MR SEDDON AS NATIVE MINISTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 290, 5 December 1894, Page 4

MR SEDDON AS NATIVE MINISTER.

A. GRAND SUCCESS,

The following, article which appeared in a recent issue of the New Zealand "Times'* ia attributed to a gentleman whose knowledge of Native affairs, Maori custom, and the course ofNativ©.legislation is unexcelled by that of any other person in New Zealand :—

"The Hon. Mr Seddon, by his treatmenfcof the native question since he assumed charge of thab portfolio, has given a remarkable proof of his powerful niisntal .grasp and bis ready capacity as a politician. Aa overyone knows, thab is the treacherous rock upon which many otherwise sbrong Ministries in the past .have struck and gone to pieces. One'"'Native Minister after another has essayed the task of solving the " Maori difficulty," and i'as found himself unequal to bhe task. Even Mr Seddon's immediate predecessor and present colleague, Mr Cadman, although possessing many excellent qualities and earnestly desirous of doing bit duty *fl botb xm*s,

was confessedly a failure,as Native Minister'; and there can bo no doubt that* the office does need qualifications of a very special kind. ' Casting our mind back over 'a period of tive-and thirty years, the names of several prominent politicians who have filled that office occur to us. If we mistake nob, the firsb Minister for Native Affairs'was Mr C. W. Richmond, as a member of the historic Stafford Ministry. Mr Richmond, who has since become so distinguished an ornament to the Supreme Courb bench, was brilliant as a politician, and produced some remarkably clever memoranda on Native affairs—papers tbab .one can read even ab this date with pleasure and profit; bub we cannob help thinking bhab as Native Minister he was too much Bwayed by his Taranaki sympathies and prejudices. After him came Mr (now Sir Francis) Dillon Bell, a Buave and, accomplished diplomatist, who spoke the Maori language and thoroughly understood their habitß of thought. He took office aba time when, with Sir George Grey's advent as Governor for the second time; there was a widespread demand for Maori^ selfgovernment. .Sir Francis .threw himself into the work with great enthusiasm, arid had much-to do' with framing' the first Nabive Lands Acb: arid' the ** Native Circuib Courts : Act. Bub this offer of * " free* institutions" had como too late, and even Sir George Grey's great prestige was powerless to'prevent thej spread of the Maori war. 'Sir Dillon laboured very hard, but the times were against him, and he quitted office with war-clouds all around him and his idol of Native Governmenb hopeleesly shabtered. The system of governmenb by runangas or local councils, had it been introduced a few years earlier, would in all probability have averted the war and saved the colony several ■ millions sterling ! Among the; Native Ministers of that early period was the accomplished James Edward Fitzgerald. He made the ablesb-and most1 eloquent speech on Nabive affairs ever delivered in the House of Representatives ; bub he was unpractical, and did nob long retain the seals of office. Coming down bo a later period, we recall Sir Donald McLean, who was in every sense a successful Native Minister, bub he flourished at a period when the circumstances ofthe colony were entirely differierib from whab they are now. Sir Donald introduced the special native represenbabiori and generally left his mark on our legislation. His compeer, Mr F. D. Fenton- who for a period of sixteen years held the office of Chief Judge of' the Native Land Courb, was an abler and more cultured man,' and he succeeded in winning the confidence Of the Maori people in a remarkable degree ; but as a member of the Legislative Council he was practically a failure^ and left no mark behind him. * Mr Rolleston, on the other hand, who had graduated, as it were, in the Native Office, where for several years- he was Under ■ Secretary, • never seemed to get a' proper- grasp ■of the Native portfolio or the confidence of tho Maori people. He was always suspicious of tbem, and they were equally so of him, Whilst all the Nabive legislation promoted by him was of the patchwork type. The* country'has from time bo time been full of experfcs, Native agents, and " Maori doctors,'' of almosb every degree, bub ib is easy to count on the fingers of one hand the names-of those who have really understood the Native question, or been uniformly successful in their dealings 'with the Maoris. The mariner therefore in which Mr Sodden has, at short notico A mastered the position and obtaioed a'general- -knOwlSdge of tha whole question, may "well excite "cominerit. "His firsb trip through the native districts was a sorb of triumphal progress;.and tire outcpfba. .oi.iijs. fir^b.:*y^9r'ii'|iikd^'in^.traMpb<'Oi the department is the carrying through Parliament of a most important Native Land Court Act, involving<as it doe&a.complete rhvt.liitiorf {it_ ;th%*miHfl(gemen^'?bFV Native affaire. The resumption of the Crown's right of pre-emption—whichAbeirig; an "iti• tegr&l part of the Treaty of Waitangi, ought never, in. Our opinion, to bave/ been surrendered—has beeti considered by mor6 than one Ministry ; " but no Government had hitherto been bold enough or strong enbugh to carry such a policy into effect. Mr Seddon made this one of the planks of hia policy ab the opening of .Parliament, and in spite of all sorbs of prediction to bhe contrary, he has succeeded in carrying, and tbab too by a largo majority, bhe most important Native Land Court Act we have bad for many years. Ever since 1865 we have been inundated wibh legislation affecting Native lands. The pile has been added to year by year, some of the amending Acts being quite-unworkable, and the provisions .of some conflicting with those ot others, till at lengths the Acts bad become so tangled that few lawyers ,professed to understand them., Hitherto every effort to consolidate the law appears to have made matters worse, till ib became a question whether tho Native Land Court with its cumbrous forms of procedure should nob be swept away altogether. In 1876 Sir Frederick TV 7 hi taker drafted a measure which promised to bring order oub of chaos and to simplify tho machinery of the Court. It was in every way an excellent Bill; but ib was rejected by the Legislature. Although quite a model measuro in its way, it would nob have been suited to the present changed circumstances of the country, and something new had bo be devised. We have ib on the authority of a well-known experb, and we fully agree with him, thab Mr Seddon's new Act* taken as a whole, is far and away the best Native Land Courb Acb thab has yeb been passed. It divides itself into bwo parts. Parb I. is an admirable piece of consolidation, and will be welcomed by all who have anything to do with the Court. Ib defines the jurisdiction of the Native Land Courb, regulates ita practice and procedure, simplifies titles, provides all kinds of necessary machinery with safeguards against fraud, and sets up whab has long been wanted, a Native Appellate Courb, consisting of the Chief Judge and such other Judges of the Courb as' the* Governor may from time- to time' appoint. Part 11. of the Act, relating to alienation and native lands administration, embodies the new departure, and this has pur entire approval.' The resumption of the right of pre-emption is sound policy, and the machinery provided for the sale by native owners through the Waste Lands Board, under the laws for the bime being regulating the disposal of Crown lands, will, as bhe provisions of bhe Act come to bo understood and 'its methods adopted, prove of great value to the Maoris themselves. The Acb is nob withoub its defects, but these relate to matters of detail and do not affect its principle. Ib will be easy bo geb an amending Acb passed next session, when actual experience of the working ofthe present measure bus shown what is necessary."