HOW TO WORK LAND SWINDLES.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 46, 30 July 1881, Page 519

HOW TO WORK LAND SWINDLES.

The Modus Operandi Disclosed. There is a township in the North Island with a population of slightly over 1000 souls, of whom some 250 are children. In close proximity to this township there is a large Maori population, and extensive tracts of native land. The European population subsists by trading with the Maoris and trafficking in their lands. The place has no industries ; its population is not a productive one. There is no fanning worth mentioning, though the soil is excellent, and adapted for the growth of a great variety of plants. The main production is beef and mutton, which are sent to the chief town of the district. Nevertheless, meat is dearer in the township than at the metropolis. So is milk. Vegetables are not obtainable at any price. Articles of ordinary consumption are from thirty to forty per cent, dearer than at the seaport whence they are supplied, the freight averaging about 2\ per cent. The prevalent system of exchange is one of barter. All business is done upon long - dated bills, at exorbitant interest. The lands are heavily mortgaged. The settlers find it does not pay to till the soil. They prefer to smoke their pipes, convert their lands into cattle runs, or live on the Maoris. The lands are overgrown with thistles and fern. The fences are neglected. Gorse hedges overspread the roads. The two main articles of consumption are spirits and tobacco. The society of the place is composed of distinct strata. The upper crust consists of some half-dozen great landowners, who are dependant on the banks. The open sesame to this aristocracy is to marry any Maori woman possessed of land. Whether she has a character or not does not matter. Below these there are a few publicans, each the centre of a small clique. There are half-a-dozen storekeepers who also have their cliques, and besides these, there are denominational cliques. Next to the publicans and the storekeepers come a horde of native agents, interpreters, touts, and jackals, whose business is to beat up the prey for the speculators. Stockmen, labourers, and a miscellaneous class compose the lowest strata in this community. The money for the traffic in native lands is advanced by the banks, and their directors share in the speculations. The landowners control or fill all the official positions, the County Councils, Road Boards, Licensing Courts, and the Bench. The publicans and storekeepers are the mere representatives of the merchants of the distant metropolis, and work on salary and commission. So much for the population. During about half the year a Native Lands Court holds its sittings in the township. This is the annual harvest. It is what the yearly overflow of the Nile was to the Egyptians, the source of fertility and profit. During ene half of the year the people of the township spend a great deal of their time in speculating as to when the Land Court will begin to sit for the other half. When at last the time comes they put up flags, replenish their stocks, hang out their gaudiest goods, water their grog, stick fifty per cent, on their prices, and feast and rejoice. Then for many months the township becomes virtually a big Maori village, with a sprinkliug of whites. Maoris encamp in every vacant spot ; they throng the streets and jostle white women into the road ; they convert the hotels into pandemoniums, and make night hideous with their drunken orgies ; they crowd in the stores, take their pick of the best, and their " tick" is only limited by the value which the speculators have set on their lands. During these times mercurial ointment and small tooth combs are much in demand, and people carry lanterns at night and mind their steps. Nevertheless, a Maori is the salt of the earth while the Court sits. Be he ever so drunk he is privileged from police interference. The respect which a native receives from the whites is nicely graduated in proportion to the number of his acres. While his land lasts, until he has Eut his hand to the deed which signs away his ist acre, he is an object of esteem and respect to the speculators and their emissaries. He hobnobs with great capitalists, he is cajoled, petted, and flattered, and his every want anticipated. He dresses in the latest style, sports a massive gold chain, surmounts his tout assemble with a "belltopper," drives about in buggies with his wife or sweetheart, who is also attired in all the newest fashions, with a parasol, and showy brooch and earrings. He takes no thought of the morrow. He does not reflect that his land is passing away, that every luxury costs many acres, his motto is, "Let us eat and drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die." The immediate effect of these periodical Land Courts is to demoralise the natives. They neglect cultivation, drift into nomadic and unthrifty habits, live in extravagance and idleness on the proceeds of their lands, or those of their tribal relatives and friends, their morals are vitiated, their health undermined by intemperance and exposure to climate while living in tents, they are rapidly preparing themselves to become landless state paupers, and a dangerous element in the country. On the other hand, the effect on the Europeans is to foster greed, selfishness, sharp practices, loose morals, and dishonest trading. They unconsciously imbibe the Avorst vices and abandoned habits of the natives. Whoso touches pitch must be defiled. On the other hand, the natives are equally adept in imitating the worst vices of the Europeans. Amongst a population living in idleness, and where the sexes are promiscuously thrown together, the morality is of a very lax character. Connubial infidelity is general: "tauas" and "mums" upon offenders against the Seventh Commandment are frequent, but are expiated by presents of spirits, or money which is immediately spent in spirits. Drunkenness follows on the heels of immorality. Every " taua" is merely a pretext for obtaining material for a "spree." Europeans are often the subjects of these exactions. During a certain Land Court a distinguished legislator was waited upon at early dawn by one of these "tauas." * They danced in puris naturalibiis in front of his bedroom window until he satisfied

the offended dignity of the tribe with barrels of beer and cases of spirits, resulting in a wild carouse. So much for the habits of the people. The modus operandi of acquiring native lands is comparatively simple. The great speculators fix upon a fertile block, ascertain the tribe that owns it, send pakeha-Maoris, interpreters, and jackals to spy out the land, to minutely ascertain the individual rights in the soil, to make advance^ to the owners, to secure their consent to a rough survey ; and then follows a Land Court, the Government having in the meantime been induced by powerful influences, brought to bear by political parties whose support is of value, and who are directly interested in the speculation, to withdraw from competition on behalf of the public purchaser, and to leave the road clear. A few days or weeks before the sitting begins Maoris flock into the township by hundreds and thousands. They are received with open arms, and Avith every mark of attention. Rough sheds are built, and tents pitched for their accommodation. They bring no money or provisions ; their friends and benefactors, the speculators, have assured them that these things are unnecessary. So long as they are landowners they shall want for nothing. Food in abundance, grog, gay shawls, clothing, Brummagem jewellery, side-saddles, parasols, jew-harps, buggies — everything is at their command. This is called "Oriental finesse," and the goods supplied "ground bait." Very little money changes hands. The natives receive written or printed orders on the storekeepers for goods, and sign an acknowledgment, which is carefully filed away for future use. These orders arc distributed from an office which is the headquarters of the speculators, and the centre of their organization. Sometimes cash is advanced for spirits, but generally the publican receives an order, payable at same future date, when the time of reckoning comes. To secure a share of

this patronage is the great object of the storekeepers and publicans, and to do so they must conciliate the speculators and their agents. Very few of the natives can read English, and in their eagerness to obtain luxuries to which they are unaccustomed, they keep no accounts. They trust to the honesty of the speculators, and' their friends the storekeepers and publicans. Only when the final settlement comes do the natives realise the enormous extent of their indebtedness. The Court sits, and the natives attend to establish their rights, to get succession orders or certificates of title. The speculators, their lawyers, interpreters, agents, and jackals scan each case keenly. Some natives are disinclined to alienate their lands. They band themselves together, and appoint an advocate. Then ensue wrangles, delays, negotiations, and various devices to bring the obstructionists to reason. The judge is overworked, is indisposed, adjourns the Court, and becomes the honoured guest of one of the speculators. The natives are liberally supplied with spirits, and get into a more amiable and compliant mood ; some of them are induced to detach themselves and to sign deeds, the judge recovers, and the Court resumes its sittings. The agents of the speculators, always with one or more of these deeds in their pockets, are constantly on the watch for signatures. From time to time they report progress at the central office, and receive instructions. When a native landowner becomes hopelessly refractory, the "screw" is put on : his orders for rations and goods are stopped. He has then the choice of living on his friends, starving, returning to his settlement and throwing xip his claim, or attaching his signature to a deed. His friends only receive a few days' supply of food at a- time, and they cannot spare much, perhaps nothing. If he continues re-

fractory he is called upon to pay for the goods he has already received, and, failing this, he is sued and sent to gaol. If he is a chief he will rather sign anything than suffer that indignity. In any case a few hours in the lock-up renders him compliant ; he signs a deed, is rewarded for his consent, and drowns the memory of his incarceration in a debauch. The Court concludes its sittings. The boundaries and areas have been ascertained, the titles settled, the lands apportioned. The Court has done its work and goes elsewhere, until the speculators shall have prepared the way for another sitting. But something yet remains to be clone. The speculators have to put the finishing touch to their work. The indebtedness of each individual native is calculated, with interest. The rate of interest varies. The balance of the purchase-money is paid over to the natives in further orders, and occasionally in cash. They may prolong their stay some time after the sitting of the Court until their credit is exhausted, spend their money in drink, or, in some rare cases, return to their settlements or travel to some other Land Court, where the same process is repeated. The 30 or 50 per cent, which the storekeeper or publican has charged the natives over and above ordinary prices, is divided between the storekeepers and the speculators in the form of interest, and discount. This is commerce. The speculator, the publican, and the storekeeper are the best of friends. The native land pays. The speculators do not always pay the storekeepers and publicans in cash. They may give negotiable bills bearing moderate interest. At one of these Courts two persons secured 60,000 acres. They always paid cash, for which they were blamed by six or seven other persons, who acquired half a million acres on bills. A bank discounted those bills. The two men disbursed nearly £500 in grog, but they did not show it in their books. Grog was entered

as * ' sundries. " The six or seven other persons spent several thousands in grog. One hotelkeeper boasted that his profits were £1000 a month Avhile the Court lasted. He boarded and lodged the speculators, native agents, interpreters, and jackals at a large discount, because they attracted the natives to his house. Another publican secured a large monopoly of the native custom because he was the fortunate owner of a perennial well of water. When other wells ran dry he made it a condition that natives who derived their supply from his well should pass their orders for goods through his hands, and on these orders he received a heavy commission. By this ingenious expedient he completely "euchred, "as he expressed it, an enterprising rival who wanted a share of the trade, but had no well. Another enterprising draper, who tried to participate in the business, and who took up a first-class stock of very seasonable goods, Avas also "euchred." He was too honest. The rest combined against him, as they do against all strangers, and the speculators withheld their orders: As this article has already attained considerable length, futher and more startling disclosures must be held over for a future issue.