SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9720, 16 January 1895, Page 3

SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

HONE HEKE, M.H.R.

A MAORI POLITICIAN.

Hone Here, the lineal descendant! of the old renowned warrior chief of the same name, and now M.H.R.,for the Northern Maori electorate, without doubt ha* a strong individuality. A very few minutes' conversation with him would be sufficianb to con- j vince anyone that he, if present promises be | fulfilled, is, as was stated in yesterday's issue, destined to be'"a now feature in New Zealand politics." Educated, and fluents of speech, both in Maori .ml English, he is now appealing to those of bis race and blood as a sorb of political apostle, urging his people no') only to take a deeper interest) in tlw politics of the country, as regards both pakeha and Maori, but to acquaint themselves with, and adapt to their own use, electoral machinery fashioued somewhat after the now generally used machinery, invented by Chamberlain ' and Schnadhorst, of Birmingham. Though but a young man, he was born ab Kawakawa in 1869, and brought to an Auckland : school by Sir George Grey in the Hinemoa, he has a grasp of political questions few would imagine. On Monday a Herald representative saw him address a political meeting the like of which could not be found in the world's history. Before him were . Maori men and women — both j tatooed, the males on the cheek and fore- | head, the fomales on the chin. The former wore shark's teeth in their tars, and both were adorned with, to European eyes, hideous-looking greenstone ornaments, jusb as were their savage forefathers of little more than half a century ago. Yet men and women alike were electors to a British Parliament, a privilege still sighed for by the advanced sisterhood of Great Britain. iesterday Hone Heke was seen by the sain* representative, seated in » room at the Central Hotel, the walls, singularly enough, being hung with portraits of Gladstone, Churchill, Hartington, Bright, Salisbury, and Beaconstield. Hone Heke's i interest in politic? he thinks i? hereditary, j but after his experience in the Now Zealand Parliament, last session, he has anything but a high opinion of that assemblage. MAORI OPINION OF PARLIAMENT. " I think, taking everything right through," said he. asked as to what his impressions of his first session in Parliament were, " that the proceedings were most iisgraceful. As far as I am concerned, I -aw nothing passed for the benefit of the people of the colony. Everything was rushed through, simply by a party majority." You took an interest in, and in your speeches to the Maoris directed attention to, matters other than those affecting the native race ;" said our representative. "Oh yes ; I think it a great mistake," was the reply, " for any native member to confine himself to native matters alone, for what affects the European must affect the Maori ; if not directly, it must affect them indirectly. The Maoris have a stake in the country, have they not ? I have spoken of 'he unemployed question, which some may take to be a purely European one; but I have endeavoured to show what the Government has done with regard to this, leaving it to my people to judge whether people who deal with an important matter in the way present Ministers have dealt with this, are likely to do any better with native affairs. Maoris, I can assure you, are pretty quick in drawing deductions." " The great question with the Maoris," continued he, " however, is of course, the land question. At the present time they seek to get more power to deal with their own affairs, and to administer their land and other properties." A Bovcxrr. " But at the native meeting at Hastings this week," said our representative. " They have resolved to do nothing ; they have in fact started a boycott to the soiling or leasing of any native land." "I firmly believe," was the response. "That the main reason for that in to be found in the legislation of last session, which gave the Crow n the right of pre-emption, and debarred the natives from getting a fair price, for their land in the open market. As soon as that provision for pre-emption is abolished the Maori will willingly lease or sell to Europeans." What however of the argument that the native may fall into the hands of land sharks, and then come upon the Charitable Aid Board, if the sales are not looked after by the Government?" " What of it? Why the same argument, if the Crown takes the land, applies every bit as forcibly. There is the South Island, where the land was taken under Crown right of pre-emption. There the natives are asking that some area shall be given back to them. So when Mr. Seddon says this right is to protect the natives the instance I have given you shows it is, nothing of the kind. At the present time I understand the Government have their agents busy, all through the island, obtaining interests here and there in native lands. What is that for? Simply this: By the Act of last session, where the Government obtains an interest in any land sale even- I tually of the whole block must be ; to the Crown. There is more fear j of the Maori coming upon the Charitable Aid Board, through having to sell to the Government than in being able to sell to a private individual. I certainly believe in free trade in land as in other things, but a hard and fast line should be drawn that reserves should bo kept for the natives. Then there would bo no fear of Charitable Aid Board?. One of the best safeguards that could be established would be to let each agreement he made publicly with the hapu, and not with any individuals." ELECTORAL MACHINERY. " You have spoken in your speeches of Maoris getting upon the European roll?" " Yes. There are a large number upon the European roll already, and I have urged such to vote for the best man—that is the man they can trust, and who as far as possible will be independent of the exigencies of party. 1 would not advocate doing away with the Maori representation altogether, for Maori mind can best understand Maori mind. But if there were strong bodies of Maoris in the various European constituencies, they would have to be taken into account by members, instead of now being too frequently ignored. In fact, in some of the constituencies hero in the North the Maoris, if they went on the European roll, could pretty well return their own member. A marked Maori element upon a European roll would be no slightmeans in obtaining support from European members. That is why 1 have urged my countrymen to go in for the best class man. For preference, I would like to see many Maoris on the European roll." The conversation then turned generally on the Maori politically, not onljj in the present, but in the past," a record of which is being compiled by Hone Hoke.