NATIVE LAND COURTS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 5019, 22 March 1883, Page 3

NATIVE LAND COURTS.

TO THE EDITOR. SiE,— l sea by a late Gazette that the Go•Tcrnment hare appointed H. T. Clarke, Km. a judge of the Native Land Court. •Thja gentleman lately occupied the post of Under Secretary for Native Affaire, and retired on hw well-deserved pension. "Good wine needs no bush," and as Mr Clarke s aateoadents are veil-known and apprecated ftfatreivno cause to eulogise them here. I trust, Mr Editor! that I may not be misjudged by the remarks I am about to make. a» it is the system, and not individuals I oondemn, belivfng as 1 do that those gentlemen whose names I have to mention are as immaculate as our unberited sinful nature can be. The majority if not all of those I name spring from a well-known party of missionaries, who resided ' north, whose heart-felt and earnest endeavours to better • thei* positions, and provide for the numerous olive branches heaven had sent them, combined with converting the Maori to Christianity and their viems, is an incontrovertible fact. WitK what success those labors have been crowned and rewarded is a matter of history, and is developing moie and more every year as the country grows older. Te Kooti searches the Scriptures, hastened thereto probably by the Hon Major Atkinson and the Hon Mr Bryce. Musing somewhat in the above strain, I had presented to me by strange and curious chance a list of those judges of the Native land Courts. The paper was headed by Mr McDonald, the Chief Judge,, then Mr Brookfield, and other gentlemen well known and who have gained distinction in theiij profession as barristers and solicitor s. Then Followed a list of other names in rotatianjDf equally clever men in their way— Puckey, Williams, Muir, and, last but not least, Clarke. Possibly it was because the names followed in- "rotation that a fag* at once presented itself to me, and I examined as if an unseen -power had forced it from my lips. The brothers and the cousinq and the uncles, by Jove how rejoiced must be the Hearts of their sisters and their cou4 sins and their aunts ! As all these gentle^ men are closely connected one with another, by Mood and marriage. - That the Government offices swarm with the descendants of missionaries is an estaoIk&ed U**, but th_fc in the Native I-Mid Court a "hapu" composed of uncles.nephews, MdcOTßios/ic., &c. (all **&}»*"*•£ tabluhed, the persons of which bapu are paind off with solicitors acting a*, judges^ Sot quite what it ought to be. Human ' -nature is human, and in a cliqufe cemented Sy relationship a healthy difference of opinion may f& a difficulty m existing, I " .believe there is no such relationship existing , among the Judges, who are barristers by proiesrion, and jt is almost a pity Government ' W not made this a "sine qua non " Nothing then would have been wanting, the institution would then have been hopelessly beautiful. Even had the barrister judges started to differ with the Maori learned lavj man judges, the missionary influence would prove too strong,backed by the Government] Appointing men from one smaU missionary ~as£Hc^ "ana "who for the most -part hare be*?u brought up under the same roof to sit with other °»en, who have been educated to the law so that the latter may haw the benefit of the formers exj perience in Native matters, (not always i Sound valuable experience.) ' is not in itself efficient to satisfy a discerning and intellec* tnal'pnblic that sound justice will role the Say. An evil that might arise I will draw, •nlnstance. Take the four layman judges whom I call Not. 1. 2, 3, and 4> No 1 lay man judge sits with No 1 solicitors judge; TWv aaree not to differ, and pas? i judgment on Block Aof 100,000 acres. Cost of hearing to the Christianised Maori, £20,<fc» exclusive of Court fees, the caw* having taken up four months' time of the CoWt %• solicitor for the Native claim* ants practising in the Native Land Court is, we wUI say, connected by marriage with No 1 layman judge. The opposing solicitor ia only a professional brother to the solicitor; iadjre. Both may have wished to De brother. itt-kwtothe assessor ; but nil desperandum 1 Well, the Natives are advised to , apply for a rehearing on the ground liot'that the block is a large one and wilt stand another $tveatbig m Court, but that some one's aunt was not an aunt at . all, bat a<xramti, a real live Tanewha, lhe Chief Judge at. all events, after vainly em deavoring to reconcile Maori custom and JTahewhas with the law customs he has been used to, grants the rehearing. That point is gained. Now, mark what occurs. One of the four laymen relation judges, viz., No. l,,has decided that the 100,000 acre, block A belongs by right to Epirah alter a careful hearing with his brother judge the solicitor, Jptanedinlawbutnot in Maori Tanewhas, * that he has had to have translated to him by , another relation of the four laymen judges— not a judge yet, but who is acting as the m- j terpreter of the Court, and who has been bullied by another relation— not No. 1 lay? man judge, but by the solicitor acting for the claimants. The rehearing takes place by another two judges, a solicitor judge and One of the remaining layman relation judges, JSo. 2 ; but No. 2is nephew to No. 1 judge, and the four laymen judges having been taught their catechism at the feet of Kofi judge's, father, » high P™** . of .the missionaries, is it likely that No 8 layman judge will find a material differ* ence in the ownership and .rights in the 100,000 acre block A, the. evidence being nearly the same as what was . given before ? A distinction may be made without much of a difference, and No 3 and 4 laymen judge worid , possibly, and not from Christian ' motives only, agree if referred to that No I add 2 judges were right, for they were educated ill. one groove. . Sir, the above is some* what perplexing, but' there are facts that • are more pnzgling still. The first is, that , when a ire-hearing is granted, the gentlemen Who have to oonduct the case are there . JMurtly to sit in jnd/pnent on the acts of those who formerly heard and decided on the case ' now being re-beard, and J say, sir, that no relative should be placed in such a position toward! another relative ; it is indecent and ' improper. It is not as if $>ere were no other penpns to. be obtained elsewhere than these * birds, who in their nests, agree, the offspring of one familee. And is one family to monopolise the Government patronage left after Major A- can't find any more room for it in Taranaki and Patea, that the public are to be made uneasy and the native sigh, for the justice he eyer h.ears oibu.t never experienced $QW-a-day 1 ' fhe Native Land Court, as at present constituted with its brotherhoods of judges, the ' relatives' of those judges practising in Court as interpreters, and, connections of both judges land interpreters practising as solicitors, is altogether too much awfully connec-j ted. It is too rich in blood and connections,' and wants diluting and distributing. 1 have known the time when, on the Bart antl West Coasts, the Native Laud Courts were held Without lawyers. Then justice was dbhe. No land-rings poked their influ- 1 enee in. Justice was done to the Maori, and he bad the advantage of an institution that had been made for his benefit, and he gladly availed himself of it. Seldom was a rehearing asked for, and millions of Acres were put through, the Court that beoame Crown ffmd. But it seems now that the object for which the Native Land Court was created has vanished and passed away altogether, and has now become a scandal and a confusion to the Maori, worse confounded, but a field of pillage for those who sacrifice the - Maori to his greed, the Court looking on apparently helpless or frightened to act, and, a paternal Government wh.a will not Interfere. Surely the punishment will fall a,t last:— yea, so sure as this kind of thing goes on unchanged and unchecked. A Native Land Court ought not to be a Court of Law, bnt a Court of Equity. How can our law touch Native title ? What does! U know or say of Native custom? Do our' law-books mention such? I have looked right-side np in Chitty, bnt it was not to be foirad;_in Blackstone, but it was not there. I turned the books upside down, but? nothing fell forth. There ww' not, thg * slightest allusion to the two great, Tanewhas of Ngupnhi, Arae-te-ura, and; Tamure. I ejaculated, " I thought so ; and laws are invented as the case proceeds, and each one does that which is right "in his own eyes. A Maori with even, a Tanewha ancestor, if he has no ooin, and is unwilling to sell land, has no chance against a {tttua who hsß and is willing to sail when he can' remember the judgment of Solomon. Why, then continue the unjust joke?

It is nonsence, sir; it isworse —it is a wrong. What is the custom in the Native Lands Court! Ask the judges, any of them, and they will tell you that the perjury and crime that exists in greater questions aiuce the introduction of the lawyer element. Since those gentlemen were allowed to entice the Natives to employ them I would like to hear the opinion of such men as Morrin, Smith, Manning, and White. They woul I have but one to give. How is it possible tho Natives can trust us or believe in what they can't see existing, viewing with consternation in their hearts the machinery of the Native Lands Court — created once for their welfare, but now proving th«-ir ruin. Alas! Even a distance does not lend enchantment to his view. — I am, &c, Mahoe.