HON. DR POMARE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3123, 28 January 1914, Page 3

HON. DR POMARE.

VISIT TO UPPER WANGANUI, (From Oub Own Correspondent.)

WANGANUI, January 21. The Hon. Dr Pomare passed through to Wellington to-day from the Upper Wanganui Native district, which he has been visiting. He opened a new Maori school, and also unveiled a handsome monument in granite erected by the relatives and friends of Ratana Urumingi, a, noted Maori chief who died when over 90 years of age. The deceased was one of those who followed Te Whiti to prison for ploughing confiscated land, the boundaries of which apparently were not well defined, and which he believed to be his own.

Dr Pomare addressed two Native gatherings, and was successful in removing the erroneous impression that the policy of the Reform Government was a confiscatory one. He showed that the Massey Government was desirous of putting every man on his own land as far as policy had been one of individualisation as against the old policy of communism. He pointed out that under the Act of 1909 assembled owners could sell by a majority resolution the land of the minority. This intolerable state of affairs was now altered and each owner had to consent individually in writing to the sale of his property. When this was made perfectly clear, the Natives were greatly pleased, and they passed a unanimous resolution thanking Dr Pomare for what he had done in the interests of the Natives and promising him continued support.