THE MAORI PETITION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 23 March 1908, Page 2

THE MAORI PETITION.

In th, course of some rema.ks «m cerning the petition which has been presented to the Governor by the Maoris, or a certain section of them, he ''Post/' considers that it is lacking even in the fine rhetoric which „ an aW invariable charactenst.ee of sue" documents. That the Maori ha. manv legitimate causes of complaint against the white race is-beyond.ques-tion but it is equally certain that no reniedy can be attained along the lines nrooosed by the petition, that we, P Maori people," Vve been deprived of the rights and privileges enjoyed by Europeans resident in Wand, and have thereby suffered great loss; that the pre-emptive right which was conceded to the Crown by the ll « at J/ ) Waitangi, was "absolutely abrogated (or surrendered) by Governor ritzroy. i„d was subsequently father abrogated by the many laws of the J™"* ment " and therefore it would be uii"us" to revive H; and that not only the confiscatory Acts following on the wars' in the Waikato and elsewhere, but practically all existing land legislation, aV well as the Thermal Springs Ad of 1881, and the Mining Acts should be repealed— such is the te.vt of the petition.