The Dominion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1911. WHY?

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1201, 9 August 1911, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1911. WHY?

The Acting-Prime Minister is really such a pleasant-mannered gentleman that even when he makes the most preposterous proposals in his amiable, soft-spoken way it seems almost churlish to deal with them in the manner they actually deserve. In.laying before the House yesterday version of the Mokau transaction which the Government wishes the public to accept as the full story of this very curious deal in Native lands, Sir James Carroll was to all appearances so anxious to satisfy everyone, so solicitous that Mb. Massey should receive the full and fair investigation askod for, that it is not until the report of the proceedings is ' read carefully one realises how little the Acting-Prime Minister's smooth words reveal the real intention behind them. Sir James , Carroll came before the House yesterday with a ready-made story and a plan, and for all his professions the story is incomplete and misleading, and the plan for investigating its worth' unreasonable and unfair. Tho story of the Mokau transaction as presented to members by the acting-head of the Government is in effect the story of Mr. C. P. Skerrett, counsel for the Natives, with a few additions. It suited Mn. SIiEURETT's purpose to induce the Government to consent to an unusual and extraordinary course which he considered to be in the interests of the Natives. We have nothing to say as to whether that course was or was not a wise one from the Natives' point of view. What we arc concerned with is the Government's action in the matter, and Ihc manner in which it carried it out. There is only one point in Sin James Cai!Kuli,'s plausible presentation nf the case for the Government which we propose to touch on at present; but it is ,i point which is vital to the case for the Government as now put forward, It will bo seen that the case really revolves round f<ho question of Mi" valvio of the land, The Government .claims

that it had a valuation of the land specially made with the idea of purchasing it and ending the whole trouble. As the result of that valuation Ministers were advised not to pay more than £:jo,ooo, whereas the actual cost would have been £5l!,000. Naturally it will be asked how then could a private individual or a private company afford to pay the larger sumj The reason is very plain. The Acting-Prime Minister has merely omitted to tell the public that his valuation does not take into account the minerals on the property. It is of course an oversight. .The surface value.of the land'has long been regarded as of less value than the minerals beneath—it is the minerals, and not the land itself, that the purchasers of the property are looking to for their real profits. Siu James Carroll did not lay any stress on this very material point, but is he not aware that the company which has now scoured the land, and which he states is selling it again in limited areas, as so virtuously stipulated for by the Government, is selling the surface value only, and is reserving to itself the mineral rights'l Of course the Acting-Prime Minister knows these things, but it suits his purpose, to gloss them over and convey the impression that the only issue is one of land settlement, and that the price at which-the Government could nave bought the land was above the value placed on it for land settlement purposes. He further clouds the real issue with his story of threatened litigation and a possible raid on the Land Assurance Transfer Fund, and so on. Those questions, however, can stand over for the present. Our purpose on the present occasion is not to deal at any length with the very important omissions from, and the ingenious twist given to facts in,, the Act-ing-Prime Minister's plausible presentation of the Government's version of the Mokau transaction. Bather is it to direct attention to the unyielding determination shown by Sl'R James Carroll yesterday to ensure that any investigation which is held into the transaction shall be made by a Parliamentary Committee overwhelmingly packed with Government supporters. Why \ How is it, if the Acting-Prime Minister is so confident of the extreme rectitude of the Government, that he insists so determinedly that the probing of the Mokau matter shall bo done by so obviously partisan a body 1 Let us look at the personnel of the Committee. The members composing it are as follow: Government. Opposition. Greenslade Horrie/ Jennings ' Manner Kaihau Rhodes Macdonald Ngara Parata To Rangihiroa Seddon i Carroll

A Committee of twelve, nine of whom are staunchest of the staunch Government supporters (including two Ministers and a Government Whip), and throe members of the Opposition, one of whom is absent from New Zealand at present. This is the Committee that the Acting-Prime Minister in his suave stylo puts forward £s likely to satisfy the country that a full and fair inquiry \yill be held and an impartial finding on the facts presented. Could anything be more farcical? Why even Sir Joseph Ward would not make such a proposal and expect anyone to be deceived by it." The public can of course draw its own conclusion from the rlaturc of the tribunal set up by the Government a? to the necessity .which exists for a proper inquiry. To add to the ridiculousness of the thing—if that were possible—it is not even promised tint the proceedings will be open to tin press. To say that the evidence will be printed in bulk at the close of the inquiry is equivalent to saying that no one outside of a few people specially interested will ever read it or even get a chance to read it.. We gave the Acting-Prime Minister credit for greater astuteness. He could not have clone anything that would make it clearer to the public that the Government is desperately afraid of a full and impartial investigation of this curious Mokau transaction. Indeed, so badly has he bungled in his attempts to cover up the matter that we shall not be in the least surprised to see him come down directly with some alternative proposal for an investigation a little less obvious in its intention to keep the public from securing the full information which he professes himself so ready to give. Even the most ardent friends and supporters of tho Government must ask themselves why it is that there is such anxiety shown by their leaders to ensure that the. Mokau transaction shall be investigated only sy this absurdly one-sided tribunal.