival, and requested him to discuss the subject before a public meeting of the citizens specially convened for the purpose. The gentleman kindly consented, and the result was the meeting of that evening. He would then without further ado invite Mr Shechan to address them. Mi'Sheehan was received with loud and prolonged applause. After a brief apology for the time of the meeting, he went on to say that although he was not in a position to affirm that he was unaccustomed to public speaking, yet lie could aver that he was not accustomed to speaking before an Auckland audience. (Laughter). Though it was the city in which he was born, and the one too in which he hoped to die, yet the present was only the second occasion on which he had stood up to address a public meeting of its inhabitants. The people of Auckland were of course aware that they (the Government) had been suffering from the effects of a political earthquake, which had scattered the Ministerial House into fragments, and had projected him, as one of the" remnants, into this city. (Laughter and applause). He would have other occasions of speaking to the people from a party point of view upon the questions now before the country. That night he appeared before them in response to an itnitition from an Association which he understood mid been formed exclusive of party for the sole purpose of bringing before the public mind such very important matters as public works and native lands, and that their platform was free to anyone. Uuder these circumstances he would put before them as fairly as possible the Native Lands Question in order that they might have a better knowledge of the matter before the days of election, and might therefore be enabled to make a judicious choice from amongst those who were so desirous of representing them in Parliament, He did not intend to touch upon the question of public works at all, for in his opinion sufficient unto the night was the evil thereof. (Laughter.) Besides, he might have quite enough to say with regard to native lands, and on that consideration principally he wouldleavetosomeoneelseon their side'tlie task of taking up the cudgels on behalf of the public works policy. (Cheers.) He fully appreciated the importance of the subject before them that evening as regarded the people of the North Island of Now Zealand, and of the people of the province of Auckland especially, and he was glad to see such an amount of interest exemplified in it as the attendance of the public indicated. The question was one that was intimately associated with this portion of the colony, and upon the action taken with respect to it would depend Auckland's weal or woe for many years to come. Having made an apology for a necessity to refer to notes during the address, the gentleman went on to say that he presumed he was speaking to two classes of people that night, viz., those who fully understood the question and those to whom it was a mystery. For the benefit of the latter class he would prefer to enter into n statement of the origin of the. question, and trace it in its various phases to the present time, rather than to plunge at once into matters and arguments, where only a portion of his hearers could follow him. (Cheers). His sole desire was that, in coming to conclusions on the subject, they should be upon the fullest possible information. Mr Sheehan then began his narrative with a reference to the land dealings of Europeans anterior to the formation of the Colony in IS4O, when people secured from the natives, for a mere song, vast extents of fertile country in lioth islands, but principally in the South. The character and magnitude of those transactions were instanced by the statement that a gentleman, now residing in New South Wales, had a claim now against the Government for the ownership of no less than 20,000,000 acres of land in the South Island, which ho alleged he had fairly purchased from the natives as an C;.tate upon which to settle down. That was the kind of land-shark which existed in those early days. (Loud laughter.) When the Colony was formally founded these transactions were called in for review, and the result was what was called the old land claims settlement agreement. [At this stage a man cried out "question." The interruption evoked clamorous shouts of "put him out,"and an attempt was made to fulfil the mandate of the meeting. The density of the crowd, however, rendered sucli a project impossible, and the resistance of the individual was therefore crowned with success.] The speaker resumed the thread of his remarks, and thence passed on to speak of the Treaty of Waitnngi, which conferred upon the Crown the 6ole right of purchasing Native lands. Thence he proceeded in chronological order to detail the various laws introduced for the regulation of Native land sales, clearly explaining each and indicating its effect, as well as mentioning the feclini; with which it was regarded by the Maori owners aud the independent European speculator*. Between the years IS4O aud 1362 the Government exercised the sole right of purchase, a slight intermission of the system occurring merely in Governor Fitzroy's time, when a tax of a penny an acre was imposed. It was, however, soon repealed. The next point of departure ou the question was the passage of the Native Lauds Act of 1562, which declared that for the future the preremptive right of the Crown to purchase Maori lands should be abolished. From the first he had held the opinion that the reliuijuishment of that right was a great mistake, and years after this view of the matter was openly expressed by Sir Donald McLean himself. At tho time it was thought that the effect of it would be to avert a threatened MTaiksto war, but as later events convincingly showed it only served, to hasten on the calamity. Well, the private purchase system remained in force without restriction from 1862 till 1873. The legislation was defective—he might almost say vicious. Ho showed this by the statementthat in order to comply with the legal requisite to the sale of laud that no more thau ten names should appear on a Crown grant for a piece of land, that the Maoris were accustomed to select ten of their number for this purpose, aud that these trustees, on receiving the purchase, almost invariably squandered it away themselves, thus leading to much trouble aud much bloodshed. In 157.0, with the Public Works Policy, the Hoiise passed an Act providing, amongst other things, £20,000 for the purchase of Maori lauds. The vote was subsequently increased to £700,000, and -.vith this sum large purchases had beeu carried on till the present time. In the session of JS73 Sir Donald McLean secured, the ' passing of a Native.' Land,s Aot, which, after some alterations and amendments, was allowed to remain in force. Its only effect was to render even more unsatisfactory the mode of dealing with the Maoris and their lands. It stopped surveys, delayed Court proceedings, and created general discontent. This was the condition of th^gs when the Grey Ministry entered into office. Of the ; loan there remained £250,000, w&ie" scattered over the colony were large blocks of laud which were said to h^e beeu acquired by the Government, ssme at snoh a long period back as five yeevs. The gentleman gave as an instate one case wherein for 120,000 acres in tho Province of Auckland ttie only proof of acquisition was that in 1872 £o0 had been paid for it by a laud purchase agent to one Maori, while the number of owners was fully 200. Now, when it became his duty to take up the subject his first intention was to advise his colleagues to withdraw from laud purchase altogether by closing up existing transactions aud by allowing the old system which was iv vogue, previous to 1573 to come into force again. There were good reasons tor the adoption of this course, but he would beabletoshow thatihesubsequeut resolution was a better and a sounder one for the interests of the whole Colony. In 187S they came down with a different policy. They announced their intention to go on with the acquisition of Maori land, but while doing so they put two proposals before the House tentatively. One was that the Maori owner should sell through the Government, and the other conferred the right of private purchase to Government, reserving the privi-

lege of taking part of a block, handing back the money paid with interest for the portion taken, aud bearing the expense to which the purchaser had been put. If tho Government were conceded the sole right to survey, then the way was opened to jobbing and logrolling, no matter what the purity of the Government was. Another reason for this -was the necessity of creating a public estate for the North Island, which iv time might be expected to yield a revenue somewhat commensurate with the land fund of the tiouth. It was on the assurance that this should be done, and a large landed estate acquired for the colony, that the assent of Southern members to the coloniulisation of their land fund was gained. Consequently the Government was bound to keep faith with them. Had it not been done, and the Noith Island unable to show a land revenue of its own, the South would have restricted considerably the expenditure ou public works in this part of the colony. Before : going on to a consideration of another part of the subject he would trouble them to listen to a, few figures which they might not ! be in a position to obtain elsewhere. The area of the Province of Auckland was about 17,000,000 of acres. <'f that extent there had been purchased under the old purchase I system, abolished in ISG2, 3.322,000 acres. : From 1870 to 1577, the area of laud acquired was 237,000 acres; land handed over for administration as waste lauds of the Crown, 975,000 acres; area of land under negotiation iv the Provincial District cf Auckland at the present time, 2,110,000 acres ; area under negotiation for lease, 781,000 acics ; amount spent on land in the Provincial District of Auckland to 30th June last, £423,000; amount required to complete purchases in the Provincial District of Auckland, £450,000; lands still in the hands of natives (supposed), 7,000,000 or 8,000,000 acres. The Native Lands Court had given since 1873 orders for 4,500,000 acres. He wished to lay a little emphasis upon the fact that £423,000 had been spent in the acquisition of Native lands in the Province of Auckland. That fact must be borne iv mind when they spoke of their share of the Public Works expenditure, for die payment of such a sum was of immense assistance to the Province in three or four ways. First of all the money was paid to the Maori, and, unfortunately for him, lie possessed no Post-office Savings Banks or similar stimulants to thrift to fall back upon, and as a natural consequence liis wealth speedily found its way back into genera circulation. Secondly, having bought the land, it remained with them, as a public estate, for the construction of railways and other necessary public works in the North Island. Now he had to communicate what would be an item of good news for them. . There was required to complete present transactiens nearly half -a - million of money — transactions which must be closed no matter what party came into power. That amount would be spent, and the greater portion would return to them in a thousand channels. He bad another important statement to make. There remained at the present time in the hands of the Native people in. this province about 8,000,000 acres, and the question before them that night was how to deal with this remnant so as to lead to the best results for both races, and so as to yield the largest amount of public good. He would ask them to follow him into a consideration of the matter, and to bear in mind with him those points which, in all their calculations, must be of paramount importance. The speaker then stated the points, carefully elaborating aud explaining each as he did so. They were, stated shortly, us follows :—l. The necessity for opening up and settling the country. 2. The fairest means of doiufr this - fair markets, reasonable areas, and just charges; and (3) —the most essential condition — any system which came iuto force must be one of dealing fairly and honourably with the Native owners, (Cheers.) Unless they followed this out, although present prosperity attended their operations, yet they miglit depend upon it that the Nemesis which followed close upon the heels of national injustice would in the long run exact its due punishment; auy system which proposed to settle the question should combine these thiugs—buying at fair prices, and providing ample reserves. The Maoris were still an uncivilised people, and as yet had no adequate idea of the present value of their lauds; for if they had, so large an extent of them would not have passed into the hands of European speculators. They should therefore try to prevent them from burning their candle at both ends. Measures should be taken to guard against the possibility of ihe natives sinking into the condition of a landless people.; If this were not done one of two things would bo the inevitable result. Bereft of their land and money, no interest at stake in the country, 40,000 people would become disturbers of the peace—dwellers iv the forest—mere brigands iv fact. The other contingency was that their support would become a charge upon the public estate. Therefore any system which was advanced would have to grapple with this difficulty, and could best grapple with it by making large and ample reserves. More reserves were urgently needed for public purposes, such as cemeteries, recreation reserves, schools, roads, etc.; and if these wants were not provided for new they would sooner or later when they would involve large drains upon the general revenue. As it was, large blocks had passed into the hands of private purchasers without any reserves being set apart for such requirements, and yet they would have to be obtained some day at the cost of immense sums of money. At the present time there were two systems of purchase in force. The first was the system to which he had referred—that of Government purchase. Under it au endeavour was beiug made for public reasons to acquire as fliuch land as possible from the natives. This gave them the oppmtunity of setting aside all the reserves of which lie had spoken, and iv doing this they could afford to pay the vendor a fair price. Then there was the system of private purchase. Under it the Crown retained the right, within ten years of the issue of the grant, to tcserve five per cent, of the, land for public purposes, but he hardly thought that per ceutage sufficiently large. He admitted most of the objections advanced against the Government system of purchase. He was perfectly open to say that they were, often enabled to purchase at a much lower price than they ought to give, and he was , free to confess that these large areas would be more speedily utilised and turned to profitably account if privately, purchased. But he would put against all, this the many great drawbacks to tbe private purchase system. At auy moment the progress of private speculation might lead directly to a disastrous war ov keep up a ferment which would long disturb the public peace, In the past they had seen but too numerous instances of this, and heard of too many outrages committed from this cause. Again, were they aware that1 to all intents and purposes private purchase simply meant a close market and a perfect monopoly. There -were but few people in any part of the North lshud who possessed the key that could unlock the door which led to the Maori lands, and those few privileged people were for the most part the pakeha-Maoris and native interpreters. Persons with means might hope to gain possession of the much desired key, and once having uulocked the door their power of purchase was only limited bjs the amount of their capital. It was a different thing with those wbo knew not; the ioj>es—they were entirely shut out. The man of moderate means was handicapped so severely ab not to have the slightest chance iv comuotitiou with hijj wealthier rival. The consequence of. all this was of course an enormous anio'.iut of wire-pulling. It >vas inevitable. Another very grea,t danger was that the vhole of the lands yet unsold iv this province would stand the chance of being acquired by a few people, so that the t, mie might come when they would aw d k e to find all their land gone. The spr aker then passed on.to < dilate upon'the var l 0 consequence to which this would leaO j and iv doing so illustrated his argument. V ft reference to the condition of matters} m J o | le Home country, including, of course, t' ae country from which he had "indirecti.y" sprung. They would find that the disproportion in the apportionment of tjo public wealth—the aillueucc of the few and the poverty of the bnlk—arose from the fact that the former class owned and accumulated very large estates, while the other was almost landless. They must understand that he recommended nothing of a revolutionary tendency, nor had be the slighest desire to array class against class, but his sole object was to so deal with the public estate as to give every man a chance according to his means. (A voice: " Piako Swamp.") No ; he should not refer to the Piako Swamp. He was' endeavouring to speak as fairly as he could, and in a way that would prove as useful to the other side as to himself. (Cheers.) It would be said iv reply to what he baa addressed to them, " Let the large speculators buy up Maori lauds and thus extinguish the title. They can't hold them. They will have to put what is called » verandah round them, and eventually wul, be forced to sell iv consequence of _tns taxation." Ho advised them not to believe such a sophism, for the acquisition of these properties would be so remunerative to them that they could we.l afford to pay taxes. Prevention at all times was better ton cure, tie would now pass on to deal wit" the future of the question, and he would tell. thenxfirst of all that in his opinion the Govern; meat ough( to complete ail existing transa'Stf

tiona. That simply meant those upon -which moneys had been paid and agreements made. No new system should interfere with them. The system to which he would give the preference, and on which he proposed to base a bill, was briefly this : To complete these existing purchases and have all the lands surveyed and put through the Court. They could not take from the natives the right to sell. They must not go back in their legislation or review it, for if they did so they would become powerless to deal with the matter, as well as inducing the suspicion of unfair treatment. They would bear in mind what he had already pointed out—that the essential conditions for the proper conduct of Native land dealings—in fact, their groundwork—wore fair play, fair prices, and a fair extent of reserves for public and Native purposes. In the case of the private purchase system, these conditions could not be enforced. That was obvious. He contended that that was a fair and impartial solution of the whole difficulty—a solution fair to the Government and equally fair to Maori seller and European buyer. The Bill to which allusion had been made would embody all these provisions. It would secure to the vendor the highest price obtainable, it would allow more to come iv and acquire land under proper conditions and at a proper juice, and it would ensure a just competition between those -vho desired large areas iiud those whose means would only permit of the purchase of smaller areas. That was a part of the policy of the present Government (cheers), for he presumed he might be permitted to call themselves such, though they were just vow like Mahomet's coifiu, oscillating between heaven aud earth. (Laughter aud cheers,) He was aware that there could be such a tiling as carrying a Government purchase system too far—aud that having acquired ft large portion of the public estate they should allow private purchasers an entrance to the market. Well, he had that iv view, and he proposed a law to meet the case. It would have this effect. That every Maori possessing land for sale should be given his choice of two courses, viz., either to sell to the Government 01 to refuse to sell to the Government. In the latter case the question arose, how could the laud he utilised? AVell, their proposal was this :—That where a Native declined to sell his land to the Government, the Gorernment should oiler to act as trustees for the sale of his land, and, alter surveying it and making the necessary reserves for public purposes, should Her it for sale as ordinary waste lands of he Province —doing exactly, in fact, what was now being done for the Government by the Waste Lands Board. Turning now his attention to these Waste Lands Boards, he thought that the time for their abolition had arrived. They were irresponsible bodies, and yet, next to the Colonial Treasurer, tneir work was the most important with regard to the disposition of Native lands. He made these remarks not as any disparagement to the gentlemen who administered the lands in this Province, but simpl/ from a conviction on hU part that the principle was a bad one, inasmuch as they were not amenable to Parliament like the Ministers of the country. They should not be independent of the Government and of the people, .hesuming the leading question, Mr fcSheehan said that he would not restrict purchasers to areas of fifty acres, for in many districts the land was so poor, so inferior in quality, that a subsistence could barely be gained from 100 acres, and besides this, the effect of such restriction might be 10 deter men who had the means from introducing such approved farming appliances as steam ploughs, &c. When the purchaser had the means of farming a good extent of land on au elaborate scale he should hardly be bound down to a very small area of laud which would yield no adequate return for any great outlay. The offering of the land in small bocks, subject to the usual conditions, would however afford suflicient scope for the employment of capital, and at the same time would give the small purchaser equal facilities of acquisition with his moneyed rival. That would be a suitable restriction. Mr Sheehan then went on to expatiate upon the influence upon the native mind which the result of the first sale would have. If it was judiciously selected and care was taken to obtain good prices, ,the news of the amount realised would soon sprei.d, and they would have a plethoia of land in the market. But if land of an inferior character were taken first and disposed of at poor prices the effect would be to drive thp natives back into their shells, and to further delay the settlement of the country. Ihe former course would engender feelings of satisfaction and confidence in the Maori mind with respect to the operations of the Government, and the result would be of the most beneficial character. These views were not placed before them from a party point of view or from interested motives. The principle* that he had laid before them were those which must underlie the dealings of any Government, and they would have to be carried into executioa, do matter what party came into power. JKvcu if. the Oppositioujgaiued possession of the Ministerial benches he would be most happy to place at their disposal all the information in his power, aud would endeavour to suggest to them methods fcr the facilitation of the scheme. The get' tlemau then summed up his conclusions, and after treating them in general terms, concluded his able speech by thanking the audience for the very patient hearing whiek they had given him. He sat down amidst enthusiastic and prolonged cheers. Mr J. M. Clark rose to propose the following resolution, viz :—" That tins meeting is glad to Jeprji that the Government propose to initiate an improved system of pealing with Native lands, and tenders its best thanks to Mr Sheehan for the address he has given on the subject." He said that the thanks of the meeting were uudoubtedly due to Mr Sheehan for h'm brief and succinct account of native land purchase since the foundation of the colony, as well as for his explanation of the abuses to which solo Government land purchase gave rise, besides those fostered ty indiscriminate free trade. Ho supported the motion the more cordially from the fact that Mr Sheehau's remarks went in the direction of his own argument on a recent occasion. He heartily applauded and endorsed all the gentlenian's conclusions, hut, if he might be permitted to say so, he v/jouM Jike to see the Government go just a little way further. That was to abandon native land purchase altogether after completing the present negotiations. [Disorder and groans, during which the Chairman twice interposed,} On regaining a hearing, Mr Clark vent* on to say that the Government might fairly derive a revenue from the land sold by mppsing an ad valorem tax xvpon the purchase moncv However he would not now enter into a discussion of the points raised in the speech but he would take an early opportunity of makinghimself heard in regard to the whole matter. He would mqrely observe in conclusion that the Government iiad taken some steps in the required direction aud that n f urtlier advance was needed. (Great tumult). He was not going to detain thera longer, but would move the resolution without .any further remark other than an expression o.HUe satisfaction which the duty afforded him. In response to loud cries M* Garrett mounted the platform. He said tji.e opportunity of seconding the motion gave him much pleasure. He thought It wrong on the part of the secretary of the Association to attempt to force the consideration of such a question upon the people before the Motive Minister had the privilege of disclosing the Government policy, and hence his previous action. lhat tm *" SlieeLi had told him that he beaded addressing the people of Auckland before &O receipt otln invitation from the Association, therefore no thanks were due to that body. It was an infrequent thing for a Minister to come before the pwple in order to enlarge their views of departmental matteis, .i<l consequently their thanks yew specially due to the Hon Mr Sheehan for h*s pmi.tesy and trouble. They had heard many te« against the ggnfleman's private eharaeter, but they must remember that he ™*»f human. (Loud laugMer). If their public men wore otherwise, monuments would. have to be erected to tbejr mmOW •*» the palmy days of Athens, ,<#ei;ewed laughter «>d disorder). He entirety gar horsed the sentiments contained m tjie motion, and, as he had said before, he hail great pleasure iv seconding it. , MCaptain Daldy arose amidst determined Rotiiiß and Msfljng. He was glad to have the opportunity, as au old colonist, of bearing testimony to the care and labour Destowed upon the question by Mr Sheehan. No two gentlemen in New Zealand could lave given such a lucid exposition of the matter! He had known Mr Sheehan from his birth, and was heartily glad to perceive that he was Kuch an abje Bfatcsman, ami such a credit to the country of WCft »c was 0, native. In reference to Mr Clark« flUgfested ad valorem tax, he might say that such an impost existed at present. Alter fiome further remarks the gentleman resumed las fieat.

The motio.ii was then put and carried by acclamation. Mr Sheekan briefly retjii-jjed thanks, and in doing so said his opinions were the results of many years study. The only ,effe,c£w tue tax alluded to by Mr dark'would be W hamper and prevent the sale of native lands, for the Maori owner and not the European purchaser would have te pay the tax. He

was obliged to Mr Garrett for his volunteered defence of his private character, but he was quite competent to champion hi.s own cause. That was not the platform, nor was it the time for a reply to the charges made against him, but they might be well assured that when he did put the war paint on he would fully answer the calumnies of his detractors. (Cheers.) Some one whispered, "Go for him, Johnny," but he thought it was the other way. They had gone for Johnny with a vengeance. (Laughter.) After sonic additional remarks in the same connection, the speaker proposed a vote of thanks to the chair, which was passed unanimously. The meeting then dissolved.