MAORI LAND PROBLEM

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3469, 22 May 1934, Page 4

MAORI LAND PROBLEM

CAUSE OF TARANAKI WAR. CAPTAIN J. OLIPHANT GIVES BAYLY LECTURE. Two yars ago Captain Jas. Oliphant, of Te Awamutu had the honour of giving the Bayly Lectujfe* at the Auckland Garrison Officers’ Club, and he chose for his subject the Waikato War of 1863-65. Again this year the same lecturer was chosen, and on Friday evening, before a large audience including his Excellency the Governor-General, he dealt with the causes and effects of the Taranaki War. Captain Oliphant introduced his subject with a sketch of New Zealand history from the arrival of Tasman, referring particularly to the early purchases, or what purported to be purchases, of land from the Maoris by private individuals and companies. Some of these transactions, he said, were most extraordinary. A QUAINT DOCUMENT. To give some idea of the native attitude to dealing in land, the lecturer read a most amusing statement, purporting to come from the mouth of a Maori, describing his own practice in such matters. This Maori claimed descent through 89 generatinos from a- famous taniwha. of Taupo, who, he said, appeared to him in dreams, and told him what to do. He also claimed descent from all the more important tribes of the North Island and regarded himself as entitled to benefit from the sale of their tribal lands. He always took money when it was offered, the more the better, and was always ready to sell, although he preferred to sell to the Government.

After referring to the New Zealand Company’s land purchases in Taranaki and elsewhere, Captain Oliphant traced the history of the Ngatiawa migration under Te Rauparaha from Wiaitara to the southern Mana'watu district and the return of the tribe to their ancestral lands in defiance of Commissioner Spain’s finding, which awarded those lands to the company. Governor Fitzroy , later reversed this decision. For a number of years, he said, the Ngatiawa remained in possession until m 1859 a chief named Teira offered to sell certain land at Waitara, in defiance of the head chief, W.i Kingi. Governor Gore Browne declared the title good and confirmed the purchase, with the result that Wi Kingi built a pa on the land, troops were called in and war began in Taranaki. AN OLD WRONG RIGHTED. Captain Oliphant read a graphic description by a surviving eyewitness of scenes in New Plymouth during and after the attack on Waireka Pa by Imperial and colonial troops and bluejackets. Dealing with the after effects of the wars, he quoted from the finding of the Confiscated Native Lands and Other Grievances Commission in 1928 the statement that the wars in Taranaki arose out of the Wjaitara purchase, that the Government had been wrong in declaring war to establish its ownership and that the natives, although, rebels, should not have had their lands confiscated. In compensation for the loss of 462,000 acres, the net amount of the confiscation, the commission recommended a yearly Government grant of £SOOO, to be administered for the benefit of the native owners of the lands in question. In handing to Captain Oliphant the award for the lecture, a chiming clock, Lord Bledisloe said the lecturer had ably covered a very large area of history in a short space. He would like to express a hope that in the present times, w r hen New Zealanders were obviously developing a greater sense of nationhood, and were showing a greater desire to cherish and be proud of their country’s history, care would be taken in the selection of Bayly lecturers. With the growing knowledge of the Maori War period of New Zealand history, particularly among the younger members of the community, the value of the lectures should be more and more appreciated, and he looked for steadily increasing interest in them.