Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5462, 30 April 1889, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING

CiISBO'INK, T'JESHAY, APiUL 3<\ 18*9. N'TIVE LAND COURT JUDGES. So.mk time ago it was stated that a Native Land Court Judge could not be spared In permanently sit at Gisborne, and we remarked that the remedy was to appoint more of these functionaries. However, few persons acquainted with the subject believed in the excuse put forward by the Native office. Evury day's experience adds to the belie t that no radical change for the bet tor will bo effected until the Department is swept out of existence, and the Native Land Courts I placed under the control of the Department ;of Justice. That is v truth that should be constantly rciter-ited. The Native question is now regarded as occupying a subordinate part in public affairs, and there is scarcely any prospect of a strong man being appointed as political head of the Department. The lines on which Native legislation should be based are now understood, and the Minister in charge to carry out his work efficiently must deeply concern himself with questions of detail ; in other words, he must devote the whole of his time to seeing that facilities are afforded for giving effect to the law already on the statute book. There is more business now ready for the Native Land Courts on the East Coast than in all other parts of the colony combined. The. time is ripe for the settlement of the land question, as the Maoris in every part of the Bay are evincing extreme anxiety to individualise their titles and to | have existing disputes settled. The memorial which was addressed to the Government the other day requesting the permanent retention of Judge Barton in Gisborne faithfully reflects tho opinion of the Natives on this part of the Coast. As for the European population — the founders of settlement and the producers of wealth — it is altogether too much to expect that their interests and views will be taken into account by those at present in charge of the Native Department. It is perfectly apparent that Mr Mitehelson is not a man fitted to be at the head of affairs, lie owed his elevation to bis popularity in Auckland, and not to any conspicuI ous ability. He is not nearly so popular in the. North as he was formerly, and he has been an utter failure as a Native Minister. Mr Ballanee's administration was harmful to both Europeans, because he was vain enough to meddle wiMi matters he knew nothing about. Mr Mitehelson is guarding himself against mistakes by ziot interfering at all. He leaves everything to the Under-Secret ;; . The fact of the matter is, that in uousid jring Native matters, people rarely give a thought to the political head of the Department, Llio man who presumably lias the ordering of everything. Why the Maoris themselves, in the petition just forwarded to Wellington, passed over the head of Mr •• itchelson, and made a direct representation to the Premier. Indeed, in writing we are notal all sure that ■ '•v Mitchelsou is even nominally Native Minister. That he is not so in fact is perfectly clear. It is just possible that he has resigned the portfolio, and as he would not be missed, it was not thought worth while to make the matter public. <s previously stated, there is a larger amount of Native work on this Coast than anywhere else, and one might reasonably expect that Mr Mitchelson would think it worth while to call in here now and again, more especially asGishnrne is on the route between Auckland and Wellington, but since the present Native Minister took office, over eighteen mouths ago, he has only paid one Hying visit to Poverty Bay. To put the matter plainly, he is utterly shirking the duties of the office, and the whole management of affairs is left iv tho hands of Mr Lewis,in whose control nobody, save the easy-going viinister, appears to have any confidence. Reverting to tho statement that Court work has been delayed here owing to the paucity of Judges, a correspondent of the Wellington Post ascribes a very different reason for the very unsatisfactory state of Native mutters generally. Tnis is what he says : — "The Native Department, fearing its existence may be drawing to a close, has — medicine-bag in hand — divined a method by which it intends to indefinitely prolong iv mischievous life. This method, or dodge, is to endeavor to complicate land matters — to create foxes, as it were, to warrant keeping a master of hounds. Our Native Land Courts, as directed by the Native Office, are causing injustice and wrong, and multiplying e\ ils to come. There are now too many Judges to do the work of the Courts in a satisfactory and permanent way, even were all the Judges fitted for their office, which all are not. It will be found, to illustrate what is going en, that there- are Courts sitting in different places on the same date, hearing claims to blocks of land. Now a tribe, or a hapu, having an interest in the lands before the two Courts, cannot possibly be iv both places at once. No doubt this was forese n, if not pre-arranged, by the paternal office. So the owner or owners suffer great injustice, and their absence from one or other of the Courts is taken advantage of. The result of this will be that the whole work of the Courts will have to be gone over again de novo, there is no mistake about it, and at no distant period, but the owners meantime are driven to decide which of the properties are to be sacrificed to save the others." The writer of the above no doubt will be pleased to learn that in this important Maori district, the elaborate preparations whioh he urges were made to ensure delay gave excellent promise of defeating the aims of the Native office. Three Courts were sitting in thisdistriet at the same time, and the work of settling land disputes proceeded at an unexampled rate. The experiment was satisfactory to both races here, but was evidently not so to the power that had the ordering of things. An end was soon put to the triple sittings, much to the disappointment of evpiybody concerned in native land transactions. Au attempt is now being made to have a Court permanently established at Gisborne, and people who most earnestly dt-sire a settlement of the Native question would like to see the experiment repeated of having several Courts sitting in the district at the same time.