THE TARANAKI CONFISCATED LANDS.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10711, 8 October 1928, Page 3

THE TARANAKI CONFISCATED LANDS.

(To The Editor)

Sir,—At last, aftter Weary waiting the finding of the Royal Commission on the Taranaki confiscated lands has been laid before Parliament, and the result of this investigation made public. The decision of tile Commission certainly did not come a surprise to me, nor could it have done so to the- present Government and when the- Commission wholeheartedly condemned the Taranaki War as unjust, Unholy and not Warranting the confiscation, it only confirmed the taihoa attitude of former Governments, vide the many promises which were proved to have been made l to the Natives, evidence for which was given before the west Coast Commission which eat in ISBO, and which still remains unfulfilled. The recommendation of .the Iloyal Commission Seems to me, after their decided veidiqt, in which they point out the utter wrongfulnesy of the confiscation, to amount to a Three, when one takes into consideration the vast extent of the richest and most fertile lands of the Taranaki district’, unlawfully • taken a-S they affirm, which thereby deprived the owners! of their only means of sustenance for half a century. As we have been found to have been In the wrong in the past it behoves us to do our utmost to right that wrong and, before coming to a final decision, place ourselves ■ (in fancy) in a similar position to that in which we placed onr dark-skinned brothers, and consider what compensation we would expect it, like them, we had been wrongfully deprived of thousands of acres of ancestral lands which had been handed down from generation to generation together with their sacred associations—our very birthright. I may be speakng strongly not only on behalf Of some of the owners who have suffered—my clients—but also my own sense of justice, but I cannot but feel that the small amount of compensation . recommended by the Commission (about £1 per capita) is absolutely inadequate to meet in justice or common sense the requirements. of the case and I feel that •■very level-minded man, on carefully viewing the position,- will agree with me.

The Hon. Sir Apdrana Ngata applauded the spirit which promoted the present Government to appoint a Commission to inquire into tins long-standing injustice and we can only hope that the spirit.of fair play ’'•ill result in a final adjustment satisfactory to all.—l am, yours, etc., JOSEPH E." DALTON.