The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND Saturday Morning. Thursday, February 12, 1891. THE COMMISSION.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 569, 12 February 1891, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY, THURSDAY, AND Saturday Morning.

Thursday, February 12, 1891. THE COMMISSION.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou alxn’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

The Native Land Commission to make enquiries during the recess has now been formally appointed. Mr Thomas Mackay has been selected as the third Commissioner, and we suppose no time will be lost in setting to work. Mr Mackay’s name is not one that has been prominently before the public, as in the case of the other Commissioners, but from enquiry made we believe his appointment will give general satisfaction. He is credited with long experience of a kind that specially qualifies him for the work, and with an honesty of character that even party spleen is not likely to assail, This being the case, the Commission is not likely to be hampered by the new appointment, and their repoit ought to be a valuable production.

The duties of the Commission are—(l) to enquire into the state of the native land laws and their working ; and (2) to report upon the best means of amending the errors that exist, and of preventing the recurrence of similar errors for all time. It is believed that the labors of the Commission will extend for n period of from two to three months. It is proposed that they shall start in the Wairoa district, and then on to the East Coast. A good deal of their time will necessarily be taken up in the latter district, and the Commissioners then propose to proceed to Auckland, afterwards coming back to Tauranga, and then going through the King Country to Taranaki, Wanganui, Wellington, and Wairarapa. Of course this programme may be re-arranged, but it is the one originally sketched, and, so far as we are aware, a deviation from it has not been suggested. If the work is 'to be of an exhaustive nature, the Commissioners will be hard pressed to get their labors terminated in the time indicated.