PARLIAMENTARY.

Wananga, Volume 3, Issue 51, 23 December 1876, Page 479

PARLIAMENTARY.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Wellington. Tuesday, October 17, 1876. SUPPLY. Class Vl. Native Department. II:: would now refer to the Oniaranu: cns.\ Th«- hot:.. :v.b'.. member for Cljve had boon c-<I enough tc> del i-x er ' a':~ explanation of that case, but he uvi;!,: now ask the C\ :: mittcc to li.-tt n to his history «.f t:i«■ case. lie wot:',; n!'; detain the Committee long-. but th.. >torv wuuld ':>■• as \v,-h worth li-tening to as anything t hev had'heani t!;is s.-ssion. He did i.t i mean it would In- interestinL: from the ma:::,, :' C'f telling' it. hut from th<* picture it would givt- of th*gross maladministration of the Native Department. the faulty legislation of the House, and the utter disregar i and neglect of the interests ~f the Native people sioncd by the fact that the nien who ought to step ii: protect tli..m dared not do so. because to protect t:,..Isatives they would have to quarrel with the men who. return, could say " Tu The- < 'uiaranui bYek of land coritained about ;>.<)» in acr< s. and was t:.irt• ••-n or fourteen miles the town < f Napi>-r. The- r. ci rls of the Native Land Court showed that twentv-iivo or thirtv pcople were the actual owners < f it. and" that the land included a settlement of lo'J acres, which had been occupied for twelve generations. At present there were upon it a number of houses and cultivations. lie c uid tv-U understand the force and meaning of the expression used by the honorable member fer the Eastern Maori Picric:, that the Natives would prefer that this [ lace, u hich had been their cradle, should be their grave rather than ih'-v should be deprived of it unfairly." In bringing the block nnder the Native Lands Court i.i:»-v desired to cut i settlement as a reserve, but the Court which was there :■

give the Natives a better title than thev had and which ought to have advised them to take a'special grant for this reserve, nad not done so, but said they had better take one Crown grant for the whole, and that they could make the reserve afterwards. Very shortly afterwards thev leased the luock exclusive of reserve. One or two people had been looking at the Crown grant, and, finding that i.. included the reserve, it happened— as it always did happen in Hawke s Bay in cases of this kind—that a storekeeper got hold of the two Natives in whose names the Crown grant was made out, and supplied them with gouus entirely unnecessary, and with liquor. Thev ran up an account, and at a certain time the storekeeper said, "1 on owe me so much money. I must have a mortgage."'' 1 he Natives, being pressecd for the rnonev. said they would give a mortgage ov-r so-and-so's lease" mentioning the name Ox the European who held the lease, which did not include the Native settlement. The European who took tnat mortgage admitted, when the matter came before the Court, that he was not rfWare when lie took it that ne had thereby any extra security, hut he found out afterwards that he had, and that his mortgage included t.:e Native settlement, and at the end of six months' time in- ran the debt «ip to a certain amount, and then said to Natives. \ou will have to pay this mortgage off or sell iiie land : and they were compelled to do so. He found out. in the meantime, that t' v ie mortgage in<du■ !_«-• < 1 t.'ie Native settlement, and without telling the Natives or that fact, lie sold up the habitations, cultivations, and residences of twenty-tive families, whose foretathers had lived there for twelve generations. Tois case was t:ieit by a European Court, and the declaration was ad\ is_(l upon by Mr. Gillies, the present judge of the fcuprerne Court in Auckland. The case came before the Court in Hawke's Bay. and was to be tried by a special" jury Ot iirty-thrc persons, from whom the jury was to ' selected, a large number were speciallv concerned in transactions in land with the Natives : and of the twelve who took tiieir places in thr box seven were so engaged, an.: on- was absolutely a mortagee of the European in the .-penal cm.-.'. He wotiid not say that the jury was thereby biassed, but it might fairly b- assumed that thev would act impartially towards the Europeans at any rate, and wouh: [;>■: !.e unfairly influenced in favor of the Nativrs. li:at j':rv found ti:.it. of these two Native grantees, one not know t;.e nature and effect of the mortgage and conveyance, our tnat tl.e otiiv-rdid. Upon the strength ot ti.e v.-riict. wmcn was looked upon as a division oft!:.? I oiut in .lispute, ti.-- c.is • came down to the Court of App"a. m Wellington. I[.. himself was not prepared i.j argue l::e points ot law that were brought out. in the jiMgn;.-;,; that was given, Put it wa< to this etT-'.-t : " Voii, a mere Ma.>ri. a Native of the Col. Ny of New Zealan.;. wii.. d«. not know a word < f the English language. aiM understand nothing of English law, ha i a piece oi land : but becaux-you did n< t hear of ;1 . ease tii at occurred iifry y.-ars ago in the English Courts of I'oe v. !;.>■. or ot another case some years afterward.- ..£ I'. v. Ho.-. ,r. again. of another after that of • Doe v. Uv-e. t. >•■.::• t tu'-vetore dismisses the suit and gives •uagnu nt t. r tn.: plaintstl." These people were told that t;:ey ui u!d cnarige their title to a Cri-wu grant they Win:.; get t;:e security ot the European Courts and Euro pean law : nut they had found out. in every instance, that thev had. r->i loss by changing their title, and that a. premium was giv.-n to their being pillaged by putting their lan.;< ti:rough the Native Lands Court. That was the tirst cas..'. The honorable member for Clivc, in speaking on the subject on the previous evening', said that, if there we re- disturbances, they were fomented by the European f:i. nds of these people. He would put the case in th:< way : I f a European got into trouble and difficulty and became involved in his business aflairs, or if any •lot;. •: relation to his property arose which he could

not settle, he went to his solicitor and asked his assistance. "Were the Natives to be denied the same right ? "Were they not rather doubly entitled to such assistance, because Europeans, having some knowledge of the law, might be supposed to know how to manage their affairs, but these ignorant and foolish people could not be supposed to be able to do so ? Were those who took up their cases to be told that they were fomenting disturbances ? He might say now that, if it had not been for the assurrances he held out to these people of the lawful settlement of their cases, the European population of Hawke's Bay would not have been able to hold that province. "When this case was settled, he was in Wellington attending the session, and honorable members would recollect that he left for ten or twelve days on private business. He then went to Hawke's Bay, and on arrival there he was waited on by Tareha, a man of considerable standing there, and a Native Assessor in the district, who asked him what was the result oL the trial by the Supreme Coutt of the case of Omarunui. He told Tareha that the decision of the Court was against the Natives, and that the Court held that they were not entitled to retain possession of the land. Tareha then asked him what he would advise him to do. His reply was, You must abide by the decision, and put up with the consequences." Tareha then said, " I .vill not. We have tried European law ; but we are satisfied that we are right. I will go on to that land and will hold possession of it and he remained on it until a few days ago. In mentioning Tarelia's name, he was mentioning the name of a Native •who was on the Government side, and he might also mention Henata, who was likewise in favor of the Government. These were the people who were holding possession of the land, and if it had not been for these people he was sure the Government would have tried to put them off some time ago. He would just mention another case that oceurred in connection with these Native lands in Hawke's Bay. He wanted to show that after all everythi ns: was not as pleasant and cheerful as it looked, and that, while a great deal of noise was made about what a man had done for the country, they should not lose sight of what he had done for himself. There was a block of lan.! called Mangateretere, about eight miles outside of Napier. When he brought this Hawke's Bay business before the House last year he was told by the honorable member for Clive that he (Mr. Sheehan) had never won a casi> in connection with these transactions, and never would win one. The echo of those words was hardlv out of the building when he got a judgment of a most important character, which unhinged the titles of four-fifths of the Europeans in Hawke's Bay. In the case of this block of land the Court gave to all the Natives concerned, except three, their original interest in the land, and said that the grant and conveyance they had made were contrary to law. There were three instances in which it was held that the conve\"ance was good. The first of these was Te Waka Kawatini who became possessed of the land •with other grantees, and at one time held 40.000 acres of the best land in Hawke's Bay. He would like to show thi- Committee a page from the registrv of title of this M angatereterc Block."It was simply black with the different kinds of instruments that this old Native had signed. Th<-> first was a deed to create a rent-charge, and he would defy any one, whether Native or European, to make any person understand what the rent-charge was. This man was one of the oldest Natives in the province ; a real tupuna—old and broken down, who could no more understand the meaning of this rent-charge than the man in the moon. It was not to be wondared at that he still sat by the fire of bis whare, and talked of owning the property, for he did not know what he had done with it. In the case of Tareha, the Court of Appeal held that his share had gone. There were nine grantees in the block, and some of the Europeans in Hawke's Bay, notably the store-

keeper Sutton, offered to pay £SOO a share for this land ; but Sir Donald McLean bought for £3OO the share of Tareha and another person, when, according to the market price, he should have given at least £I,OOO. He would state another circumstance of a most singular character in connection with this case. This took place in 1869, a month or two before the Act passed to prevent all sales by single grantees. Grants used to be issued to a large number of people, and until any single grantee coalcl sell his own share ; but by the Act passed in that year it was necessary that a majority of the grantees should consent to the sale. Sir Donald McLean's agreement for the sale to him of Tareha's share in the Mangateretere Block went on the registry on the Ist September, and the Act came into force on the 3rd September. These were only two of a very large number of cases. It was no pleasure to him to refer to these cases. If he had his choice, he would have his paths paths of pleasentness and his ways ways of peace ; but when honorable members were called upon to subscribe to the most fulsome praise of a person who had done no more than anybody else for the country, lie felt called upon to state facts which would cause the couleur de rose with which that person's actions were surrounded to disappear. He would wait to hear the reply that might be made to him, and then he would be prepared to debate the matter furthej, and show forth even grosser cases than those he had put before the Committee. He could show that in nearly every case the persons concerned were persons holding confidential positions either under the Provincial or the General Government, residing in Hawke's Bay. He contended that it was essentially a breach of trust that public officers should tise their positions and take advantage of them to engage in transactions of this kind. Those persons were appointed to protect the Maoris, and to stand between them and the ordinary European purchasers ; but they could not do so, because in many instances they were buying for themselves. In many instances the titles had been obtaiued by the present European holders through storekeepers and publicans who went up amongst the Natives and received large bonuses for carrying out the purchases. Some remarks were made on the previous evsning as to whether reserves had been purchased by Government officers, and it was stated by the honorable member for Clive th?.t Sir Donald McLean had not purchased any Native reserves. There was something of the tt'tpprc.<.~>i<i rrri about that statement. If the honorable member had said that Sir Donald McLean had not purchased an inch of leg ally constituted Native reserves, it would have been correct ; but when the province was acquired from the Natives, the Natives, partly of their own motion and partly by tho action of Sir George Grey, made reserves out of the blocks of land they sold, and Sir Donald McLean had bought and was in occupation of a very large area of these reserves at the present time—some 'J,OOO or 10,000 acres. To understand the full effect of these things, it must be borne in mind that all this was happening while Sir Donald McLean was a member of the Government, was Superintendent of Hawke's Bay, and was General Government Agent. lie was especially occupying that position which entitled the Native population of the province to look up to him to protect and defend them. He contended that Sir Donald McLean deliberately deprived himself of that power and position. They found that in IS7I Sir Donald McLean himself admitted that Sutton and others "were people who had acquired Native titles in a most improper manner, and that such practices should not be allowed ; but Sir Doaald McLean was compelled to allow those people to do his business for him, and to profit by their speculation. And the crowning act of all this was witnessed a few nights ago, when they saw the Native Minister leading Mr. Sutton into a scat behind the Speaker's chair. These were examples of the work done by the Native Departmeut : and he submitted, with all

confidence, u those questions were taken up in a spirit 5* ll ? es . s by any i. m P art i*l porsons—if they were to look at the legislation.of the Houai- acid the administration of the Government in reference to Native matters, and see Jve injustice they had worked—it would be impossible to deny that the jSative people had a claim for compensation which no just tribunal could pos°J PUt a l\ de ' U wa3 not 30 much the Asserablv that was to blame, because the Assemblv was guided in its legislation by the representations of the Government. Four or five years ago, it was impossible to get in a word edgeways in Native matters against the opinion of the Native Minister. He seldom condescended to argument, and it was only necessary for him to indicate into what lobby the Government would go. While a debate was going on, there might be thirty members in che House listening to the arguments. Two-thirds of that number would vote with the party endeavoring to get an alteration of the law j but when the division-bell ran®* from a certain establishment not far off would pour in°a pleasant crowd who would vote with the Native Minister, although the} scarcely knew what was the question under discussion. He was unwilling to make attacks of this Kind : out wnen he heard statements that the Native Department had done. so exceedingly well—that there was no no injustice, no delay, no sacrifice of the interests of. the Native people—he felt bound to mention these things, which he maintained were facts, and could be proved from the Blue Books. It might be that this particular department had been necessary for the Native people -it might be that, the Natives not knowing our laws or language, it was necessary to keep up soms sort of barrier between them and the English people ; but it was a moot question now whether it would not be better if the Natives had been left free to the operations of the English colonists rather than that they should be subjected to the surveillance of such a department as the Native Department. Talk about the Native Department being the friend of the Natives . He could only exclaim. " Save ine from such friends." He did not intend to press his amendment for striking oS £IO,OOO from this vote. Possibly it was well not to go too far in one year. A reduction of £5,000 would. perhaps be as much as'they could make with safety, and without putting too great a strain on Ministers during the recess- But he did not think they should stop there": he thought they should go on gradually each year reducing the expenditure. He would be verv glad to see everv pennv so. reduced devoted to Native" schools, because bv establishing Native schools they were supplving the best possible argument for the abolition of all special legislation for the Natives. He knew tiiat during the last rive or six years a large number of Native people had learned to speak and write English ; and he believed that in five or six years more it might be found that the great bulk of the Native people could speak English with tolerable fluency, and write it so that th»-y could be understood. It was only the other day he received, from a Native attending Parliament in connection with a petition, a copv of a Bill to amend the Native Schools Act. The Bill was drawn and written by himself, and, although containing some mistakes in spelling and grammar, it would do great credit to a European attempting the same thing. "This was a proof of what the Natives oould do. But"if thev only held on to the Natives because they had land—fr when they sucked the orange dry they threw the rind away —they could not expect any p-al elevation of the Native people, or any other development of that civilization were so fond of speaking about. He believ.-d in letting the ?>laoris bear their burdens in the same wav as the Eurspoars, and. so long as they w.-r" ma ie aware of the responsibility, thr-y should be .r::j>• -11.to take the : r sharu> of the responsibility. p,-;: !:■.• contended thev were bound by every obligation •>:' ■;< an.', goo.; faith, to do their Lest to raise those people ::: the the scale of

civilization, and to make them as nearly as i lnd h r e ? SelVeS J n pe J fonning the Unction? of ritiens and taking part m the government of the conntrv An experiment which had been made in that HoSe htd proved highly satisfactory. No one could denv that the Native membere had been of considerable use in House, and he believed their presence had beei vS? useful m maintaining peace between the Natives and Europeans. _ The fact of their being here, and being able to urge their claims, had a good effect even in the Native King country. He would just mention one circumstance which had occurred, he believed, not very long ago when Native Minister had paid his last visit thS He might re mark b\ the way, that those visits to the Kine country had become a settled institution. Just before the session there was an irruption of the Native Department m the> aikato. The Native Minister went InT S X OU f by Native orderlies and Commissioned and, after performing the necessary ceremonies, an audience was granted the Minister by the King, whom thev saw a long waj off. Reporters were present to write hiKh-flown accounts of what took place, which were duly published, and the usual telegrams were sent throughout tn t A ft pacification of the King countrv islbout tv, P i a i? e ' , ° consented to see McLean/' Thev had heard that on several occasions ; but he always appeared glatod see McLean going away again. On the last crip, the King sent a deputation to the Native Minister to ascertain what brought him into the King country; and that deputation afterwards presented him with a pig. He contended that the Native Minister should not have gone to the King country and given the sanction O' 1 " bis presence to a district which a few days before was made a sanctuary for a murderer of the lowest possible L - P e * having gone there, it was necessarv to eive a coior risit : and one of his officers informed the deputation that the " object of Sir Donald McLean was to demand the - unclean thing," meaning the murderer w lien the deputation returned, the Natives discussed the question, what was the unclean thing ? Finally an old gentleman, who. although he had been a Hau-hau for several years, still remembered his Bible-reading said mat the unclean thing was a pig. Accordingly this historical pig was sent to the Native Minister. He thought it would be a very good thing indeed when they would be able to dispense with the Native department altogether I here were some who said they would like to dispense* with it altogether at present: but he was inclined to to more moderate counsels, and to sav that it might i>e dispensed with gradually. Where the" Natives were lett to th'-ir own devices, they generally managed to get along very well : but tiieir evil habits, their misfortunes and their trials seemed to be doubled and intensified in proportion to the amount of Government care and protection tnev had received.