MAORI & HIS LAND

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 83, 6 October 1915, Page 3

MAORI & HIS LAND

MISSIONARIES INDICTED NATIVE MEMBERS' DEFENCE PROBLEM OF SETTLEMENT. With, mnch emphasis last night, Mr. Payne, in speaking of Maori land matters, the discussion on which arose when the Hon. W H. Herries moved to commit the Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment Bill, denounced the hypocrisy of the present generation in view of what had gone on in the past in various transactions. The missionaries, for instance, had come with the Bible in one hand and the rum bottle in the other. Mr. E. Newman (heatedly) : What about Bishop Williams? Mr. Payne : "What did Bishop Williams do, but do a lot of land-grabbing in this country. What I say is God's truth, and it. can be proved." Mr. Payne added that it was time we threw off our hypocrisy. He suggested that the only remedy was to put a Labour Government on the Treasury Benches, and the people then would have an opportunity of realising what 'justice meant. "BIBLE IN ONE HAND " Mr. li. M. Isitt wanrtfy denounced th* last speaker as a "political Pharisee." "It is one of the most disgraceful speeches I have ever heard in my life," said the speaker. Not only the Church of England, but all New Zealand had cause to be proud of the work of Bishop Williams. Bishop Williams was a man who lived and died a poor man, and at, far as he (Mr. Isitt) knew, never owned an acre of j Native land. And then, in his old age, when most men would have looked forward to peace and quietness, he had taken up a Bishopric in Persia. A voice: It was Bishop Stewart who went to Persia. (Laughter.) Mr Isitt: "Well, perhaps, I have made a mistake." At any rate the member for Grey Lynn had told them that the Bishop went to these Natives with the Bible in one hand and a rum bottle in the other Mr. Payne : That is the usual course ! Mr. Isitt : "There is scarcely one of these men— as for instance Whiteley, of New Plymouth— who does not seek to save the Maori from the degrading influence of strong drink.' "It was a matter to be deplored that any member who had any sense of the responsibility of his position should make such a statement. Not only was it a speech that was scandalous, but a speech that would do much harm to the cause that the member sought to esponse. The statement that a- Labour Government would mean the remedy of the evils of which the member for Grey Lynn had complained was absurd, and there was not a member in the House who did not know that it was only an empty boast. He appealed for fair treatment for the Maoris by the National Government. MB. NGATA'S ELOQUENT TRIBUTE. Mr. A. T. Ngata, speaking easily and eloquently, denied the allegations made against the Williams family. "I understand that the burden of his remarks is an attack upon the land-owning missionaries of this Dominion, with special reference to Bishop Williams," said Mr. Ngata, referring to Mr. Payne's remarks. He _ went on to state that he wished to disabuse the minds of members of the idea that the Williams family had obtained large areas of Native land in his (Mr. Ngata's) district of Waiapu, and he wanted to place on record the fact that not a single acre of freehold land had been bought by them direct from the Natives there. Mr. Payne : That is not the whole of the Hawkes Bay district. Mr. Ngata: "I am speaking about a district I know something about — my own_ district." He then explained in detail the negotiations of different members of the Williams family in Native lands. Let it be understood (Mr. Ngata added) that in acquiring these lands and occupying them the Williams family did nqc injure a single Native in the district he represented. No family in the country had done so much for the Native race in the Waiapu county as the 'Williams family, and the assistance they had rendered to the Maoris had been .far more than any business man would have given. In many cases the security was very slender. In one year Mr. T. S. Williams had lent to the Natives in the Waiapu county as much as £30,000, and £15,000 of this amount was lent on the word of a chief. That was either foolishness or the height of •.philanthropy, and he (the speaker) believed it was the height of philanthropy Mr. Williams realised that his Creator had made him a farmer instead of a missionary, and he carried on his work of assisting the Maoris as a farmer instead of a missionary. Ho (Mr.Ngata) could bear testimony — and no one was better able to do it than he — that but for the assistance Mr. Williams gave to his people they would not have been in the splendid position they were in to-day. NATIVE AND PAKEHA. With regard to the general Native question, added Mr. Ngata, one realised that much could be done to improve the legislation, and that the Native Minister, in bringing down his " Waehing-up " Bill, only intended to meet the needs of the moment. He recognised that in any other session the Minister would have brought down a Bill dealing with the greatest need of the Maoris— giving them assistance in farming their lands. Such legislation had been promised by many Ministers. " Pardon me for making the suggestion to the Minister," said Mr. Ngata, " but there is too much head in his_ legislation and not enough heart." Sufficient had been done to solve the Native land question from tne standpoint of the European settler, but not from the standpoint of the Maoris. The returns laid on the table year by year showed that ' there was a gradual narrowing down of the land available for the- Natives. There was only one district where this problem of putting the Maori on his own land had been solved, and that was in the district of Waiapu, between Gisborne and the East Cape. He urged the Minister to deal with the subject increasingly from the standpoint of the Maoris. At the same time, he recognised it was a most difficult reform to put upon the land Natives who half a century back were in practically a nomadic state. The Maori had a brain nearly as well equipped a» the European brain, but what he lacked was the harnessing of a capable hand to a most capable brain. Between now and next session, if the Minister wanted to immortalise himself as a sympathetic Minister, he required to think out some scheme by which he could place the Maori upon his land and assist him. THE MINISTER REPLIES The Hon. W. H. Herries, in replying, said that the last speaker had said the Maori must not be considered the equal of the white man; but he declared that the representatives in the House were quite the equal, and perhaps the superior, of the pakehas. A member : They are the exception. Mr. Herries : We also pride ourselves in this House of being the exception to the ordinary intelligent individual. (Laughter.) He proceeded that tho office of Native Minister was one of the most difficult to Silt TJw. fiftfcbjK&Kftf. &hjLjQt!lcs.

in Native affairs was strewn with wrecks of policies, and a Minister had to carve one out for himself. 4. Native Minister was also torn two ways^ — there was the pakeha party, who were anxious to get th© Native lands settled ; and there was the Prime Minister, who was saying,' "Keep an eye on the next election!" (Laughter.) "Yes," said Mr. Herries, laughing also, " this is no Cabinet, secret; it is general in all Cabinets."! (Laughter.) They would not be a Gk>v-' eminent if they did not keep an eye on the next election. (Laughter.) " And often you have a natural affection for a' great and noble Tace." (Hear, hear.) The Native Minister was a man of power, and, unfortunately, got no assistance from his colleagues, because Native matters were a sealed book to most people^ — except those engaged in Native land transactions. The Native Minister must see he did not get into an entanglement in land transactions. He was, as a result, suspicious of the least suggestion, in case he should be unsuspectingly led off the straight path. "I am suspicious of Mr. Ngata," tsaid the Minister, "because we represent different political parties." (Laughter.) The Native question had been made the sport of party. Mr. Herries contended that he made himself responsible for the 40,000 Natives under his oharge, and it had often cut him to the heart to hear , Native members pitching into him as if he wanted to rob the Maoris. He had always endeavoured to keep in view the welfare of the Natives. The Bill was committed and slightly amended, reported to the House, read a third time and passed.