LIQUOR IN KING COUNTRY

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27131, 29 August 1953, Page 9

LIQUOR IN KING COUNTRY

EVIDENCE AGAINST “SACRED PACT ” FINDINGS OF SIR DAVID SMITH “In my judgment, the weight of evidence is clearly against the view that natives of today are prevented by ‘a sacred pact’ or ‘a bargain’ from deciding in the circumstances of today, what ought to be done in their best interests about the sale of liquor in the King Country,” said Sir- David Smith (chairman of the Royal Commission on Licensing in 1946) in a report on the King Country as an appendix to the main report.

The elders of the Maoris in the King Country opposed the sale of liquor on the grounds of a sacred or solemn pact, pledee or treaty between the Governof 1885 and the Maori tribes, the Maoris giving the right to put the main trunk railway through, the necessary land for the railway and the opening of the land for pakeha settlement. In return, the Government was supposed to have given the Maoris protection from taxation for railway and feeder roads, the permanency of their mineral rights and the solemn undertaking tht no sale of intoxicants should ever be allowed in the King Country.

“There is no evidence available today from witnesses who could purport to recollect what occurred at the time of the negotiations for the opening-up of the King Country, and. if there were, the evidence would have little weight in comparison with that available from the documents of the time.” reported Sir David Smith. “One curious fact is that those documents, which are numerous, make no reference to ‘a sacred pact’ or ‘a solemn promise’, these phrases, or phrases like them, do not appear on the files of the Native Department dealing with this matter prior to the year 1923.” Summing up. Sir David Smith said he thought the desire of the natives for the proclamation of their territory prohibiting the issue of publican’s licences under the 1881 Licensing Act was due to their clear recognition of the evils which alcoholic liquor brought to the natives in their pioneering times, particularly at the native land courts, and to their strong feeling against alcoholic liquor, a feeling which was prevalent among the Europeans as well as the Maoris. The desire to prevent the introduction of liquor was only one of several matters upon which the King Country tribes wished to be satisfied before agreeing to the opening up of the King Country for settlement. Contemporary Documents The contemporary documents, he found, showed that the natives agreed tc the railway going through their lands upon the basis that they were to be paid for all their land used for the purpose, whether for the line, the cuttings or the station sites. They also showed that very few natives had been paid. “ ... It is clear that the railway lands were never transferred in consideration of any promise to prohibit drink in the King Country. They were taken under the Public Works Act following an agreement by the natives to agree to the railway line going through their territory in return for the payment of compensation for the lands required for the line. The reaching of this agreement was helped by various concessions by the Government, one of which was the proclamation of December, 1884, prohibiting licences for sale in the Northern King Country—i.e. the Kawhia licensing district. The proclamation ranked with other matters like the pardoning of Te Kooti, the arrangements for the survey of external boundaries, the improvement of Maori committees, the arrangements for prospecting for gold, and the determination of the Government to put the line through. All these were matters of policy suited to the circumstances of the time.” The northern boundary of the King Country makes east from Kawhia and runs to the south of, but near Pirongia and Kihikihi, till it meets the Waikato river and then runs along the river in a south-easterly direction to a point near Atiamuri. On the east, the boundary runs south from near Atiamuri through the middle of Lake Taupo and then between Waiouru and Mount Ruapehu to the Wangaehu river, where it stops at a point some 26 miles from the sea. On the west, the boundary follows the coast from Kawhia to a point near Pukearuhe, then runs east to a point south of, but near, Ohura, and then roughly south again to a point about 18 miles north of Waverley. On the south, the boundary joins the southern point of the eastern and western boundaries, with a bulge to the south to a point about nine miles north o'f the post office in Wanganui. When the northern district was first proclaimed in December 1884 as one in which the issue of publicans’ licences was prohibited, there was practically no European settlement. The second proclamation covered the southern territory and was made in March, 1887, by which time settlement had increased, the railway having advanced by 30 miles from the north. At the 1945 census, the population of the King Country was:—European 30,195; Maori 8660 Of the Maoris, 7237 lived in the Kawhia licensing district and 1423 in he Upper Wanganui licensing district, the great bulk being in country areas. Main towns in the King Country are Te Kuiti, Taumarunui. Raetihi. Ohakune, Otorohanga, Kawhia and Tokaanu. The Government has in recent years conducted the only licensed hotel in the King Country—at Tokaanu, where in 1894, 590 acres, including the licensed premises there since 1882. and overlooked when the proclamation was first made, were excluded from the proclaimed area.

Ballot of Experimental Houses.— The two experimental houses in Morrison avenue, Papanui, were balloted by the State Advances Corporation yesterday morning. Mrs A. Aspmall, of Harewood road, drew the Wilson house, valued at £2390. including some furniture. and Mrs N. F. Clark, Burlington street, Svdenham, drew the Hammond house, valued at £2455, including some furniture. .