THE NATIVE MEETING.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1912, 18 February 1875, Page 2

THE NATIVE MEETING.

The meeting was held in the afternoon, commencing at about half-past 12 o'clock. There was of course a large attendance of Maories, and a large number of Europeans were present to watch the proceedings. The Natives were ranged in little knots forming the different hapus, and I noticed the following chiefs:— Te Moananui, Te Hira, Mataihi Te Piripi; Kereweri chiefs, Te Pokiha< and others. Sir Donald McLean, with Pr Pollen and Mr Mackay, sat in the porch of the Whare Suhanga near to Te Hira's place. Mr Mackay opened the proceedings by saying to the meeting that Sir Donald was there at the request of them (the Natives), and if they, had anything to' say now was the time to say it. _ Te Whikiriwiti came forward after a considerable time had elapsed in silence, and said the words of Mr Mackay seemed , heavy. No one appearing inclined to I answer them—

Mr Mackay said ' the cause^ of the meeting was the opening of Ohinemuri. It remained now with the meeting to speak. Mataihi: You are welcome, Sir Donald. This is your second arrival at Ohinemuri. The object of the Europeans' desire is now in your hands. You have tried to get it for many years, and now it is handed over to you. The skin of the land is in my hands, and the body of it you hare.

Although IJgave you the flesh of the land I keep the skin of it. The golden parts have been handed over to you. What I look at is the part to be given you and the part to be kept by, me. Ido not know what will be the result of this contract. I want to see whether I shall have life on the part I keep^ or whether the contract will be a cause of ruin to me. This is the object of our talk. I cannot tell what will be the result now. Although Mackay may have been bad in some things, I do not know whether it will be a cause of good forme or him. I only mention this. That is all I have to say at present. Te Whitikiriwiti then gravely retired to hi« place, and Te Moananui then rose and -came into the open space for addrer sing the meeting. :He said: We must not say what we have : got to say now; we must wait, and talk of ' our faults first. When those are clear it will' be good to talk of other matters. I have my faults* and therefore I say let us talk of our faults first. It remains with the, people to speak to the Europeans and ajsk for their money. I have nothing to ask at present. I will not allow the talk to go on until our faults' are settled. It remains with youi all to ask for that money ; all that I have to do is to make the way clear for your talk. Kapata te Pokina: lam going to ask Mr Mackay whether it is correct that Te Moananui and Te Hira received a certain amount of money. I am not going to ask at the present time. Mr Mackay is the man who will tell us. <

Tukukino: We have heard from Wiremu Hickles that Te Moananui received money, and that Mr Fuckey paid it. This appeared in the papers, but was not disclosed to the Maoris. But by Moananui's manner we thought it was not true. Mr Mackay said: Lots of people had asked whether Te Moananui and Te Hira had received £1000; but he had asked Sir Donald, who said that he had not paid any money. Te Moananui had received a watch, but he was to pay for that himself. Te Hira said: Welcome, O!„ McLean and Dr Pollen, to the parts that you have been before. -Come by an honest road (a road that brings no trouble with it)•" come with words of good, and spread them out in front of us. jOur.talk is about Qhineinuri, a part about which there has been great contention. Divide the part that; is for the Pakeha and -that for the Maori. That is what we should talk about. Let us all see what you have to say. Let everybody cling to what is right; leave out what is wrong, and all things will be finished well. Sir Donald McLean: I understand what yon are saying. The reason I hare come here is to carry out the arrangements made at Shortland. I consider this will be good for Hauraki. Evil once existed, but this will set all right. We have got two parts to talk about--the parts to be handed over for goldmining purposes, and the parts to be kept by you, and the boundaries made by you and Mr Mackay. And let the Europeans find the fatness of the land which they have acquired. Let us live peaceably together, and let the evil be of the things that are past. We should now finish arrangements between ourselves and you. That is all I have got to say for the present.,-. , Te Moananui: Let the gum that is in the land be left to us,' that we can sell it as we do peaches; also let the coal remain m our part,, that we may. sell, it also like peaches. It is good that you should have the geld, and that we, should keep, the gum and coal. This matter is like a boat: I have the rudder and you have the boat. Let us steer it in the right direction, for there are many days, yet- to come to consult, about it. The parts for Europeans, to dwell on, we will talk about that as well. It will be three or four days before the talk is finished, so that we can go into all matters. Sir Donald McLean: It is right that you should tell us these matters.. My, idea is that the good of the laridis your own. You benefit by. the working of the land. For "instance, many of your peaches are. stolen, by. you don't .know who ; and the same way with your land. In years past nothing evil has befallen you through Hauraki v Mr Mackay will explain everything to you. :

Tukukino,: What we have to talk about is the land. .When we j talked /to Mr Mackay I said the .trees remained with us. That is all on that point. lam not quite clear on all the subjects, for I don't know whether good will result from this bi not. Perhaps some day !I I will see. It has been said that the part we iare on shall be reserved. It is my desire that all parts (on the flat) shall be.held sacred and reserved. The parts that you have you can do what you like with. When I see that the reserves are good I will thank you. < Mr Mackay: This is an explanation of days gone by. Up to the present we have had our meetings here within the last, two months, and this is the result—that there has been a division made—that to : ,the .east for goldmining; that to the west being reserves for the Maories : the boun-' dary commencing from Kuriri and going to the boundary of Te Aroha Block. (Mr Mackay. then gave an explanation in detail of the boundaries of the goldfield.) There are two pieces in the goldfield of which .the boundaries have not been provperly ranged. A lot of Europeans within the goldfields have bought ground from, the Maoris,. but the Government have waved that. The rules and regulations of other gojdfieldf are used here. These are the best the Government could use. The, Government think they arejplacing you in the same position as the Govern-' ment were in with respect to the Otago field. By working of the land perhaps the gold will be found, as well as other minerals—silver, copper, Ac. That is why the Government think they should ;have these, coal or anything else, so that there will be no difficulties arising hereafter. Regarding the gold the

Government have come to a decision. If a man gets a miner's right, he can dig gold, mnke damn or flumes, and cut down trees for mining timber; therefore you can t say, "we must keep the trees." With regard to copper, silver ancl other minerals, the Government think the Europeans should work these under game " regulations as elsewhere. Regarding the kauri timber we think the Natives should receive £1 5s per tree. If there is any trouble arising out of it, the best thing will be to gell all the timber to the highest bidder, to save trouble arising. Tukukino said, he did not wt-nt the kauri timbers .to be arranged. as 'the Hauraki timbers were". . • Mr Macfcay: We wish the kauri to be! sold. You have sold it elsewhere, and no trouble has arisen. It isto prevent the trouble that the Government wisli them to be soid. There must be some provision made for the diggers for timber,' which will be settled by the .Government. There have been differences regarding other timber on lands. All timber cut by the digger on his claim for firewood and building purposes, those are paid for by his miner's right., Europeans cutting timber for sale or otherwise must pay £5 per year, and the size of block off which it is cut must not exceed 20 acres. If Europeans wish to dig gum and having. miners' rights,.that is fair payment; but any body in the goldfield working for. any-' thing must have a miner's right. People wishing to cultivate land within the goldfields must cultivate it under some regulations as in other goldfields, and will have to hold miners' rights. Eewai :/ jWbat you are saying won't do. Te Hira: You are talcing everything. Let us talk about the {old. " ;; ;/ 1 Mr Mackay: I talk about the matters now so as to -prevent trouble hereafter. If we don't go into these matters now, difficulties may arise; : ■ ~j.'. ■- Tukukino: Let us talk about the ffold firsts. ■-•/. Mr Mackay repeated his reasons, and said: If we don't go into everything noif, you will be coming to me in a fortnight * and; complaining -that the Europeans are * 1 taking your timber. Ohinemun is like a box with goods in it, and the name of the King is Hold; East, which Te Hira held possession of.' ~-":c\- ?:'•* •. .. i Hohipa Te Banhahi: We met to talk r to Sir Doflald McLean, therefore don't put a lot of obstacles in the .war; We cannot talk about o iiinber and other matters while we.are.talking about the gold. We should wait until the minen come. My ears are open for McLean. ; Mr Mackay: Your talk is like a kit of potatoes; when potatoes are but of it the Kit is useless. _ And is .the sameregardr ing the timber. If we don't put these matters down, you will be coming to us complaining-that they are. not in the agreement. ? You hand over the land for; mining, but the good resulting from it is your benefit. ~"'"" =: "' - '- ' ; Hohepa:. Let us talk about goldmining and see. if there are any- evils arising put of it, for lam suspicious. I.think ihere . are evils which will "arise.- It seems that the. Government will try and take the land. • To Moananui: It is correct what I said^, before—that there 'would be many days'% talk, as this. day. is, becoming very bad (if was raining heavily). These are tears from heaven being shed over. Ohinemun.... If this'was a fine day we could talk to the * end of it. . v ,« _„,.. Sir Donald McLean said it was a bad ~ day, and they could~eontinu# the korero " "another day. What we hare to consider is the boundaries of the reserves, and the boundaries of the goldfield. He thought it probable that it would lie finished tomorrow. • Eewai said it would take two days to finish the talk; what Mr Mackay had said had upset them. They should not be in a hurry, but settle everything. If tomorrow was a,.fine day they could talk again; and the next day. Mr Mackay's . talk was too quick.. ; Te,Hira said; We commenced to talk well. Let us finish it -well. I consider . the land is our mat; therefore I say don't drag the mat from under us. These are , the points we have got to; settle. We have got all the lands beyond Qhinemuri*,„ but don't drag the mat. from under us here. What I wish -is for all of us to remain without. trouble on the ■ land., _ These are points of consideration. . OKine-;i| muri has been always a bone of contention. • All that we have to settlo is about the" gold—the Europeans and Maories being mixed. Sir Donald McLean: That which if reserved for you you have the control of, but let us control the goldfield. We do not wish to interfere with your reserves, and only want the land which you are aot using. " . Mataia, to Sir Donald McLean: Let us complete things properly. Don't ran away and leave things half done. I have got lots to say. I want part of the gold as well. , . - : Sir Donald McLean: You get the" money from-the, miners'rights. • •Pineha said there were certain tribes of them who could, be bought and sold for £3—the <w6men too. His authority for this was Nicholas, Te Moananui. haying said, these word, and that he (Te Moananui) had told Sir Donald Mcljean. Sir Donald McLean denied the truth olf the last part of the above statement.. : Ihere being no sign of any abatement in the rain, Sir Donald here broke «p the meeting till to-morrow; ■ should; the weather-then prove favorable.