Untitled

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 865, 16 August 1879, Page 2

Of those members who spoke against the Ministry upou the no-confidence motion, no one of them spoke so well or so effectively as Mr. J. S. Macfarlane. The Premier, he said, when in opposition had emphatically stated that he would reduce the departmental expenditure by £100,000, but he had not done bo. The Premier had promised to sell the Ministerial residences and the steam yachts, but he had broken both of these promises. The Premier had spoken strongly against immigration agents being selected from the followers of Ministers, but since he had been in office he had made a most objectionable appointment, that of Mr. G. M. Reed, at

the enormous salary of £600 a year, with £250 each way for passage money. Time after time the Premier denounced violently the iniquity of appointing pensioners for life at £200 a year. He had even dared the Ministry at the time to make appointments ; but since he took office he had made more appointments than had been made in the course of the previous four or live years. The Premier, when in opposition, said that the purchasing of Native Lands by the Government should at once be put an end to. His own words were, that ho would charm the hearts of the Natives by leaving the management of their lands in their own hands. But this promise he had also broken. "1 know, ".said Mr. Macfarlane, ."that the Native Minister personally promised the House, at least forty times, that a Native Land Bill would be introduced. But it had never been introduced. " Wherever I go now, I find that his name is received with indignation and almost with execration. " The Native Minister, when | he went into office said, — i "There is no denying the fact that Government land-purchasing has alienated the confidence of the Natives from the Government, and that it must be put a stop to, because the Native people can find private purchasers for their lands who will give two, three, and four times the price the Government will give." Those were his very words. Referring to the troubles in the West-Coast, Mr. Macfarlane went on to say : I pledge my reputation .that I shall be able to prove to this House and the country that Te Whiti is acting solely, as he believes, in the strictly legal manner in taking possession of fcho land of settlers— that, in advising the Natives to do so, ho is only following what he believes to be the European legal method of establishing his right. 1 hold in my hand a pamphlet published by Mr. W. L. Rees. It is printed in Maori and English, and tells the Maoris that they have been defrauded of their land. This extract will give you an idea of how excited the Maoris were. Ifc states, — " When a European had land to sell or let, ho advertised it, and so got the highest price. Tho Maoris adopt a different course. A European living amongst them comes and says, ' I will give so much for your land ;' and they, foolishly, give it to him. Tho result is, that the European is able to realize a fortune, whilst the Maori has little or nothing— the European may come as a beggar, and go away a rich man. There were two or three instances he knew of. There was the Heretaunga Block, for which the Natives got £12, 000 or £ 1 5,000 ; the land is supposed to be worth some £400,000 or .£500,000. It is often worse in the case of leases. He would take Ponawa and Kaiti as instances. The Maoris leased for £250 a year, and the European sold his lease for £15,000." The Maoris have been taught for the last two or three years by different lawyers that they ought to assert their rights by taking possession of and occupying the land— that they should offer no resistance, but go and take possession of the land. That has been the advice given to the Natives, and I am quite sure that Te Whiti will be able to show that such is the case. There is another extract I wish to read from the same pamphlet : — "ln Read's estate the laud was got in this fashien. He (Mr. Rees) had commenced an action in the Supreme Conrt against the trustees, and had put notices in the papers that, if persons bought, they would do so with the Maoris claims hanging over them." This lias induced the Maoris to brinsf actions. In every case they lose, and the costs go to the lawyers. I oonsider that this is exciting the Maoris to commit these acts. They have been induced to believe that they are defrauded of their lauds by the Europeans. If some decisive step's- are not taken, very soon every landholder in the district will havo d ' ' repudiation tent" in one or all of his paddocks.