WAIKATO NATIVES AND THE TREATY OF WAITANGI.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 68, 19 March 1908, Page 3

WAIKATO NATIVES AND THE TREATY OF WAITANGI.

AN HISTORIC GATHERING. - s. : . "■ * ol TAINGAXAWA'S PLAINT ANI THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY. n3 • Ui. -. ',•:■ , it. -'> v] LESS OF THE LETTER AND -s; MOBE OF THE SPIRIT. 13, —— •, . .. l £ PREMIER AND NATIVE MINIS' it- TER GIVE ADVICE. :e, . . . sy a T €By Telegraph.— Special to "Star.") at HAMILTON, Wednesday. The little kainga of Waharoa, four oi ~_ five miles this side of Matamata, lies bare and uninteresting in appearanc< s, from the pakeha standpoint, for ordi ry ?**% it; contains littte more than ai " a indifferent looking -wharepuna and on« c, or two anciently thatched whares; bul fl from to-day it will ever be associated as , r l the spot -where the representative oi id the King gave utterance to some of th< r- most cogent advice touching Maori ;{! grievances and their settlement that as re sembled tribesmen have given ear to foi Le long past. The tribes between the Kin? J Country—Mercer in the one .direction ' and from Tauranga nearly across to n, Raglan in the other, but in particular the :e Waikatos—have laboured under the idea f. that several clauses of the Treaty oi 5 "Waitangi have been abrogated by the c New Zealand Government, sadly to the ~ injustice of the Maori, and in especial s the terms setting forth that Maori and ■c pakeha shall be dealt with as one and sovweign people. In' this respast they resent, above all, the confiscation of '• their lands after the war. To recover some of these lands, if possible, and to readjust the disposal of them through 3 the agency of the paramount Imperial Government, was largely the desire of - Taingakawa, son of that William i Thompson, "the kingmaker" and most powerful of Waikato chieftains in convening to-day's meeting that the Governor might hear the Maori petition and forward it to His Majesty King Edward. MAORIS NOT UNANIMOUS. Division of opinion concerning this matter has agitated the native mind, however, the tribes, even among themselves, being by no means at one on the question l ; but to-day several hundreds of tribal representatives gathered from I. the Ngaiterangi (Tauranga), Ngatiraukawa (Waotu, in the country beyond Cambridge). Tc Arawa (Rotorua), Ngatif inaru (Thames), Ngatiraturi (Te Aroha), \ and Ngatiwhatua (Port Albert), who were adherents of the King movement; Ngatimaniapoio (King Country), and the Ngatihaua (the local sub-tribe of the • Waikatos), to hear the presenting of the petition drawn up by Taingakawa and his party. ARRIVAL OF THE GOVERNOR. • A special train took the Governor, c Prime Minister, Hon. Jas. Carroll, and ■ party, including Messrs. Hone Heke and Ngata, M.P.'s, and Te HeuheuyTukino. ' a well-known young chieftain, from Auckland to Waharoa, Mr. Hemtre Kai-' - hau, M.P. for the electorate, joining the • train at Hamilton. Upon their arrival, the gubernatorial party was driven to ) the kainga, and passed under the evergreen inscription "Haeremai," preceded by Tuhakariano, nephew of Taingakawa, ' arrayed in the full panoply of chieftain- . ship. As the party ascended the little ; slope semicirclet, which was an unpicJ turesque array /of pakeha-made tents, the hail of we}6ome issued from a hun- ; dred or so of - Maori throats, while a somewhat decadent representation of . the stirring mock challenge and dance of the brave old days, was performed by 1 the forefront warriors and wahines, ' whose nondescript attire lent but little I impressiveness to a one-time all-im-pressive ceremonial. The all-pervading brass band played a verse of the National ■ Anthem, the distinguished guests -were waved to seats of honour within a large open marquee, and the expectant natives . seated themselves in a line over against : the south side of a quaint resemblance to a hollow square, the pakeha onlookers shading off the nakedness of the ground I in the outskirts. BUSINESS COMMENCES. The business of the day opened with an address of welcome to the Governor, Te Rawhiti reading it, -while Taingakawa Te Waharoa himself stood alongside. Thus it ran: "This is a welcome to his Excellency the Governor in honour of your Excellency's first visit to these tribal families of the tribe called and represented by the name of 'Waikato.' Welcome our distinguished visitor! Welcome our Kohiku Rerengatahi (ah, the bird of momentous appearance). Wel- . come our kowhai turanga ara (the tree of abundance). Welcome to Waikato. Welcome to your distinguished friends and. to your ministers of the Government. Salutations to both, to her Excellency and yourself and to your family." As the voice and visage of the king in New Zealand the Governor was then saluted, and the grievances of the Maori people represented were set forth. THE FAMOUS TREATY. Concerning the sacred treaty established between Queen Victoria and the Maori high chiefs in 1840, the address ran: "We the Maori people, who sit under the weight of this evil, never end in ouv considering and our thoughts concerning the confiscation of our lands after the war. It is upwards of forty years since tho separation of our lands, unjustly for U3 (this is the word) —unjustly. Not the slightest thing'"swas done by the law to investigate the rights and the wrongs before this extreme measure fell. Many representations similar to this have been made to the Governors and the Governments, and when the reply came they had no reply regarding this case. Therefore we now express our desire to your Excellency that the lands of Waikato confiscated be returned to the people and families from, whom they were taken by force of arms by the Government. Bub there were many lands on the island taken by force in confiscation for the wars of Taranaki and and on the East Coast of the North Island, which are in suspense, no portion of which has been considered or investigated by tb.3 law. Why should food be -weighed to determine its weight and cloth be measured to find out its length in yards? And yet this great matter of confiscation of the land, why was it not weighed to ascertain its weight or' measured to ascertain its length in feet? And the food, also the timber, also the cloth aro measured; why were the lands taken by confiscation for the war- not measured? Therefore we are justified in our statements that it was unjust that these hostilities should fall upon our lands, rather they should attack the Treaty o| Waitangi." The concluded by praying the Governor to forward the petition into the hand's of HJ$ Majesty

tKe 'King:" Following ' this the petition, itself was formally handed over to .the jGoyernor. , * . ~",', -~ ," '*■■ '■ ~,;, ~■•

",,. FAST piSAPfEARnre RACE. Then spoke .Taingakawa.. "The Maori race was fast disappearing, he lamented, ■andwould not'the.Governor endeavour to save them. .What they had- to say was veryilittle—it-was embodied in the address. !T?e --hope you -will do something for'us,' the descendants of the old people'who signed.the Treaty of Waitangi," he pleaded. "I am; glad to see you, for you have carried out your •promises given to mc in Wellington. -That is all r wish , to say. Good health to you, O Governor." . .;, ~' THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY. "Taingakawa, chieftains, and people assembled," replied his Excellency, "I thank you for your loyal -welcome." Addressing the chief, he went on: "When you were down in Wellington some time ago you spoke of .many, things that should be altered. I ventured, you will remember, to give you some advice there concerning the settlement of Maori matters, and I am very glad of this opportunity, in company with my Prime Minister, and Mr. Carroll, to repeat this advice to the assembled, tribes. It is bette to hive open and frienuly discussio than that there should be any secret brooding. The address of to-day, however, departs somewhat from the repor you wish mc to send' Home. Both spea of the Treaty of Waitangi,' but this one concerns especially the confiscation after the war. The petition particularly said that the Treaty of Waitangi was not being kept, that tlie present laws of New Zealand were no% fa accordance with it, and that, in consequence, the native rebels were becoming destitute. The petition appealed to the King to repeal the laws, many passed years and years ago, and some passed quite recently. Since then I have heard that some of the Maoris propose to send Home petitioners to see the King. Now, I do not propose to touch here upon the question of the confiscation of native lands, but it would be easy for mc to say that I sympathise with you and your troubles, and that if you go Home to the King I wish you a pleasant time. Now, I don't propose to speak only smooth words to you, I will tell you the truth as it presents itself to mc, and in doing so I remind you that, as Governor of the colony, I am a perfectly independent person with no ones axe to jrind. SOME PLAIN TRUTHS. "As to the proposal of the petition to the King, the older ones of you will remember that upon three or more previous occasions you have received the same answer—that the concerns of the Maori and European in New Zealand concerns only the Government of New Zealand, not the Home authorities, and it would be precisely the same thing in the King's time. This is what would happen. The petitioners would have a very pleasant' time, and the people who sent them would liave to spend a great deal of money, and the same answer would be given by the Imperial Government as in the past. And now, respecting the Treaty of Waitangi. It is perfectly true that the Treaty is not being carried out, but times change, and what was suitable at one time is certainly not suitable at another. That, you will see yourselves. In the ancient days a most solemn agreement might be made between two Maori tribes that one should lease some land from the other, arid the payment to be two old-fashioned muzzle-loading guns, while now, instead of guns, the tribe that owned the land might be wining to take money. We English have our own great Treaty of Rights, the Magna Charta, and what we look into is that the spirit of Magna Charta is kept, not old clauses." THE OLD LAWS. The Governor then went on to refer to the native desire to see some of the old laws repealed. Those laws, he said, were made by Parliaments that meant well to the Maori, and it was one of the proudest boasts of the British Empire that the aborigines of all countries under its liile were treated as fairly as possible. Far better would it be for the natives to endeavour to improve the laws wherever there was a" fault than to make impossible demands' to have those laws repealed. And J in saying so he spoke, not as Governor, but as their friend. This Treaty -of Waitangi had been the great curse of the Maoris. It was good in protecting them in the earlier days, but now it was not required, and they still relied upon it instead of working. The Treaty of Waitangi would not keep the Maoris. There were tribes with plenty of land and tribes without a grievance, yet they were dying out. It was right and proper that thdy should discuss laws unfair to the Maoris, but iat alone would not save them. The day -would come when they would still have the Treaty of Waitangi, and no faoris left unless they 'were desirous of helping themselves. In Wellington Taingakawa agreed with him upon that. Let him repeat it now. If the race were to be saved the young,people must have modern education; if they did not get schools then they had a splendid grievance against the Government. THE PREMIER'S SPEECH. Sir Joseph Ward said he wanted to impress upon the Maoris the constitutional position. The Government of today was not responsible for the early wars, and they took up the position as they found it. The land protected under the Treaty was still being protected; ii they warded protection for their land in the interest of their families or for co-operative purposes, tHe Government were prepared to help them. "We feel that the future of the Maori must be associated with tlie working of his land," J c said Sir Joseph, "and the solution of the ' Maori land question is the whole trouble * of the Maori to-day." The Government * did not want to deprive them of a single l acre, but wanted to see that the land ; held by the Maoris was put to -the best 1 possible use for them. Parliament car- I ried out what it had considered best I for the future of the Maori race. It was well that the Maoris should know how they stood. Whenever they appealed to a higher power than the Government of the country it was always the same; they were told that they must come back to their own Government in respect to the Treaty. They were warned that if they went to war the lands of " the rebellious ones would be confiscated, n and they were confiscated, and on that lj head they must remember how that, in e> •warring, the conquering, tribes confiscat- si ed the lands of the conquered. Now, si as they knew, after the war the loyal ji natives had their land secured for them, f< while many of the rebels who became ci loyal had their . land also returned, ii Many things were , being done A for the Maoris not mentioned a! in the Treaty. There were the old age n pensions, benefiting Maori as well as s< European.. The Maori was also being helped from the Civil list, and the Government ■ was prepared to help him further to work the land on scientific S<

principles. And that was-being done. He,..; advised them ; - : ;to, consider carefully, the . advice • that had been tendered to '" them 'by men wen qualified to'judge in the world's affairs, and'who were willing to place at their disposal the. reeult "of their: practical experience, i ■ ;.la-respect to the J re * 4 7, ? f Waitangi, much, misconception seemed to exist. ' " .. .. ' ; ta The Hon. Jas. Carroll, Native Minister, said that while the spirit of thia treaty had been in the main adhered ta changes in the law had of necessity been mate from time to time to.meet existing conditions. However sincere the native! W -7,f he theiir past",dealing with their lands showed eonclusivelv that they had' not been consistent. In one breatK they complained bitterly that their lands were slipping away from them; in; the-next, they besieged him with applications for removal of restrictions in, order that they might sell xh-» Act of 1900, which was specially designed to protect their interests and permitted principally leasing, did not meet with favour at their hands, the result being that a clause was inserted into the Act of 1905 to enable purchases to take place. Though the Jaw had been in operation for only a little over 12 months, an enormous number J of sales were effected, and if this had gone on the natives would have been soon entirely. without land. He urged the natives to give up squabbling amongst themselves, to unite in a common cause, to come down to reality •with the determination to educate themselves in dairying, farming, sanitation, and other matters, and they would not only promote their own material prosperity and that of their families, but they would remove from their doors all cause of complaint, and would find many willing workers to assist them on the road of progress. The present Government were very anxious that the natives should have every opportunity to cultivate and improve their lands, and only wanted some evidence from them that they desired to proceed on those iinea. He advised them to make the most of the presence of the Native Land Commission when it came amongst them. They could consult with the Commission in the open before all the people interested. It would rest with them to show what they wanted done with their lands, what portions they -wanted to sell, if any, what they wanted leased, what they wanted for themselves to use awl cultivate, and what permanent reserves they required. The Commission would then report on the same , , and the law would give effect thereto. The whole thing was so simple. All future disposition of their land would be by public auction or tender, Ihus ensuring to them the best price, -and bringing an end to private dealing. In their own, and in the public interest, that was the best course. MAQRI REPLY DEFERRED. Taingakawa promised to consider well what had been spoken, and* give them a reply when the time favoured. Salutations were then exchanged between the pakeha and Maori chieftains, and a return was made to Hamilton for the night. On -Thursday a large gathering will bate place at Ngaruawahia. Adherents of Mahuta's party will' address the Governor and Prime Minister, and in the afternoon tlie Premier takes train for Rotorua, where the night will be spent.