THE MAORI AND HIS LAND

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 85, 8 October 1915, Page 6

THE MAORI AND HIS LAND

Legislation on the Native land question in the dying hours of a session is in strict accordance with the time-honoured practice against which- the present Native Minister was accustomed to protest most vigorously in the days of his unofficial freedom. The Native Land Bill which he submitted to the House of Representatives on Tuesday Is not the first illustration that 'he has given of the inevitable gap between the ■virtuous ideals that a politician proclaims in Opposition and the practice with which he has to content himself in office. On the present occasion, however, Mr. Herries is entitled to plead that his lapse is " just a small one." There is not very muoh in his measure, which Mr. Ngata properly described as a " Wash-ing-up Bill," designed merely to meet the needs of tho moment. It was also conceded by Mr Nga-ta that the present session is not a suitable time for bringing down any important measure of Native land reform. We are not sure that in making this admission Mr Ngata does not concede too much. Though the Native land question bristles with difficulties, the intrusion of the party feeling which complicates so many other issues is not one of them. Why should not a subject which can be discussed on non-party lines be treated aa freely, despite the war, as Local Bills, for instance?" Mr. Ngata referred to assistance in the farming of their lands as the greatest need of the Maoris. If the Native Minister has any policy with regard to this matter, there is not the slightest reason why it should not have been introduced during the present session. We trust that the Minister will take Mr. Ngata's hint and put his ideas on the subject into legislative shape for the consideration of Parliament next session. "OPardon me for making the suggestion to the Minister," said Mr. Ngata, "but there is too much head in his legislation and not enough heart. " We should have preferred to put it that there is too much Pakeha in the Minister's Native land legislation and not enough Maori. A freeholder at heart, he was as an Opposition freelance one of the stalwarts of that Pakeha party to which he referred during the debate as anxious to get the Native lands settled. The converse of the contrast which we mentioned at the beginning of this article fortunately applies here. Mr. Herries's official bite is less dangerous than his Opposition bark. Ho has not declared all Maori landowners to be Europeans, and he protested with genuine f eeling against the idea that he desired to rob them of their land. But as a Maori himself Mr. Ngata was able to speak with a, more thorough-going sympathy and knowledge. His eloquent appeal made a deep impression upon the House, and it did not exhaust itself in a mere appeal to sentiment. The proposal to v which we have referred is thoroughly sound and practicable. If those who would like to see every acre of Native "land thrown into the market must be condemned as robbers, there is almost equal unreason in the "idea that we have i exhausted our duty to the Maori by securing to him in perpetuity the ownership of a sufficient area of land to enable him to eke out an idle existence from the rents. Mr. Ngata's suggestion indicates a more excellent way than either of these, and one to which the extremists of both kinds should be able to give a "without prejudice" support. Not every Maori can achieve the remarkable sue-" cess in farming which has been attained by the Maoris between Gisborne and the East Cape, but it is surely incumbent upon us to see that the failure is not due to the lack of whatever teaching and other facilities the State can reasonably provide. Mr. Herries referred on Tuesday to the wrecks of policies which strew the course of Native administration, but here is a policy -which will defy every storm if he will institute the necessary co-operation of hand »od hsar*, in He iKoduoUoat