THE Thames Advertiser MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1875.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2170, 11 October 1875, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser MONDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1875.

From'papers to hand by the ' Hawea 1 we are in receipt, of the full report of the debate, which. took place- in the Legislative Council on the motion by the Hon, Mr Waterhouse on the native ]and>question. The subject is pro : lific of debate, of grievanies, and of accusations,. and Mr Waterhouse's motion elicited ■ all three during the evening occupied in itß discussion and adoption. The motion waS as follows : —".That in the opinion of the Council, the acknowledgment by the Government, in the purchase of native lands, ofrights'; or ; leases, acquired ;by Europeans from the native owners, in violation of the laws of the colony, is opposed to all sound principles of public policy." At first sight the resolution' seems harmless enough, ,but it was made the text for some Strauge revelations in connection with the administration of the Native Lands Department of the colony.. It was elicited that in the dealings of the Government in connection with these lands there had been personal faYoutiirsm, bad management, and bad jbargaining. 'Gne hon. gentleman went so far as to say that he was sure the dealings with the natives which .had been carried on could not have ' been undertaken by honest men, and he hoped in future they would noc ; - have a Premier at-' tempting' to justify it. He hoped " the time would come.when they would not find a Premier, rising in his place and saying a colleague could not carry on the duties of his department without employing scoundrels," The Hon.' Dr I

Pollen denied the soft impeachment, but there' was no doubt much tD givo' rise to the... inference. The Premier, • for instance, in defending, the Govern- . ment,; admitted..that in the acquisition of lands tho Government were" obliged to use the perhaps imperfect menus at their disposal, and occasionally had to depend upon those who were not tho very best of people." The Hon, Mr Waterhouse said that " when -tho public saw that Government employed 1 persons who would' not scruple at tho employment of any means, to attain - their ends^'it. was not unnatural that. , the public should fail to draw a distinction between the Government.. aud ; the men they employed." But tho main principle soughttabe condemned"' in the resolution of tlie lion, gentleman who introduced the debate was that of the ackaowledgmebt s by. the Government in' their laud • purchases of rights or leases acquired";by/others from tho dative owners, and three instances of Notoriety: were adduced; in support of the accusation that all sound priuciplo* of public policy were violated by such acknowledgment. The first of theso / to which' the 'attention ,bf : the Council was directed;was,the acquisition, 'con- . trary to law, by.'/. Messrs' Russell, Stone,and'" others,- •: of certaiu timber rights, ; oyer .Jaud-i Jn this 1 ' istrict' w hich; had been ackoowledged . by the three ' jblocks,:of,land.!amounting to 9,000 kcres 1 bought'on behalf Of- the Government in 1872> and an unrestricted certificate of, titlo obtained through the .Native Lands .Court, fa/that year,- but . on that certificate it was found that Mr iJameV 'Mackay;-'jun,,' a perfeoii entirely! i outside the Court-as Mr Waterhouse observed—had hiadii an eridbreement ! to ;the effect that certain rights wore re- - Served under it to the geiitle'nien named, .with the consent of the .Government'! ;The endorsement was made . oil the same day the certificate was issued- by ;the Lands Court, and caveat wiw issued i forbidding the Government to deal with these lands, Mr Waterhouso regarded the • /endorsement:.as ■ entirely ' It gave the right of cutting timber over ;these lands for-. 99 . years: at a yearly rental of 15s over. 9,000 acres, and the ' 'subsequent action of the Government j had been the means, of recognising tho 1 irights so claimed, Mr , Waterhouse said that" according to the law passed • in 1865 all these transactions were expressed to be absolutely void,'but' in the year 1873 a slight alteration was made/ and' tbat was to effect ! that V'the Native ; liatid^jCJouvt whs r ' authorised to acknowledge' timber rights, but such rights were, .not- to • extend iover two years, So. that the Government, in-deliberate "judgment, determined that the public at large!wore only entitled t6 a two years'right of cutting timber; and yet this party of gentlemen had this;right.conveyed to them for 99 years,''/. Xliei next instauco 1 given by the lion, gentleman of gross. irregularity in the administration of the department in question;was that which resulted in the Government taling into . their confidence,', as, .he said,the. very taan;. who had brought the country to the brink of a war of races." He said he referred to the money paid . to Mr Brissenden. . He, had, seen' this statement amongst others, that ,£3,600 had been paid ! to Mr Brissenden and others, as well, as . another item of £1,500,—1 ie .was not quite sure of the amount, but believed; he was corroct, . The hon.-gentleman then went on .to narrate ' the - circumstances : connected with Mr Brissenden's negotiation of certaiu lands in the'Waikato Which led up to the raprder.'of'Sullivan. 1 The Government had the power, to' .forbid these negotiations,, which a were, conducted by .Mr Brissenden on behalf of Mr. Thos. Russell and others, but instead-; of doing,, so they paid oyer to these parties' the money, that had been advanced, " took the person into their confidence, and placed him in receipt of a salary of several hundred pounds' a •year,' and up till : recently he had been engaged in the employ of the Government, and in tlie possession, of, their confidence. And he would only remark that if the Government, thus took into their employ - one . whose actions had all but led ,to an iafriogementof the peace of the .colony, was it ' surprising that he should take advactage of his position I"The next charge of irregularity arose out of the Muri- , motu block, said to be the. best piece of - country in tlieNorth Mand of New Zealand, which had been obtained by Mr J as.-Russell , by, means of the Government recognising ' illegal rights and leases.;• The native owners ; had almost unanimously declared that no agreement was ever made ;i bf them to leaso the surveyed block.". The hon. gentleman condemned the action of the Government on all. these occasions as most unfair,' impolitic, and dishonest. Such a mode' of transacting tlie business was -objectionable, and should /bo , deprecated by every honest man, 'lie added" <i.. •;../-. •' It was the bounden duty of the Government to uphold the law of the land. . They should' be the first to respect the- law, and make it a terror to fivil-doer?. If ; the Government failed in this important function, it would do more / to demoralise the community than could be compensated for by any' advantago gained by the acquisition of; land,' If the Government bought off one person, the, very. efllct of that was to cause another,'equally unscrupulous/ to spring up in' his steadi"'But by taking a decided stand towards'one, they.wpuld prevent others from carrying on : the,same practises. - These , practises grew in/ proportion to their encouragement, and from what had taken place 1 in the past, it was quite : evident that cases for strict investigation were presented, > The injury done recoiled on the Government themselves, however, for it was impossible to touch pitch without becoming -defiled; and the Government could not employ adventurers without their own fair-fame .being called in question, ''Tho Government, as it appeared to him, were perfectly incapable of doing a wrong action for their own personal benefit; but-when the public saw that they employed;gentlemen who would not scruple at- the employment of any means to attain their ends, it was.not unnatural that'the public should fail to draw a,distinction between,the.;Government and; the ; men whoni they employed. looking at the subject in another light, the recognition of claims in one case and not in another was. extremely unfair. There were in Hawke's Bay, Wellinplon, and Auckland large; numbers of persons who held lands under these ' illegal' leases, ' Now, it

appeared -to, him, ,that; ; if .ther Government acknowledged the rights of three or faur, they - should acknowledge the rights of all. :: In conclusion, he aaid he had' Shown the.exislence of a state of tbino3"calculated to bring thti Government into disrepute.. Ho hoped, therefore, that the Government would take sonM decided stand, and form a resolution that this should 1 be the last session that the public should hear anything of the kind. ' The Hon. Colonel-Whitmore said he did not .wish, to, charge.;the Ministry with havitig-been: privately cojocerned ,in the. land transactions, but he felt bound to say .it : was so, and'that. he knew they were, so ; concerned, and on •being .pressed by the Premier,, he mentioned the Native Minister, and said he bad acquired large tracks of nativ.? lands since hisaccession to office.'. He admitted, -however, that he.,was.not in a position to. prove .there bad been : any 4 proper, actipii on.. tli pav tof the Native Minisier in, acquiring\.thesei lands—not even that lie' had furthered his own interests to the prejudice of the public interest',' - The Hon. Dr Pollen, in reply to the. charge'of illegal reservation of timber rights for the Shortland Mills, said .

At the lime ihejland was dealt with by the Government the -natives had- sold the rightto; the timber grpwipg .uppn it.-, ;.Wifch ,that_ arjangement the poieromenl had nothing to do. and could'not interfere." After this came pressure from the Provincial Council of Auckland, to acquire the fee simple of the land,' so that it might be included .in the Thames goldfield. . It ipight be : that the 1 purchase was-a mistake, but there, had, as the ; hon. gentleman- had said, been.a power behind r the Government which induced them toaequire the fee simple! Not the power that' the hon gentleman had referred to, thoughr-riot tbeipower of an individual or a private company,;, but the powfr of the provincial authorities of Auckland.' Jtwas wellknown'that the timber had been disposed of by the natives ; it. was known that the timber, right was in the hands of a private' company, and could not be. interfered with, -jet. the Provincial Council desired the Government to obtain the fee simple, in order that the Provincial Government .might, get the gold revenue and the proceeds.of miners'rights which it was expected the, acquisition of this land for gold mining purposes "would throw into tbe TreaBury. The land was acqjiired as far us it could * be acquired, but the rights of individuals were, respected, audi he thought that there was little' in that transaction to■ show that the public policy of the Government had been opposed to sound principle?. Then again; it : had betn complained that the/Government had introduced into the'lmmigration and Public Works Acta, clause authorising the Government to withdraw land' from aeleotion, and the hon. gentleman had indirectly, if not directly, insinuated that the clause had been introduced withVspecial purpose, with a desire to meet a special ease, fie denied, emphatically that there had been any Bueh intention. The clause was intended to, be general in its operation, and had no reference to a particular case, but shortly afterwards the case. of . the, sawmill Company which the hon. : gentleman'had referred to arose, and the. Government used the provision for doing that which would otherwise ; ' have necessitated the introduction of a special

Act of the Legislature. v ' '• —He nest referred to the transaction connected with a piece of land' at the Waikato, and said the oircumstancos fully justified the action Jthe. government had taken. There was no use in the Government saying you shall not do this, and shall not. do that, and putting themselves in. a state of antagonism to the native race. In this case there was

something which . the Govern' menfc infinitely more than the mere land -He knew of his own knowledge that il the Government had not stepped in to stop the land agitation which was then going on .in that district, there would have been a disturbance in the Waikato which would have been most serious. There were two . rival chiefs with armed parlies travelling over the block—the one attempting to have it surveyed," and the other resisting him. If this had not immediately been put a atop to, the Government would have had to pay not £3,000 but £10,000. § . The result of the adoption..of Mr Waterhouse'smotion was the appointment of a Disqualification Infringement Committee, who reported that .the sale of the Pisko Swamp was not-authorised under the New Zealand Settlement Act, and that the spirit, if not the letter, of the: Disqualification Act, had been infringed by the Hon. Mr Taylor in 'participation in the contract, and Mr Taylor has since obtained leave of- absence for the remainder of the session in consequence of this .decision. On other matters the committee took the advice of the Solici-tor-General, and. his opinion was so accommodating to hon. member that no further retirements for the session even were thought necessary by other gentlemen interested in such transactions. The Solicitor-General helped them out of the difficulty, and the committee out of an unpleasant duty, by ruling that " if the House was not sitting, and if the contract was completed, before the meeting of Parliament, the member would not be disqualified from silting or voting, because he could not be said to be concerned or interested iu a contract' which was wholly completed." What the Hon. Mr Waterhouse has been doing in . the Upper House, Sir George Grey has attempted to ratify _in the Lower, by means of. the motion standing in his name on. the order paper for Friday night, which.the telegrams inform us was thrown out by 36 against 22 good men and true. Wo 3hall await with interest the full report of the discussion on Sir George's resolution, which would doubtless open up the question. Whatever the result may have been,' the discussion will no doubt have a good effect in ventilating matters which call for inquiry and emendation, although the influence of the Governiafati party may be too .strong at the pretfenbmoment to effect any radical changfj'in the ad- . ministration of the Native Lands Department.' • ■ "■ " : - 'v