THE NATIVES AND. TEE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

New Zealand Herald, Issue XXI, 15 May 1884, Page 5

THE NATIVES AND. TEE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.

MEMORIAL TO THE GOVERNOR. A deputation, consisting of the Hon. H. Chamberlin, Messra. J. Newman, C. O. Davis, T> B. Hill, and Alfred Cox (Seoretary of tho Blue Ribbon movement), waited, on His Kxoellency tho Governor yesterday morning, and presented to him the following ' memorial signed by the lending chiefs and a large ■ number of natives in the King Country:— [THA.NBLATIOM.3 Auckland, 1 -April 1, 1884.—To: Sir William P. D. "'Jervois, K.C.M.G., Q. 8.- 4tc.» , &c.,* Governor of New Zealand:. O, Father! Greeting. Mar yon prosper in your administration, and in- the ' charge 'of your numerous duties in relation to those Islinds. This is the ground of our pititioH to you now,-namely, our. having heard that the Parliament has made laws empowering you to prohibit any publican's license in native districts when the owner)! thereof solicit you to put forth your power. We discover this in the Licensing Act, section 25, which says "Tha Goyornor, on the application of the owners of anv , block or area of natlvo land, on which no publican's license has hitherto beon granted, may, by proclamation In the Gazette, declare that no license shall be granted within such olock or area, and it shall not be .lawful for the Licemlng Committee to isoue any license to take eff"Ct within any block or «roa so ! proclaimed." And now, O Father, the> Governor ! we irequest and petition you to use your power by grant--iug our prayer, and do not in »• y wise permit a publican's license to become ligal throughout our idistrict,. extending to all Its, boundaries. And |may .blessing and peace be thine for ever. [Hero follow the boundaries and tha signatures.] The Hon. Mr. Chambbelik introduced the deputation. In reply to His/Excellenoy, Mr. Davis said the boundaries of the distriofc would be those now being surveyed at Mr. Bryce's suggestion. : They hoped to get a alretoh from Mr; Peroy Smith, Assistant SurveyorGeneral. The Governor enquired who were the petitioners ? Mr. Davis said that Wahanui was the first; Rem had also signed. Mr. Davis, in reply to a further question, said that the Maoris signing were persons of consideration in the district. Te N gakau, who had beau left in charee by Tawhiao, Tutawhiao (IV whiao's son) had also signed, but the petition with their signatures had yet to come in. Mr. Newman said the deputation were irathor anticipating the ferce of their position, but they were- afraid, from what had been stated in the papers, that His Excellency would be going to Wellington in a day or two: All the leading chiels, in fact nearly all the. natives in that district, including of course the owners, had signod or were quite prepared to append their names to the memorial. ; His Excellency said the papers wero not, then, fully complete at present. Mr. Newman said they were not. His Excellency said it would be better to await any dealing with them until they were complete. Mr. Newman said they had been afraid His Excellency would leave Auokland in a few dayß. His Excellency said at present he had no intention of leaving until after the Queen's Birthday. Mr. Hill stated that he had written telling the nativeß to hasten with the copies of tho memorial still out. He might state that he and the other members of mission who' had gone to the King Country to obtain signatures, found the natives were unanimously in favour of the memorial. One native, on signing his name, said : " As soon as this law is passed if a pakeba (European) bringß drink, to my settlement I shall shoot him, and the authority of your law must not punish me." Of course the native would not ge to that extreme, but, it showed the feeling which existed. - The Hon. Mr. Chamberlin was glad to

gay that not only tho men, bat the women were signing the petition. He thought the country vai to be congratulated on the movement, and His Excellency also on the atep he had taken to bring the subjeot before the natives, and the interest lie had taken in their welfare. Ho should;, like to see the boundaries of the district in which liquor traffic was prohibited extended, and the localities adjoining the King Country included. This would be an additional safeguard to tho Maoris. ' Mr. Davis said the suggestion which Mr. Chamberlin had made had been thrown ont by the Maoris themselves. They said, Why limit the boundaries'as proposed,—why not extend them, so that this curse of the land Bhall not visit the Maoris or the adjacent places? Tho faot'of His Excellency having the power in his own hand to proclaim the district was the great stimulant for the Maoris to come forward and checrfully sign the document. They said, "If it rests on Parliament, so many questions would arise, Bome would say yen and others no, and probably this grand subject would not be taken into seriouß consideration, but as the matter rests exclusively with the Governor, we have confidence in him, and surely it will be oarricd out," and they willingly came in crowds and signed tho petition. The mission first visited Alexandra. There they found Wahanui, and discussed the subjeot with him fully for two days. He gathered his people around him, signed the petition first, and induced them to sign also. Mr. Davis then gavo a brief narrative of the progress of the mission through the King Country. He stated that they visited the Armed Constabulary camp, of which Captain Capel was in charge, and were assured that no drink was permitted to pass from the camp; no Maoris were allowed liquor at the canteen, and the Armed Constabulary themselves had to consume at the canteen what they obtained, and were not allowed to take any away. His iSxoELLENoy said that so far, then, there was prohibition of the consumption of drink, excepting such as was drunk on tho premises. Mr. Davis said there was perfeot order, and they had no fault to find with the state of things which existed there. They did not hear a dissentient voice during their journey through the King Country; but, if His Excellency was not satisfied, they could easily revisit Bome of the inland settlements, in order that he might be quite satisfied on tho subject; because the cause was a grave one, a great one, and a noble one. In reply to a question by the Governor, Mr. Hilt, said that the .Licensing Committee at Kawhia was Major Tuke, Mr. Duncan, and Hone te One, and that great power was given by the Act to tho native assessor. Those who signed the petition included natives who drank heavily when they could get liquor, and who desired that they Bhould not be subjected to tho temptation to take it.

His ExoßLt-ENor said he would just make one or two observations in reply to what had been said. In the first place, with regard to tho exaot portion of the Governor in the matter, although no doubt the' olause quoted (25) seemed to give the idea that the Governor personally dealt with the case, that was so in regard to the provisions in a great number of otbor Acts, but it waa not tbo fact that the Governor, personally, any more than tho Queen, would act personally herself in a similar case in England or Great Britain. It was not the oase that the Governor personally, individually, dealt with the matter. It was : generally—and he supposed it was in this Act, if not, probably it was not mentioned because it was always understood |to be tliß oase—that "tho Governor" meant ' Governor -in - Counoil. Therefore, they must not look upon it as personally his act Of course, a Governor had a right to his opinion, or it mightbein certain cases to exercise his opinion if ho Baw it desirable to do so—but tho faot was, as he had said, " the Governor" meant "Governor-in-Counoil." Of course, ho need not say that a petition so numerously and influentially signed, and so vory warmly advocated, deserved, to say the least, careful consideration, and when the memorial was complete and came forward he oould promise that it" would receive ' from : lumßclf and all 'concerned tho consideration wbioh it

deserved. They would, no doubt, regard the action -of the - Native - Minister, aoting on the part of the Government, as satisfactory so fair as it was rendered imperative that the drink in the place should be consumed on the premises, and that the Maoris were not allowed aocess to the canteen, and therefore they must all recognise that there was a disposition to do what was r jght and possible in this important matter. Tneyknew thero were considerations whioh he could not there' eater into, which had to<be borne in mind-in dealing with this as with, other questions, and thoy could not jump to a conclusion ; 'but'he would state that this numeronsly-signed petition wonld be considered mont thoroughly by all concerned. Mr. Newman said that he would like to add that ha had been assured by the gentleman who had clause 25 of the Licensing Act inserted, that it was his intention that, the word," Governorshould,mean the Governor personally., - i. .

His ExcEiiLENor promised that he would ■carefully consider what had been said on that point, and he could only repeat that the petition would receive the moat attentive consideration from himself, the Ministers, and >11 concerned, and he thought' when the memorial came forward in its entirety it would be the proper time to deal with the question. The deputation thanked Ilia Excellenoy for the patient and oourteous hearing, and .withdrew, _