NATIVE LAND PURCHASE ORDINANCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIV, Issue 1092, 15 December 1857, Page 3

NATIVE LAND PURCHASE ORDINANCE.

We. observe the following notice in the 'General Government Gazette': — Treasury, Auckland, December 2nd, 1857. • His Excellency the Governor directs it to be notified for general information, that 1 G. W. D. Hay, Esq., has been authorized and empowered to lay complaints •and informations in accordance with the terms of the Ist clause of the "Native Land Purchase Ordinance" Seßß. 7, No. 19. C. W. Richmond.- . It appears to us: that this notice must have -been issued in mistake, in forgetfulness of the Native Land Purchase Ordinance Amendment Act, passed during Dr. Campbell's Superintendency, in the"fourth Session of the Provincial Council. The following exposition of the question occurs in Dr. Campbell's opening address, and is v .. -still as applicable as it was then. : You will be invited to consider the expediency of Repealing the. Native Land Purchase ordinance, so far as regards the Province of Auckland. This Ordinance ?; : -appears not only to be needless, as a precautionary ."'' "measure, but even to ba dangerous, as depriving us of ! 'our only permanent and substantial security against Considering-.the present state of Eu» si man' can say what the morrow may bring forth,, we must not disguise from ourselves the ' of the troops being withdrawn from the r£olony. : We cannot depend up a military force for the preservation of pacific relations with the natives, nor ought we to'depend entirely upon that force, even were \we secure of retaining it. Our only effectual hold upon the Maori is upon his interests. If native interests be linked with our own so closely that all must suffer alike, in the event of any serious disturbance, »he surest 'guarantee for quiet is obtained. But the simplest and most natural partnership between Native and European —the partnership which is most effectually barred by the Native Land Purchase Ordinance, is that in which ' the latter brings stock, capital, and knowledge to ihe ' common account, while the former, out of his abundant superfluity, finds the land. From this the passage to joint stock associations, in mills, steamers, or in general commercial enterprises, is rapid and easy. We may 'confidently assume that no native, however turbulently disposed by nature, will become a party to the depreciation of his own shares in the money- market. Should j you be indisposed, however, to repeal the Ordinace another consideration still remains; namely, whether .it doe* not stand, in need of amendment. Its presem> operation is partial and unjust—even liable to serious abuse. For while a contravention of the Ordinance is punishable for a tine of a £IOO, the infliction of the penalty is dependent .upon the pleasure of the General Government Yet what can he more self-evident than that equal justice should be meted to all alike. In accordance with this recommendation, the ordinance was repealed by the Provincial legislature. But the Attorney-General being of opinion that the Provincial legislature had exceeded their power) advised the Governor to disallow the Bill.

We eNill hold the same opinion which we did at that time, namely, that the Native Land Purchase Ordinance (the very title of which is practically a misnomer) is not a law affecting native lands within the meaning of No. 10, among the 13 prohibitions in the Constitution Act. For it is in effect though an ordinance imposing penalties on Europeans for occupation, of so stringent a nature that, as, was rightly observed by Mr. Donnelly to Governor Grey, in the old Legislative Council, on the second reading,—a traveller through the country was liable to a fine of a hundred pounds for pitching his tent, for a night, upon native land. Governor Grey admitted thaj such was the case, but pooh-poohed the argument by stating that it could not be supposed that the Government would abuse the power conferred. The Provincial Law Officer (of that time) wrote an opinion in favour of the legality of the repeal, which was, to us, unanswerable. The repeal act having been disallowed by the Government, the Provincial legislature adopted another mode of proceeding. They introduced an Act amending the. Ordinance, by repealing ihat.portiqn of it (the last paragraph of section 1.) which restricted the power of informing against; offenders to the Surveyor-General, or some other person duly authourized in that behalf by the Governor; and which, placing a special and most invidious power in the hands of the Government, used in former times to be perverted to electioneering purposes. ''The Amendment Act was not disallowed, and is: therefore law. All who contravene the old Ordinance are now placed upon an equal footing, all are exposed to the same danger. The General Government are no" longer able to show favour -tq for any;! person ' may now

infornx, No Garatte authorisation ia needed.. Native lands are occupied-by "Europeans," and have been ever since the passing of the Ordinance to a large extent —to so large an extent that the Government cannot risk harsh or unjust procedure against an individual occupant, lest he should retaliate by himself informing against all the rest, and throw the whole country into contusion. The ordinance, i;. fact, by what is apparently the increased stringency of its operation, becomes, in fact, almost inoperative. We consider that the Assembly ought to interfere, in regard to this Ordinance, either by way of further amendment, or of absolute repeal. In its present form, it is merely an incitation to break the law, giving an uufair advantage to those who are careless about law, over those who consider it their duty to keep the law, no matter whether it be judiciously or injudiciously framed. Not can there be any doubt, that from the firstj the Ordinance has been a heavy drag upon the advancement of the Colony. Notwithstanding the pretences put forward at the time, the real reason of its introduction was that the settlers should be forced to buy land at £1 per acre upset price, being hindered from occupying at a trifling rent paid to the native owners. •.We.are quite ready to admit that certain adin consequence of an event which was not foreseen by the framers of the Ordinance, may at the present time be derived from one of its provisions. Like those odds and ends, stored up by thrifty housewives, upon the remote chance of being sometime or other turned to account, a use has at last been found for it. It has become necessary to hinder individuals from renting diggings of the natives, at the Coromandel Gold Fields. For, as we have before observed, if once the Maori acquire the habit of deriving fixed incomes from the auriferous lands, they will be too wise to kill the goose that brings the golden eggs, and will refuse to sell the fee-simple, at any price which the colony could afford to offer. In our opinion, however, it would be best that the old obnoxious Ordinance should be entirely done awoy with, and that a new enactment, pro re riata, to meet their particular difficulty, should be passed by the General Assembly