The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1908.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 9794, 20 March 1908, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1908.

As we have a suspicion thai our poiitiial men are not always scrupulously honest, we traee the pathetic a|)|.eal now being made to the (iovernor. the Government, and King Kdward to the designing lnilueiue of l'akeha-Maori I'arliameutarians. We know that in the nasi war has Keen fomented, not only 'through so-railed Maori land purchases, hut in order to get laud, and that the people had no say as to embroilments with an unoffending ra. e though they had to pay the cost in Idood and moneys The same* deyilt ry would l.e practised to-day if it were not that now the light shim* in dark places, puhlie scrutiny is keener, and popular political power 'more real. The J.'rentier did well to vead the Maori appellants at Waharoa a lecture on the evils which had accrued in the past through the unhindered alienation ot Maori lands. Last session it was shewn in the Legislative Council that the recompense for Maori broadacres which had fallen into the hands of unconscionable laud-grahhers did not suffice to save the transactions from lining acts of sheer j-ahhery. No wonder that the dispossessed natives bitterly complained and a force iiad to be maintained to terrorise the Maoris, and to be prepared for threatened reprisals. New Zealand has had more than enough of this state of things, and one would think that the native race's blood would boil at the mere mention of the'private purchase of their lands. Hut. somehow or other, they periodic ally, make a vigorous struggle to throw off all statutory restraints m regard to the administration of their territorial remnant and plead for the right to sell it when and liow they please. It is very strange that the spokesman of the petitioners, Tahangakawa, said in his address to the Governor: "Our race is disappearing and the land is disappearing," ajid yet he, on behalf of his tribe and people, reepiest that they be permitted to sell their lands, ao in the past, for what they can get for them. Nothing could be stronger proof that the Maoris should be protected like children. Jf the Maori lands were opened tip to the speculator, without let or hindrance, in a few years not an acre would be available for "a Maori home; all the money paid in connection with purchases would have disappeared, mostly tor grog: the State would be called upon to final land for the pauperised ex-owners: and the European purchasers would swell the ranks of those who, having wealth, attempt to control the affairs of the country. There should be no purchaser of -Maori lands but the State, and it .should pay a fair price, and lease, not sell, to the occupiers. We all know what is right, but there are ,i thousand and one obstacles which prevent our doing it. If the .Ward 'Government does not insist upon the State realising any advantages connected with the alienation of the native lands, it will be remembered for this act of weakness, which would obscure all the good it has done.

The Dominion is fulfilling very fairly the mission for "which it was created ; but it is a pity that the ability of its leader writers should he bestowed upon a cause which renders their task so dillicult and the public obligation so small. It seems that Mr Field, M.P., has, for some reason or other not apparent to the ordinary observer, revived the suggestion that the Leader of the Opposition should be paid for his services as Ministers are paid for theirs. The Dominion says of this suggestion: "When he hears of the good-natured proposal of the member for Otaki, Mr Massey, himself the hestnatured of men, will be amused rather than indignant." Nobody doubts it for one moment. We arc all amused at the proposal. Of course Mr Massey sees the luvmor of it and smiles. As for indignation, no man could be angry with a friend, however ill-advised, who strove to put from £IOOO to £ISOO a year into his pocket. We had! thought, when the Farmers' Unions and Mr Massey's special journalistic mouthpiece were making the proposal day after day that, the leader of the Opposition should be paid a salary, that Mr -Massey had inspired' it. and that lie would not be too proud to accept the .douceur. We are glad 1 to find, now that the idea has fallen so flat, that Mr Mosey would not accept a salary even if it were voted, him by Parliament. This shews either that- he is willing to bow to the inevitable or that, beneath all his political misfeasance, there is an undercurrent of sound sense and l honesty, though one must- break beneath the crust to get at it. But whilst- the Dominion appears to think that Mr Massey is a hero because, lie would- refuse that which nobody ever supposed he could get, the reflection that this man who does so much should 1 be paid go little should not cause astonishment. Our contemporary should' know that it is not the quantity of self-imposed work that entitles a public man to public thanks and reward, but the quality of it. Ministers are paid for their services to the cotmtrv, not for services rendered against it.

We apologise to the jrrcat capitalistic magnates, whom we have deemed' as armor- • rllatctl and' metal-sheathed' against the best, if not all, of the human virtues. How easily one may be mistaken. But,

as we arc alwayu open to enlightenment, wo road our d-iilv paper with drill re. ■nihility, ami to-day our eye; lighted np..n a iable"i.un which almost tool; mvay our hiealh." It tolls ol' a crowded meeting representing over 100.CCO brewery dchem ture-liolders. hold in London, and presided over bv J,ords Rothschild and Fabcr. It telis lis that "the meeting unaiiimniir-ly condemned the Kuglish Licensing Hill on the ground thai it would not promote temperance. There was another ground mentioned, namely, that "ii wouhl lead to conlisi■itiuii.'' etc. Tint this was. of ionise, sniisidiarv. Now is it not lovely In lind a meat ' .gathering representing so inu/h wealth i.rheer, lo,'ing sight of their own advantage and, liv inference, blessing the verv cause that thev assembled to curse Their chief anxiety was. we wickedly tlmii"lit. for their mcmey.hags, not tor the victims of the stiitl' out of the making ot which thev mint their wealth. Wo ho)..' that the leaders of the temperance movement will assure these representative* of the trade whose bowels of compassion have somehow not the better of their blnul .-ol(ishness. that thev need not fear for the refills of the Hill, if it is temperance thev want. Let them help in the dosine. down of the breweries and the drink shops and the regeneration they to devomlv desire will be accomplished. As to the injiirv of insurance shareholders an.l policy-holders which Lord Rothschild, in his "Vnerositv. so greatly fears, they lake risks, and. he will (hid some coinlort in contemplating that the retrieval of men. women, ami children from wretchedness and destruction must not be prevented by consideration for the pockets of anybody. The objections which were raised i-hew how wide are the ramifications of the trade and how deep the cifects of temperance reform. All the demons ot finance hive been summoned to serve the . nd.sot tie; ark-tocratie <■(impounder and purveyor oi beer, which is so sacred that one wondois whv it is ever touched.