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Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15346, 9 April 1920, Page 7

Once again the Maoris are agitating [gainst the provisions compelling them o take out licenses to fisli for trout in he Rotorua and Tattpo districts. At a •ecent large gathering of Maoris held tt Waitahunui, near Taupo, a resolution vas passed affirming their right to fish under the provisions of the treaty of "Waitangi. This agitation is lot new. When the late Mr Seddon ,vas Native Minister the Maoris at D'hinemutu waited upon him to point jut the alleged injustice of their not be;ng allowed to catch trout without payng for a license. Of course they too ippealed to the Treaty of Waitangi, ivhich ■ guaranteed them unrestricted jshing ria'hts. They admitted that the iakelui had certainly put^the trout in the lakes and rivers, but argued as that [isb had eaten up the native koura, upon which they largely depended for food, the Maori was entitled to eat the fish that destroyed tlieir small crayfish or "prawn. Mr ' Seddon at that time a sympatlietic reply, even going so far as to state he had no desire to sec English o;arao laws introduced in JN TeW| Zealand." On the other hand, it is ar-j "Tied that as trout were not in New Zealand when the Treaty of Waitangi was made, the Maoris' fishing rights fiinnot apply, in fact, that they still have their privilege of catching their native fishes. The Maoris' reply to ihat contention is : "But-what about our koura'which the pakeha trout has destroyed, even as the pakeha rat exterminated the Maori vat which ancestors prized so much?" -\