NATIVE LANDS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 11 February 1927, Page 3

NATIVE LANDS.

MAORI GRIEVANCES

COMMISSION OI! INVESTIGATION. EVIDENCE AT WAITARA. A special commission consisting -of the Hon. Sir William Sim (chairman.), the Hon ,V .H. Heed. M.L.G., and Mr. William Cooper (Gisborne) -sat lat \Vaitara yesterday, and opened -an investigation into Maori grievances, arising out of the confiscation of native lands in the North Island .after the war of 67 years ago. In Taranaki 13 petitions will be heard. The proceedings yesterday were confined to an unfinished review of the case for the petitioners by Mr. D. S. Smith (Wellington). The hearing in Waitara will probably last for a fortnight. ,It is expected that the reply on he had of the Grown, for which Mr. J. O. H. Taylor, with him Mr. P. P. Dykes, are appearing, will commence on Saturday. Mr. Smith spoke upon the provisions of the Treaty of Waifcangi. He said the treaty rights had not been honoured in the purchase of Waitara, Waitara was historic ground. Nearby was the Peka Reka block, upon which Wiremu Kiingi took his stand. There, were many other places .about noted for tamous battles. It was in Waitara that the war between pakeba. and Maori heman , and it was in "Waitara that it was hoped to hea.l the sores. The natives regarded the war as a. war of aggros, s ion One long-standing grievance was that "Waitara " had been taken from them. This complaint was the basis of the great Te Whdti movement that had survived until to-day. It. was the basis of the Ratana movement, .and it had had its effects in Taranaki and the Waikato districts during the Great War. Enlisting had been found to hag owinv to the- warriors in both districts holding back because Waitara had not been returned to. them. Mr. Smith submitted that the. confiscation of the land from the "White Cliffs to "Waitotara was unjustified, because the war was the fault of the European? It wa® recognised .as oj principle that confiscations were unjust where, the eonfiseators were at fault. What were the instructions to Governor Hobson when he negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with the .confederation of chiefs? The Marquis of No-rmanby had written in 1839 that the acquisition of land would be most inadequate compensation for the injury that would, be inflicted on an inoffensive people, whose title to the soil mid sovereignty to New Zealand was indisputable, .and whoso sovereignty land independence were recognised . Gnder the treaty, continued Mr. Smith, quoting from .a document, the Maoris considered the shadow of the land was to> go to Queen Victoria, and that the substance war. to. be retained by the natives. The treaty was signed at Waitangi on February 6, 1810. After the establish in net of the colonial ministry in 1852, the treaty obligations. went unfulfilled. Mr. Smith cited a large .number of repor ts of proceedings. in the courts of New Zealand, and in the Privy Council .since 1878 to show that the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi were considered binding on the Europeans. All that needed to be proved for the purposes of the petitioners was that the provisions of the treaty were still binding. If the Crown desired to put roads Through, the land, or sail boats' up the rivers, the natives could .say : “No, we don’t want them,” The Crown was in honour bound to- observe the treaty provisions. Referring to the Waitara. purchase, which he> described as. the Serajevo of the Maori Wars, Air. Smith quoted Air P'enber Reeves’s 1 history : “The Long White Cloud.” Three thousand .settlers, .said the book, were restricted to 63,000 .acres of land ,<and they fretted at the sight of 1750 Maoris holding 2,000,000 acres .against them. So high did the feeling run that Bishop Selwyn as a friend of the. natives, was, in 1885, hooted in the streets of New Plymouth. A challenge to. the fairness of the purchase of land on the part of the Government of that time, was made by counsel. The Crown bought lland for 6d an acre, .and retailed it almost immediately for 10s an acre. The Government's attitude towards the natives during that period, and its native land purclia.se policy, were a disgrace. Owing to. ion unwise combination of offices, Government Gore Blown, acted in the purchase of Waihariai as purchaser, judge and officer in sup re me command of tlie executive Who controlled the troops. There was no doubt that the colonists wanted land, and Air. Smith said he proposed to. charge the. colonists of that time with unnecessary infringements. of the treaty rights of Waitangi. Waitara, with its complicated system of ownership was the worst place the Government could have chosen for its demonstration of authority. The Government- was determined to change deliberately the basis upon ■which the British sovereignty of the country was "acquired. The result of the Waitara purchase Wa® the outbreak of the Taranaki War, which lasted from March 17. 1860, to Alarch 17, 1861. In his final report upon resnonsibilitv for Maori WVur, written in 1884. all Sir William Fox was able to say was that “it would iseem” the Government had absolved itself of responsibility by offering .arbitration on the mere question of To. Teir-a’.s title. The proceedings then terminated for the day.