THE MAORI AND HIS DOG

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1748, 6 September 1905, Page 72

THE MAORI AND HIS DOG

OBJECTIONS TO THE TAX. DEFIANCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. In t!i© House of Representatives on Thursday, Mr Kaihau, member for the Western Maori district, asked the Hon Mr Carroll, Native Minister: Whether he was aware that serious trouble has arisen amongst the Maoris of the Tauranga district, and that a number of the said Maoris have been sent to gaol for having failed to comply with certain requirements imposed upon them by the Tauranga Maori Council. What action did the Minister propose to take to put an end to this trouble ? The Hon Mr Carroll replied : The Government is not aware of any trouble among the Maoris of the Tauranga district. It is understood that in June last five natives were convicted of being the owners of unregistered dogs, and fined 10s and costs on each offence, or in default seven days' imprisonment. As they did not pay, they were arrested, and served the term of imprisonment awarded. There are a few natives in the Tauranga district who seem determined to set the law at defiance. The Government is very desirous that the laws enacted by Parliament giving a certain measure of local self-government to the natives shoxild be administered with discretion, and so as not to press unduly on those who are not in sympathy with the new movement; but open and ostentatious defiance of the law cannot be tolerated. Then Mr Kaihau asked the Government whether it would state definitely whether the Treaty of Waitangi was still in existence, or whether it had ceased to exist? The Hon Mr Carroll said: This question is not one that can be answered by a plain Yes or No. The Treaty of Waitangi was a solemn engagement entered into between the British Crown and the native chiefs of New Zealand. There were rights and obligations on both sides. The first infraction of the treaty occurred when Governor Fitzroy, yielding to the pressure of both Europeans and natives, abolished the Crown’s right of preemption, and permitted the natives to sell their lands to anyone who would buy. Obviously, those who took advantage of Governor Fitzroy’s proclamation are not at liberty to contend that the Crown was solely responsible for that breach of treaty. Again, when the natives took up arms against the Crown they thereby broke the treaty, and they are not at liberty to plea’d the treaty as the charter of their rights. Then, again, the treaty has been modified by legislation passed by Parliament, in which the natives were represented ; and in this case again the responsibility for the modification of the treaty must rest upon native' and European alike.. Shortly, the answer to the question is that the treaty still has force, except where it has been abrogated or modified by the action of the parties thereto or by changing circumstances which have rendered its provisions no longer applicable. Mi' W. Pere, Eastern Maori representative, said it was common talk that “King” Mahuta had advised the natives at Tauranga not to pay the dog tax. He (Mr Pere) considered that the Maoris who had been imprisoned for not paying had been very properly treated. On the question of the Treaty of Waitangi he grew very excited. The Queen of Eingland and the people of England, by making the treaty, had prevented the people of New Zealand from cutting the Maoris’ throats. He was only an old man, but if the pakehas of New Zealand were looking for fight they could get it. He could put 4000 soldiers into the. field, and he asked that the pakehas should not send Home for help. “What!” he exclaimed. “Are we to be cut up a little here and snipped a little there year after year until we have nothing left at all? If the European people want it, let us have a fight. To h—l with the pakeha!” he concluded, and as his interpreter attempted to pull him down, amidst the laughter of the members, he fended the interpreter off, and aggressively waved his arms in the air.