NATIVE GRIEVANCES

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 74, 29 March 1938, Page 6

NATIVE GRIEVANCES

STILL LEFT UNSETTLED

(To the Editor.)

| I was an interested guest at this important | Maori assembly—the occasion for which was jtlie ceremonial dedication of Kinir Korolci's jdwelling "Turongo." Many thousands of happy j people were there assembled from all tribal •areas —and the wonderful organisation dk- ! played during the-several days covered. <Jeeplv I impressed all [.resent, as showing what a j Maori community can do when the circtun- , stances ari~e to test i;s efficiency. From [another aspect the assembly proved a sadlv jdisappointing o*-ca = i<.n as the result, of a j speech on the native policy delivered br the [acting Native Minister, the Hon. F. Langstone. IHe then aVo particularly addressed himself !to the Waikato Kingites dealing with the 1 <Government's intentions as to the Ion" oatjstanding grievance of the confiscated lands of 1 1SG3, and the compensation recommended iv I the commission of 1925. The years passed since ]st; 3 have seen some three generations [of the \ta;kato people pass away to Te Eeixiga j(tlie Maoi i Great Heyondj. To-day but few, if any. survive: but their descendants of to-dav |are suffering from t lie cumulative con-cquences of tho-e wrongs inflicted liy war and confiscation—the consequential landlcssness. jxivertv and all the ills thereby im;>osed. Despite the recommendation of that commission of 192£ and of the many meetings called hr the Go eminent (each with a promise of fiiial'tv) Mr. Lang-tones speech at Xgaruawahia shows, no such setllenient is in immediate sight. He appealed to the as-cmbl-d Kinpitcs to be reasonable and to be patient—those qualities I thev indeed have displayed since even ISC3. IHe then read—like the character in "The Mikado'—a "little li-t" of many Maori troubles l>efi>ic him for consideration. Still I many more, he ;>--nred the hearers, had to he l added to that imj>o-ing lif-t. He announced that until all su.-h matters were listed and by him "sifted to the bottom of things." the Government was not in the position to settle anything. Only at some indefinite future time—and on some indefinite terms, if at all

-might the Kingite ]*-ople expect any settlement. Hence the deep disappointment which alloyed the pleasure of the gathering at Xgaruawahia as with mixed feelings it dispersed. Xow public grievances, the nature and extent of which are definitely assessed bv the commission set up by Parliament (as in this case of the Waikato confiscated lands), should not thus be left unsettled. In this case an honourable and speedy settlement is possible and should not be delayed or be dependent in anv way on matters not in any way connected. Those other Maori troubles should each he settled separately and each on its resj>ective merits. The vague promises of the Hon. F. Lan£-<tonp remind one of that sentence inflicted and known facetiously as a "Kathleen Mavourneen"—or of the adage. the inner meaning of which is but too well understood br the Waikato Maori*: "Eroa nga tau ki akoe e Tnteamoamo" ("There are yet before you many years, oh Tuteanioamo"). There will be apparently yet some more generations of Tutcamoamo's descendants jiass on before the Hon. F. Langs tone (if politically he survives) set ties this or any other Maori problem. GEO. GRAHAM.