NATIVE AFFAIRS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8531, 3 April 1891, Page 5

NATIVE AFFAIRS.

POLICY 0"F THE GOVERNMENT. IMPORTANT PROPOSALS, (BY TI'Xf.GItAIPH. —OWN COXiHESPONDENT.] Wellington* Thursday. The position of the Native Affairs Depart-, ment in regard to the retrenchment and reorganisation of the public, service proposed by the Government, awakens considerable interest among political people. Unless I am grossly misinformed, the administration of native affairs and of the law in respect of them is likely to undergo considerable alteration. Any alteration is likely to be an improvement. The Native Department has been regarded for some years past as being in process of abolition," but the phrase is misleading, because so long as there are Maoris and native lands certificate of titles according to Maori custom and usage, there will be a native department. According to what I hear retrenchment and reorganisation in this direction is likely to improve "native affairs" into something manageable and deliver them from extravagance. _ In my last two messages I was in a position to inform you of two important facts which I have been since enabled to verify; (1) that a Bill would be introduced next session to give power to take over native land and lease it for the benefit of native owners ; (2) That a reorganisation of _ the Native Land Courts would probably arise out of the conference between the Native Minister and the Chief Judge in Auckland. If the reforms which I believe are in contemplation should be carried out they will provide an occasion for the retirement of several officers, and tend so far in the direction of economy. It is worthy of note that . the present Premier wa3 Native Minister in Sir Robert Stout's Government, that he was in 1885-6 the author of very important legislation in respect) of the natives and their lands, and that he was one of the best informed in the colony as to the actual condition of the native race. I cannot pledge this authority for what I am now about to write, but if my informants _ do not greatly deceive me, his intentions are known and his mind is fixed upon a thorough reform of the Native Lands Court. It has "Seen a subject of complaint for many years that the crowd of native interpreters, agents, lawyers, experts, surveyors, and pakeha Maoris who have lived upon the natives, did so almost without check or inquiry as to their competency for the functions they professed to discharge, or as to the integrity of their dealings. The occasions which have been too often afforded for dishonesty are known and admitted by both natives and Europeans. In either case the loss has fallen on both, but with particular severity upon the native. It is equally well known that some of the officers of the Native Department are and have always been true friends to the Maori, but some of them cleave to a condition of things which has come to be an anachronism The natives are no longer to bo considered as in statu pitpillari. Where they are not purposely deceived their intellect is as mature as that of Europeans. The idea is to make the proceedings of the Native Lands Court so simple as to be intelligible, to localise the Courts so as to avoid the harassing expense to the suitors of both races as well as the expense of the Department which falls upon the taxpayer. There is at this moment a case _ which illustrates with special emphasis the cost of the Native Lands Co.urt to the colony. I believe the public expense, consequent upon the sitting of the Court in the rehearing of the Ngarara Wakanae Block, will nob bo much less than £3000. The questions which will arise in the Conference between the Chief Judge and the Native Minister will be whether a less expensive legal machinery can be provided. I have already told you in reference to this case that the costs to the litigants must be enormous. A test case would probably ascertain the rights of all parties without impoverishing whole tribes of natives. The materials for a decision in most cases are abundant, and could be had cheap if they were mot intercepted by the crowds of interested persons who gather round the Maori claims to an interest in a block of land. Everyone of theso people have to be paid, and they are interested in prolonging the litigation at the expense of the Government of the day. How the legal proceedings are to be circumsoribed, how principles of law can be co-ordinated with Maori customs and . usage, how the authority of the Court may ' be enlarged so as to limit the array of i witnesses which are now carried from place to place at the public expense these will be questions for the Judge, » What shall be the qualifications of an interpreter, a native agent, an expert; what 1 limitation may be applied to his acts .as affecting the merits of a case—these would be questions no doubt for the Native Minister. I believe I. have authority to 1 state with confidence that all these subjects are now passing , through the mind of the 1 Government, and that they wilL find expression in the complete reformation of the ! Native Department, and will reorganise in >• all their phases the conduct and methods " of the Native Land Court in respect Of the administration of Maori Lands. -