A NEW POLITICAL FEATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1053, 30 March 1867, Page 5

A NEW POLITICAL FEATURE.

A new political feature, and a very satisfactory one, is to be found in tlie fact that the native chiefs of this province, are not only taking active measures to individualise tlicir title to land, but are eren taking part in the politicalmovements of the province. Yesterday we were shown a requisition addressed to Mr. John Williamson, signed by twenty-two of the principal chiefs of the Thames, Piako, Coromandel, and Mercury Baj' districts, calling upon that gentleman to offer himself as a candidate for the Superintendency. The translation of the requisition runs as follows:— lo ATu. WiLMAMsoii, member of the great Itunanga of Now Zealand: We, the undersigned inhabitants of the Provinco of Auckland, boing holders of land under under Crown grants, &c., having forwarded our voting pa-pers for registration, and being sensible of yonr high moral integrity and large experience in public uffairs, request that you will allow yourself to be nominated for tho office of Superintendent at the forthcoming election, March 28, 1867.

(Hero follow the signatures and tho places of residence of the saverul chiefs.) Tlie above requisition lias been forwarded to a gentleman in town, for presentation to Mr. Williamson, and is by no means tlie only one of the kind which Mr. Williamson is likely to receive. Similar requisitions are, it is said, being numerously signed by tlie native chiefs in tlie northern part of New Zealand, more especially in the Bay of Islands and Kaipara districts, and will, doubtless, be forwarded in due course.

It is, as we liavo said, a new feature in local politics to huve tlie Maori landholders and men of note taking active interest therein, but it is something more than this. It is an evidence of the dawn of a new and better day for the whole of the native race when their leading chiefs begin to appreciate their rights as fellow-citizens and equals with ourselves, and evince a desire to take a part in the election of those who, we trust, will, ere long, be the representatives, in common, of the two races living side by side, one amongst the other, and under the one law. These are not the only natives who, having obtained Crown grants for their lands, have qualified themselves as electors. Between forty and fifty native chiefs, we aro informed, have sent in their voting papers for registration, during the past three months ; the number is not a very large one, but like the grain of mustard seed, it is the beginning of great results and will grow into a large tree.