NATIVE CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 142, 17 June 1910, Page 6

NATIVE CONFERENCE.

"neabjng theTend. ' MOST SUCCESSFUL EVER HELD. : £j (By, ; ' :;' HUNTLY, this day. The* Conference; entered upejn its eighth day this morning. The report! which appeared in last nights ." Star" was read to the assembled audience, arid was interpreted -by. Mr. McMath, licensed interpreter, the translation of which was. listened to ■with rapt attention. The idea- seemed pp, ,be .prevalent amongst tlje natives that the newspapers were a sort of minute of the proceedings. The. chairman; Mi'. Tame Kawa ? 'of ; Mangapeehi, expressed the thanks and pleasure of ..the < natives for the way in. which the matters brought before the Conference had been given publicity by the ne>vis papers, and used it as \a.a argument "with his brethren that the pakehas were on their eide, and. took it, as an earnest of their desire to see an improvement of'the native ■ race, ii' remained with themselves to act up to what had been published and acquiesced in by them 'in eonfterence. Religious services are held iuring the day by the various clergymen in attendance, and, by the large number ■who attend, seem to he appreciated, and should be a great help. in~the work of reforming the natives to a better mode of livjng. Mr. : H. Kaihau thanked the.'Ministers for the way in which they had lookqd after the spiritual heeds of. hie people, and stated that "his idea \vould te to bring the different sectarian bodies who laboured amongst; the Maoris "into one great denomination and, worship God as Christians, and not as" sectarians. The clergymen present promised to bring the matter before their different synods. A splendid response "was made to th§ appeal for funds to build the central offices, and other schemes, and it is asserted .by several leaders of the, movement that £10',6b0 could be raised if,required. Mr. Kaihau hoped that they would deal only with matters which were real and of importance, and not grasp, at ehadpws. In regard to building, he stated that a promise had been made, by the Government to- erect a suitable ,residence for the late "King" Ta-whiap, > and. repeated after his death to jMahutaj but that was all so far that had come of if;. Aβ f>r as he could, see, the Maoris themselyes would have to set the Government a good example by providing the money themselves, and he had po doubt that £10,000 would be forthcoming within eix months. He thought that the money .which had been collected to send the Tupii Xai-ngaka-way deputation to England, in reference to the alleged breaches of the. Treaty or Waita-ngi, of which they- complained, should .be used. 'If this were done, then some good would be done wkto the money, and some tangible proot would result.

Mr. Kaihau explained that alj moneys collected for the scheme had to be' held in trust by Messrs. Kaihau and Tama Kawa, the chairman of the committee, and banked in the Bank of Now Zealand, all expenditure to <be passed by the district commi&tee, and Gpvermnfint audit to be made periodically. Lawyers and interpreters had jn the past reaped a rich harvest in fees, but this would be saved if the Government . appointed: a trustworthy and reliable native, agent who would have charge of all negotiations for the sale or lease .of native, lands, which are held by from one to ten as specified in the Act which came into force this year, such sales and leases to be sanctioned by this official's report for confirmation before being sanctioned by tEe Land Board. The other officiate necessary would be health inspectors, agricultural expert, and a technical instructor, but that was a eubject for debate later.

Moet of the .afternoon sitting was taken up with receiving information from different owners who wished to have lands included in the lands.' already scheduled, and which were not as included in the general scheme. A summary of the general business is now being prepared for presentation to the Native Minister, so that he .msjy be thoroughly conversant with the business done. A large amount of committee 'work has yet to be done, 'but the meeting, as fair ae the general body is concerned, is about finished, and it is safe to say that no former meeting has done more to settle the vexed question of locked-up native Jands and to throw- open for settlement a largo area of country.

A telegram was received to-day from the 'H-onl Jas. Carroll, 'Native Minister, which read as follows: —"I hope you will strongly urge on the natives the necessity for pTomotfng action, and of properly working together on the lines we discpsaed. Keep them to. our task, and do not let them break away. It is the only hope, for them to gefc their: lands dealt with and. reap some benefit therefrom.. Aleo.be strong on the.liquor question, and' get some of our pakeha friends to take a hand in it. Ida Ora!"

Mr. 'Pepe .{Qrkwood, who was one of the "King's" ambassadors to Tupu Taingakawa at Waitangi the other day, states that Tupu seems to be regretting his action, which caueed a less friendly feeling than that which formerly existed between Sfahuta and himself. He seemed to think he was in duty bound to proceed to England arid lay his grievances before King George, but his affection for llahuta might niaite him reconsider hfa decision and await the results of ; the next session of Parliament, and see if any advances were made towards the settlement of the native lands problem, but if not, he would certainly carry out his intentions. He hoped that he would meet Mahuta in council, apd he trusted that the old order of things would again exist between them as formerly. Pepe thanked Tupu for the courteous hearing he.had given him, and after having received greetings from many old friends, he returned home to convey to Mahuta the message sent by Tupu *Taingakawa.