THE ROYAL COMMISSION

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 30, 24 July 1880, Page 3

THE ROYAL COMMISSION

SECOND REPORT.

. "We make the following further extracts from the report : — Aspect of Affairs after the Rebellion. When the insurrection was suppressed, the country between Waitotara and Cape Egmont had been all but deserted by natives and settlers alike. In October, 1869, so far up as the outskirts of the settled districts at New Plymouth, the country was without a European inhabitant save about a hundred at Patea township, a few families that had gallantly remained at the Wairoa throughout the war under the shelter of our redoubts, and the outposts and blockhouses garrisoned by a handful of volunteers and a Ngatiporou contingent. A homestead only here and there •was being rebuilt. As to rebel nntive*, they had entirely disappeared. All their pas and cultivations had been utterly destroyed. There was not a nntive of the rebel tribes to be seen from Waitotara to Waingongoro. The House of Representatives voted £10,000 to assist the settlers in reoccupying their farms. But before the settlers would do so, they exacted from the Minister a promise that if they returned to .their homes, the Government would forbid the rebel natives coming back. No native fire was to be lighted again by a rebel in the Patea country. This policy was sternly carried out. News having, come in that small pai ties of Titokowaru's followers were creeping back to the north hank of Waingongoro, a reconnoitring party went out and shot two of the men and captured a woman ; at another place, some miles up the Waitotara river, another native was 'shot and a second woman taken. For a time this severity deterred the insurgents from renewing any attempt to reoccupy their country. In the meanwhile, the loyal natives to the north of Waingongoro had been encouraged to take employment on public works, and the Government had made a strong effort to open communication by the coast with the settled districts round New Plymouth. Contracts were made with Wi Kingi Matakatea and his people at Opunak<', with Hone Piliama and his people at Oeo, and with Manaia and his people at Kaupukunui, for the formation of the coast road, and this work went on without interruption. Early in 1870 the settlers began to return in some numbers to their former homes. They still desired that no native should be suffered to come back. Perhaps it waß not unnatural that the exasperation to which they had been driven should have tempted many to distort the promise of the Prime Minister from "rebel native" into " any native." But the promise could, of course, have no application to men hike Hone Pihama, " the best blood of Ngatiruamii tribe," to whom Mr. Richmond had given back many thousand acres of the Patea land, and who had not only "loyally helped us in the war of 1868, suffering jointly with the settlers in life and property, but had often abandoned their private property at the call of the Government." Still less could it apply to such men as Major Kemp and his warriors, who had fought with great bravery by our side. . Kemp had indeed claimed nearly all the territory between Waitotara and Wairoa rivers, and with difficulty had been induced to accept 400 acres, after a Royal Commission had failed to satisfy his first demands. The Government were placed in all the more difficulty by these conflicting claims, that there were not wanting signs of a growing uneasiness farther north. Titokowaru and his followers were moving to and fro in the Ngatiinaru and Waitara country with arms in their hands. At Te Whiti's half-yearly meeting in March, 1870, it became evident that until something should be done to settle down these Ngatiruanui wanderers, peace could not be relied upon. It was becoming very difficult to manage the disaffected chiefs, while the attitude of Titokowaru himself was a standing menace to the peace of the settled districts art New Plymouth. In May, the Taranaki Native Board, consisting of leading European settlers, whom Sir D. McLean had appointed to assist the Government with their advice, began to remonstrate with the Ministry, and to urge that some understanding should be come to with Titokowaru, as the peace of the province was being seriously endangered by his followers being left to wander among the Waitara tribes who barely tolerated their presence. At first the Government thought favorably

of the views urged by the Roard, so long as these should not go the length of practically abandoning the confiscation; but nothing was done. At the Parihaka meeting in September, where Titokowaru Wai present, an attempt was made to get some indication of the intentions of the Government with regard to his return, but it failed ; and the Taranaki Board renewed their remonstrances, on the ground that, while the intentions of the Ministry as to Titokowaru remained unknown, his movements from place to place in the neighborhood of the settled districts continued to cause every one great anxiety. Meanwhile the Government were pushing on the road works on the coast, and endeavoring to enlist the co-operation of Te Whiti. At last, at a meeting at Parihaka in December, 1870, Te Whiti and his followers suddenly made up thenminds that the road work should be carried on, and agreed to join in it theniselves. This question of opening the road between Warea and Umuroa had long been depending on the decision of Te Whiti ; and upon his now declaring in its favor, the improved relations between Te Whiti and the Government seemed to . offer a new chance to Titokowaru, who resolved on returning to his former settlements on Waimate Plains. The Civil Commissioner at once warned the Government of what was sure to happen, asking whether it would not now be wise to be prepared, especially in the defenceless state of the outpost at Opunake. Orders were immediately given to build a blockhouse at Opunake, to serve as a rallyingpoint in* case Titokowaru should carry but his des : gn in a hostile spirit ; but no decision whatever was announced as to whether his return to the plains should be encouraged or forbidden. Yet a decision was each clay becoming more necessaiy : for while the settlers around New Plymouth were pressing the Government in one way, the Patea settlers were as firmly urging their own claims in exactly the opposite direction. The Taranaki settlers were (naturally enough) anxious that Titokowaru and his troublesome followei*s, who turned up at unexpected times and places with arms in their hands, should be got out of the way. The Patea people were (quite as naturally) determined not again, if the}' could help it, to have these natives upon their hands. { Stringent orders prevailed in the Patea country about intercourse between any natives on the north and the south banks of the Waingongoro river : restrictions which pressed all the more hardly upon Hone Pihama and others who had remained loyal, because we had ourselves taken them to live at Oeo on the north and at Taipbrohenui on the south. The Native Board, taking advantage of the improved aspect of affairs after Te Whiti had promised his co-operation for the road works, once more brought to bear whatever influence they had to get the restrictions removed : and in March, 1871, passed another set of resolutions, complaining of the two conflicting policies that were being pursued upon the coast, which they said would lead to the renewal of hostilities. This rep ated advocacy of the same views could not fail at last to attract the serious attention of the Ministers. In a clear and decisive minute, the Hon. Mr. Gisborne declared his own opinion that, however necessary the action of the Government might have been at a previous time, both north and south of Waingongoro, the march of events had now rendered it absolutely indispensable to take a new departure if we were to secure peace. " The anomalous position of the natives," he said, "in respect of land, of ourselves, and of each other, the uncomfortable attitude of Titokowaru ; the paralysis of settlement on account of the unsettled land question ; the exceptional state of the district south ot Waingongoro, complicated by the future claims of Taurua's tribe now imprisoned in Otago ; all these are elements of discord which cannot with safety any longer be ignored, and must be peacefully settled without delay. The resolution of the J3oard, though it seems perhaps dogmatically worded, points to serious, and, if neglected, to imminent danger." Mr. Sewell joined in Mr. Gisborne's views. But the Prime Minister was of opinion that the circumstances of the two districts (New Plymouth and Patea) were very different : that there had been good reasons for inclosing the restrictions, in a district which had been swept of its European settlers, who could only be induced to return on the express assurance that natives would be excluded till the district was so re peopled as to make their return safe ; and that to adopt the suggestions of the Native Board would be to invite Titokowaru's return, and excite a feeling south of Waingongoro certain to lead to a renewal of the war. The Patea settlers continued to petition against any alteration in the policy ; and asked that steps be taken to stop the " mischief that was being done by people in New Plymouth," who were endeavoring by every means in their power to get the rebels reinstated, and holding out hopes to them of being allowed to return to their former homes. The Return of the Ngatiruanui Insurgents. While the mind of the Government was thus kept in suspense by contradictory ideas and conflicting counsels, the gradual return of the defeated tribes was tacitly allowed. By the end of March, 1871, Kokiri 'and a number of his people had already come back by stealth to Omuturangi; and other parties crept home one by one. Attempts were at first made to turn them back, with varying success ; and th< re being still a reward of £1,000 oben for the . capture of Titokowaru, parties of volunteers went out into the bush on the chance of taking him; a practice, however, which was soon ordered to be discontinued. In the following August, another party of Titokowaru's men came down to Kaupukunui, where they began to fell the bush : upon which the Native Office sagaciously observed, how " gratifying it was to find the ideas of Titokowaru's followers tending to peaceful avocations." In October, Hone Pihama brought the news of Titokowaru and all his followers having resolved on leaving the Ngatimaru country, and coming back to settle on the Waimate Plains. Early in November, when the Civil Commissioner gave warning that the position was getting to be more and more unsatisfactory, the Government became uneasy, and asked him to say what course he would advise. He replied that the natives would certainly return : and showed how much better it would be, if Government meant to let them do so, that an understanding should be come to with them to settle upon a defined block, whereas they

were now cultivating in scattered places all over the Plates, from which it would be very difficult to turn them off by any quiet process afterw rds. In the meanwhile Titokowaru hid called together a large meeting in the Ngatimam country to discuss the question of his return. His object was to prevail upon the Ngatiawa tritTe to go with him in a body, and take him back ; nor did he spare a bribe, in the shape of five large canoes which he had built for them. But they did not respond to his call : on the contrary, they opposed his leaving Ngatimaru without some underst.nding with the Government, whereupon he reproached them with their coldness, and refused to give them any promise that he would stay. Immediately upon this meeting break- j ing up, nearly all Titokowaru's younger men came away, leaving him with only a few old people behind ; and hastened down to Oeo, where their sudden appearance at Christmas 1871 caused much excitement. No sooner had they left the Ngatimaru country, than the Ngatiina'U chiefs, who had not come in since the Waitara war began in 1860, tendered their allegiance again, on the plea that as Titokowaru was about to leave their district, they were resolved if he renewed hostilities, to have nothing more to do with him. Nor was it alone the threat of his return which caused grave embarrassment to Ministers, about the country north of the Waingongoro. A new source of anxiety was arising also on the south, by the pressure which was brought upon the Ministry to let Taurua and the prisoners then in confinement at Dunedin return to the country about Patea. At a great meeting at Wanganui on the 30ih November, 1871, appeals were made by the chiefs on that river to Governor Sir George Bowen and Sir Donald McLean, to release these prisoners and restore them to their homes. Their release was promised, but the Native Minister would not let them out of his own control. " There must be," he told the natives, •' a clear understanding with regard to the land question, before the prisoners can return to the district which was so long the scene of strife. Your own good sense will tell you the necessity of having these outstanding questions settled, before they [the prisoners] can be allowed to move about as they think proper, and be in a position to create fresh disturbances. Therefore, they are first to come to Wellington." At the end of 1871, therefore, the Government were in a double difficulty : north of the Waingongoro the natives were swarming back to« their old homes, while in the Patea country on the south all the loyal tribes were clamoring for the prisoners' return to theirs. We ourselves believe that it was this grave embarrassment, and the extreme risk which would necessarily have attended any steps to prevent Titokowaru's return, which led Sir Donald McLean to conceive, at that crisis, the idea of not enforcing the confiscation beyond the Waingongoro. It is clear from what we' have said to your Excellency, that the Government had long been undecided in their course, but had tacitly allowed the dispossessed natives to return. And these had returned with singular astuteness. Instead of keeping close together in one place, they had spread themselves at once throughout their old. settlements. The Native Office did not know what to say. One of the under-secretaries called the attention of the Government to the fact, innocently adding that " ho did not know if there was any objection to it." The only answer he got was, that this " depended upon circumstances." Nevertheless it was almost immediately afterwards that the Native Minister seems to have made up his mind. Mr. Under- Secretary Cooper, in a minute, on the result of the Ngatimaru meeting, had already recorded the policy which was to be pursued. " The West Coast tribes," he said, " are coming in one by one ; and Titokowaru must, if the present system of treating him with ' a wise and salutary neglect ' be kept up, become so discouraged that he will give in before long." Sir Donald McLean approved this view. But in a later minute on the papers about Titokowaru's return, the real issue was expressed in striking terms : " With regard to the Ngaruahine (Titokowaru's hapu)," the Native Under-Secretary said, "I think it would be politically undesirable, and I fear practically impossible, to attempt to prevent their occupying the country north of Waingongoro, the confiscation of that county having been abandoned by the Government, so long as they behave themselves and keep the compact about not crossing Waingougoro." This minute was approved by Sir Donald McLean. Nor must it be supposed that the statement so approved was an accident, or a mere slip of the pen. The words, " confiscation of the country having been abandoned by the Government," were interlined in the Secretary's minute, and could not have escaped the Minister's attention. Taken together with all the events we have endeavored to describe to your Excellency, we believe the words indicate with clearness what was passing in the mind of Sir Donald McLean at the close of the year 1871. He would not abandon the confiscation : but neither would he enforce it. He would institute a new system, under which the Ngatiruanui tribes should be induced to relinquish their claims on both sides of the river, receiving ample compensation out of the vote which Parliament had placed at his disposal for the acquisition of native title in the North Island. Within a week he had left Wellington, and was busy preparing, at Wanganui, the Instructions of 1872. * * * * .* | (Continued on Fourth Page.)

The Instructions op 1872.. v The instructions of 1872 may oe summed up iti a few words. South of Waingongoro the lands awarded to the native tribes wereto.be defined and surveyed, and such' of them as the owners were willing to sell were to be bought for the Government. North of Waingongoro the land along the whole coast as far. as Stoney river, 41 although nominally conficated," was declared (except Opnnake township) to be " unavailable for settlement until arrangements should be made with the natives for land sufficient for their own requirements": and the native " owners " were to be " compensated for all lands they might relinquish ", at rates not exceeding ss. per acre. These instructions, after being corrected with gnat care by Sir Donald McLean himself, were sent round to members of the cabinet for their approval. A legal difficulty, however, soon arose in carrying them out. Parliament had authorised £200,000 •out of the first Public Works Loan to be applied to the purchase of native land in the North Island. Was the •confiscated territoiy " native land " "within the meaning of the Public Works Act, and could any of the .£200,000 be used for buying it ? The question was raised upon a proposal of the Provincial Government of Wellington to lease from the native owners, for 21 years, all the land (17,280 acres) comprised in the compensation awards between Waingongoro and Waitotara. The Prime Minister asked the law officers whether these lands came within the meaning of the Public Works Act. The AttorneyGeneral advised that confiscated lands which had been abandoned under the New Zealand Settlements Acts, reverted on their abandonment to their original condition of native lands, and came under the Public Works Act : but that over land which had been awarded by the Compensation Court the native title no longer existed. There was nothing there to buy, out of the vote. The negotiation for the lease to the Provincial Government therefore fell through ; but a number of the awards were purchased all the same for the General Government. Now the Attorney-General's opinion had shown clearly, what was the fact, that no part of the confiscated territory which had not been abandoned •was " native land " to which the appropriations could be applied ; nevertheless as there was no other money for the purchase of the awards, the application of the vote was made, and all the purchases made south of Waingongoro were charged accordingly. Simultaneously, transactions began north of the Waingongoro, under the instructions. The first was the Kopua block of 25,000 acres, on the right bank of the Waitara, offered for sale by the Ngatimaru tribe ; a branch of the Ngatiruanui which had migrated to Waitara and the Thames, and set up for itself. Early in March, 1872, the offer of this Kopua block was openly made in the presence of a number of natives of the Ngatiawa, Taranaki, and Ngatiruanui people. Mr. Gisborne telegraphed the offer to Sir D. McLean, with the intimation that he was "strongly in favor of making the purchase if it could be done without endangering peace ;" and Sir D. McLean thereupon directed Mr. Parris to proceed. Care was to be taken about the tribal boundaries of the Ngatimaru, Ngatiawa, Taranaki, and Ngatiruanui people ; but if the essential preliminaries were complied with, no delay was to take place in acquiring the land. Upon the Provincial Council of Taranaki pressing for the acquisition, Mr. Gisborne telegraphed again to the Native Minister as follows : " The Taranaki people complain that the land offered by Ngatimaru (20,000 acres) is not bought. The Ngatiruanui are also dissatisfied that their offer is not accepted, and will probably withdraw it. Will you telegraph to Mr. Parris to buyp" Soon afterwards, Mr. Parris was able to report that the purchase was practically completed. He then raised the question of the form which the deed of cession of the land to the Crown, under the Public Works Act, should take ; but, on being instructed that no special form had been prepared, a deed of cession in the ordinary form was signed and duly registered. In a short time, another and larger block was offered for sale ; on which Mr. Ormond directed Mr. Parris to be told that the Government had recognised the importance of the purchase of Kopua as indicating not only friendly feelings on the part of natives who had long been estranged, but the prospect of opening additional fields for settlement ; and he was desired to go on with his negotiations for the larger block. In the meantime, To Whiti had taken a curious step. Early in February (1872), Mohi Tawhai 'wrote to the Government that " a messenger had come to him from Te Whiti, asking the Ngapuhi to come and make peace between himself and the Government ;" and that he had answered consenting to go, provided the Government joined in the invitation. 11 If you (Te Whiti) and the Government," ho said, "together invite me to be a mediator, I will stand between j you ; but not if only one of you ask me." The Government decided not j to let the Ngapuhi interfere : a letter was written to Mohi Tawhai approving his reply to Te Whiti ; and there the matter ended.

But meanwhile news was flying up the coast that the land was to be

restored. Titokowaru, with the last remant of those who had fled to Ngatiraaru, hastened their return to their old settlements. Large numbers of natives poured in from other places .- in one- month a hundred came up from Wellington alone. At the Parihaka half-yearly meeting, Wi Parata told the natives that hf> had brought the question of the confiscation before the House without avail, so that he would not give rise to any false expectations, but advised them to come to some settlement with the Government. Several meetings took place, one at Omuturangi, and another con-

vened at Opunake by Wi Tako, Wi Para and Hemi Parai, with the object of inducing the Government to give back the township there of 1400 acres as well as the rest of the confiscated territory. On the meeting of Parliament in July, Wi Parata presented a petition from the natives, praying for the restoration of their lands ; and moved in his place that "in the opinion of this House it is desirable that the confiscated lands should be returned to the native owners thereof." In the debate that ensued, Sir D. McLean said the Assembly had already declared that the confiscated land could not be restored, and the Government would not retrace its steps by restoring it now. It happened that immediately after this, a party debate took place on the policy of the Government. Wi Parata assured the House that if part of the land were returned to the Parihaka natives, roads could be made through any part of the country without opposition. Sir Donald McLean said — "The Government has already gone so far that in the district between Waingongoro and New Plymouth, arrangements are being made to secure to the natives all lands required for their own use : for those lands the natives will receive titles, and for the remainder compensation will be given to them." Sir Edward Stafford said — " There is a large portion of the confiscated lands now in the position of Mahomet's coflin, and I do not see that we could do better, in order to promote the peace of the country, than to largely divide what remains of those lands among the natives who after fair investigation may be found to have an interest in them. Of course I would make necessary reserves for railways and villages, and where rivers flow into the sea I would make reserves for seaport purposes. I should then institute a process by which it should be ascertained who were fairly entitled to reap some benefit from those portions of the confiscated lands at present unalienated. When the Government has done that, it will have done the best thing it has ever done. It will have got rid of one of the greatest sources of difficulty. I do not suggest that this should be done in answer to any demand of the natives, but as an act of grace and an act of policy." This was on the sth September, 1872. The division went against the Fox Ministry, and Sir E. Stafford came into office. On the 13th September, in the Legislative Council, Mr. Sewell, in answer to a question as to what the new Government meant to do about the restoration of the confiscated lands, replied that though he could not then state the particular measures the Government would adopt, the intention of the Ministry was to give effect to the general views of policy expressed by the Prime Minister. Wi Parata had already told his f riends on the coast that " it was quite decided all the land from Waingongoro up to Taranaki was to be restored ;" and the Government had gone so far as to announce that the sale of land at Patea, which had been in preparation for some time, was to be cancelled. Nevertheless, in answer to a distinct question of whether it was the intention of the Government to abandon the confiscated land, Sir E. Stafford said that the Government did not mean to abandon it at all, but to use it for the objects he had indicated. And on being further pressed for a more specific answer, he said it would not be for the public interest openly to declare at the [then] present time the definite conclusion to which the Government would come. But in the meantime the Select Committee on Native Affairs to whom the petitions presented by Wi Parata had been referred, advised the restoration ; and the House passed a resolution that "in the opinion of this House, it is desirable and expedient that the recommendation of the Native Affairs Committee should be acted on by the Government." But they desired that this should only be done by assigning land under Crown grants irrespective of the original native ownership ; and deprecated the indiscriminate giving back of unappropriated lands to the original native owners : which it was obviously right for them to do, because the restoration of the land to the original hapus would have had the effect of preventing those hapus who had had their land taken for military settlement, from getting anything. But the very fact of this exception showed the intention of the House to be, generally, the restoration of the confiscated land : and Sir E. Stafford accepted the resolution as an " expression of opinion on the part of the House affirming the intention which the Government had repeatedly expressed."