PROHIBITION AND THE KING COUNTRY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 10627, 4 June 1897, Page 4

PROHIBITION AND THE KING COUNTRY.

Siß|— At this jtmotnre, when an unaorn- ' paloas Anokland llqnor ildr, emboldened by the etlmlnal apathy of the authorities, it itrainlog every nerve to force its deadly . taaffio upon the unwlllloß bat helpless natives oi the King Country, It may not ha amiss to briefly ran over the facts which have led np to the present oriels. When, early In the eighties, the native* flf the north first oonseatcd to aeoept the proffers of friendship extended to them by the British coloolate, tbey demanded as a condition precedent that no " firewater ■' . ehould ba allowed within their country. To secure this a petition MgDed by 1400 leading men was cent to Wellington lv charge of tho chief Wahaoni, praying the . Government to mike It iitcß.il for ctnj liquor to ba sent into the Kohl Potae, at they oalled their Immense tract of country Toe petition was granted, ant j o until 1894, when the district was visited by Mr Carroll and Mr Seddon. Having ■sen tha prohibitory law broken by men whom they regarded as great "rangatlras," the Maoris, nitnrally enough, have ever tinea felt jnetlfhd in regarding it at lepealed. So It is not to ba wondered at that at » inbseqaent sitting of the Native Land Coart drluk was Bold openly In five places in Otorohanga. The local con> ' itable, an active and earnest man, secured lix oonvlottons within three months, and bis predeceeaor foar, bat deolared it waa almost a hopeless taßk owing to departmental red tape, Aa to the demoralisation produced by

condition of things, the main [acts MB unfit for publication, but an idea may be formed by declarations never explained madn by tho Rev. W Glttos, Superintendent of MUoii Mlbkloub, at [mbllc meeting] at Otorohanga and Te Knlti, that there were very few girls of 15 or upwards to be found in the district who had not b»en robbed of their innocence, or married women who had eßOaped nnBpeokiblo dmudiUiou, nntl this ho attributed so'tly to e'rong drink. Tho erpat chief, Rowl, on his deathbed, In 1884, telegraphed to Lord (itacgow, who had just arrived in tho oMony :— "Oh Governor, welcome to New Zealand ! Long may you live! Tuia 1b my fiiso request, thai) yon prevent strong drink Jrelug allowed to coma within tha Rohi Pofcao. This, my first reijueab, will be my Inpt." Our late Go v ernor called the Native Minister to hJm and said, " Surely in the faca of this plea from that old wnrrlnr you will never grant n license for a pnbllo honae in that district?" Id neemß Incrndib'c, bub Is nevnrtheless trne, that lv faca nf tlita pithotlo appeal by tho dying ohluf, anti in Bpllo of the expressed wishen of the natives themselves, a brewlug combination is doing Its utmost to force two licenses upon tbe district, assured of no opp'nition from Mr Seddon, though he has pnblloly elated his heart "bleeds for" the Maoris degiaded by strong drlok. It has been arranged In a nnraber of churches throughout the oolony that next Snndny public protests shall be made against this latest example of police Inefficiency and Governmental complicity in crime, and It is earnestly hoped that tbe eftortß of those who are striving to save the unfortunate Maori from farther degradation will be eeoonded by the Press of the whole oolony,— l am, &a, Daybreak, Napier, Jane 3rd, 1897.