DEALINGS WITH THE MAORIS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11141, 3 December 1907, Page 5

DEALINGS WITH THE MAORIS.

"ONE OF THE CURSES OF NEW ZEALAND." THE WAI-0-HI-HARORE AND WAIHIRIRI TRANSACTIONS. There was some plain, speaking by Sir Robert Stout at this morning's sitting of the Native Land Commission m. respect of transactions with the Maoris on the part of the Government and local bodies. The matter arose through a complaint lodged yesterday afternoon by a wellknown native named Ha pi Kiniha, that he had! 'only received -half the amount of compensation due to .him m an owner m the portion of the Wai-fl-hi-harore block taken for the railway station. This morning Mr H. C. Jackson, the officer appointed to receive the oompensation money by the Native Land Compensation Court, and to disburse the same to the owners, appeared to explain the position of affairs. Mr Jackson, m reply to His Honor, explained that the compensation liad been paid, and that the amount Hapi was enquiring after was : probably -that to he £ a *d AY *' ie Harbor Board. ;In the first instance a proclamation was issued over the block by tlie Government for' the purpose of taking it for railway purposes. The amount of compensation. . came before the Court -for, settlement. Just, prior to the sitting of the Court an arrangement was entered inijo by. some of the natives' and' the Harbor Board thai such land lying to the east of a defined line should be vested m the Board, for which £5550 should be paid. His Honor said that was not the point; the natives complained they had not been paid. for the railway site. Mr' Jackson endeavored to explain that they had been paid. The amount awarded by the "Court to be paid by the Government was £1076, and the Court directed that certain payments were to be made by himself. This he had complied with, leaving a balance to individual natives of £798 17s. , > His Honor asked why this was not paid out. i Mr Jackson replied tliafc he was paying it out, and had paid some out only on Saturday last. He received the sum of £1076 on May 7th, 1904. and the balance the natives were expecting; he felt sure, | was the Harbor Board's amount. His Honor said it was not that 'at all, but the balance of compensation for the railway? site. Mr' Jackson said the. shares m the block .■were only', defined on September 28, 1905, and prior to that he could not pay: anything out as the interests had never been defined by the Court. - ' He handed m a statement of the position of the accounts. . j. His Honor said Mr Jackson had. been I appointed to pay the money out to the individual Natives ami he did not think he had any right to charge the Natives fo~ disbursing their money. The Government should meet such charges ; it was their duty to. do so. Mr Jackson, he acknowledged 1 , should get paid for his work 1 , but not by the Natives, who were entitled to their money free', of charges. , . Mr Jackson explained he' /was ;only complying with the order of the Couirt. His Honor said he did not know of any authority the Court. had to order charges to be paid out of compensation money. Continuing, his Honor . said that he was not blaming Mr Jackson^ who was only following out his instructions, bu£ he had found that m connection with Native matters throughout the Dominion the same state of things existed. It was a case of put off,, put off, put off whenever it was something affecting, the Maoris. (Quoting from the Public . Works : Act, . 1894, section 90, compensation; money had to be paid within a month of settlement, and after that the Natives would be entitled ito 5 per cent, interest. He knew of no provision m the law to enable Mr Jackson to charge the Natives anything, and he advised- Mr Jackson he liad better write down to the Department. ■: This statement was received by, the many Natives m Court with partly-stifled acclamation. , • ..Proceeding, 'his Honor said her did. not want to report upon the matter, bu^ he advised Mr Jackson that he- had better look into his position, and he could inform the Department that the Commission did not know .of any power the Native Land Court had to make such an order. In reply to further questions' Mr Jackson said that Hapi Kiniha had been awarded 14 shares and had been paid j his full amount, £7 Is. He fully believed he was doing the right thing m acting m accordance, with the order of the Court. The Natives were all aware he had been appointed for the purpose, and had not objected to the award. There were ovei 400 owners in ,the block and they had repeatedly applied to him for their share of the ; £560 to be paid by the Harbor Board for the portion, it haid taken. . Discussing . the agreement between the Board and the Natives his Honor pointed out that until ithe Natives had signed the agreement with the Harbor Board, which had not been done m this instance, the other Natives were riot bound by that agreement if they did not.want .to sell. Mr ■W. L. Rees explained that the Harbor Board were desirous 1 for the Natives to incorporate. , His Honor said that if the Board had wanted the land for public Works it could have taken it under the Public Works Act and the- Compensation Court would have fixed the amount to be paid by the Board, and they would have been free. Mr Rees said the land was already taken by proclamation by the Government. His' Honor: Then, they ought to have been paid by the Government. Mr Rees: But the Government did not want all the land for railway purposes. His Honor : Then they ought to have relinquished it. Mr Rees : But they have not relinquished the proclamation. ■■ ' - His Honor : Then they should have paid the Natives. Proceeding, his Honor remarked that he found, wherever Native matters were opened up before the Commission there was just the same thingdelay. Mr Rees said the case was practically on all fours with another matter he and Mr Chrisp desired to place before the Commission. Some years ago the Borough Council wanted a site for waterworks ami a proclamation was issued over the Waihirere block by th"c Council, who had since abandoned it for the original purpose it was taken up for. The Council was now the legal owner, but it had never paid a sixpence for it. The Council now desired the Natives to incorporate so that they might assign it back. His Honor said the title would be made good by the proclamation and the only question should be who was to receive compensation and which should be paid into Court until this was determined. The whole thing could be settled m, a week. Mr Rees said the Council took the land for a specific purpose, but had abandoned .that proposal and built their waterworks 20 miles away. They now desired to retain a small portion for another purpose. His Honor asked why the Natives had not made claim against the Council. If this was not done within five years their claim would lapse. Mr Rees said the Council wished the Natives to incorporate m order that they might deal with them. His Honor said the land had been taken by proclamation; if he was a Native he would make his claim m the Court and the matter of having no title to show was a matter for the Court thereafter. Mr Rees pointed out the Natives could not agree amongst themselves, whilst the Court said "Sho\y us who we are to convey to and we will do so." His Honor said a single Native could claim. Mr Rees replied the Naitves had been so advised, but not a single one would come forward m case they were prejudicing the claims of the others. His Honor remarked the trouble he found was the Natives did not persevere with their rights. Had there been a European concerned m the land it would have been settled years ago. Mr Rees agaiu pointed out the Council were anxious" to assign the land back, but did not know to whom to assign it. His Honor : They can get the proclamation cancelled. - Mr Rees submitted they could not without legislation. His Honor: Well, apply to Parliament. Mr Chrisp: It has been done. His Honor : Well, I don't wonder

whe^i things go on this way that the Natives get disgusted. Mr Rees remarked that the Natives said one thing one day and another thing another day. He did not think any fault lay at anybody's door. What his Honor had said he had told them over and over again. Reverting back to the Wai-o-hi-harore matter, his Honor said tahfc if he had been a number of the Harbor Board he would ha-ye advised the Government to pay the Natives their compensation for the full ampunt and the, Board could then have paid the Government back the amount f oij the land they had taken. That would h/ve been the easiest way to do it. ;Mr Rees: That was suggested to the Department, but they did nothing. ;:His Honor: Well, I don't understand it. - Mr Rees, went on to say Parliament would not pass a Bill to complete the niatter. They objected to the accretion ah the sea-beach which the Board had consented to. . His Honor said that if it was a gradual accretion, the Natives were entitled to it. Discussing the point further, Mr Chrisp explained the Board held' a deed of compromise. : His Honor: There is no value m it unless aJI have signed. If the Board had taken the land illegally, they would have to be careful, or they would- be called upon to pay anything from £500 to £1000 for increased value the way values were going up. Something should be done at once, ox it might be very awkward for the Board. Coming back to the original complaint, His Honor informed Hapi that Mr Jackson said he had been paid his full amounts, except that to oome from, the Harbor Board. The charges made by Mr Jatokson would have to be recovered from the Government. ,-■