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Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2589, 26 October 1867, Page 4

Amoxg the papers laid before the Assembly, by command of his Excellency, we find a very interesting memorandum by the Hon. J. 0. Richmond on the Rangitikei-Manawalu land dispute, attached to iho petition oi' Paraknia and others which was recently forwarded to Iho Queen. The gist of tho memorandum is contained in tho following paragraph: — "It mu:: I: bo understood that the exact definition of a Maori laud claim is rarely, perhaps, never possible. It would be impracticable to make any award to the non-contents in this case which would not be challenged by the sellers, who, though the} r have parted with their own interest in the land, might view its occupation by the other natives with great bitterness. The case is one, in short, of compromising an insoluble quarrel, between half-civilised men, whose titles all rest on violence of a comparatively recent date, and who aro only half weaned from regarding violence, even now, as the ultimate appeal. One side alleges conquest as its ground, the other the power to reconquer. Both appeal to Christianity, one to clench the status quo at tho time of its introduction, the other to claim the restoration of territory then newly taken from them." We always peruse with interest anything coming from Mr Richmond's pen, and he is certainly entitled to speak with authority on this Manawatu question, having hold the post of Native Minister during the progress. of Ihe long and tcd'.oua negotiations for its final settlement. Mr Eichmond considers the Manawatu purchase the settlement of the " insoluble quarrel " between the tribes, but adds : — " A share of the purchase money is reserved for the noneonie:its, and large allotments of land will in any case be set aside for them. It has, however, been thought advisable to allow considerable delay in winding up the transaction, that as many as possible of the non-contents may come in. It is doubtful whether the quarrel might not be renewed, if an extensive part of the block proportioned to their numbers were at present laid off for them/ He also informs the Home Government that the petitioners havo been repeatedly assured of full justice, and that no surveys have as yet been made in the purchased block except to define reserves for the sellers. There is much truih in Mr Richmond's remarks, and we consider that ihc Government, in tho interests of peace, would have been perfectly justilied in hanging the question up till all danger of the kind indicated had passed away. It seems to us, however, that tho present position of the purchase alters the whole case, iind tho settlement of dissentients' claims lias become now a very simple matter. The tribal dispute has been got rid of by purchase. Of the six- tribes originally claiming to be interested in tho block, five have unanimously agreed to the sale and taken their share of the purchase money- -in other words, thoy have, been bought out of the concern, and have j 10 thing more to do with it. Their reserves have been deiinod, and their claims are finally silenced. Of tho other tribe (Ngatiraukawa) the great majority, including nearly all tho principal resident claimants, have agreed to the sale, some four hundred of them having signed the deed and taken their share of the purchase money. In all, about 170') natives have signed the deed of sale. The small party of non-contents who allege claims within the block and refuse to part with them, have taken up this position — they will not themselves define their claims, nor will they accept the Commissioner's definition of them, or agree to his award. The fact is that so long as a man like Parakaia, whose individual claims aro very insignificant, can assert a general claim to tho whole block, and obstruct tho purchase, he is a great man among his fellows. The moment he is reduced to proving his actual claims and confining himself to them, he will, of course, fall back to his proper rank ; and Parakaia is I too shrewd a man not to know this, himself. What we therefore require is, some means of compelling these outstanding claimants to como iv and prove before an impartial tribunal, what portions of the block they are fairly entitled to. Arbitration was proposed, and was agreed to by a section of the claimants, but this proposal fell through owing to the difficulty of finding competent arbitrators. We have now, however, the remedy in the Native Lands A.ct of la3t session. By a clause in that Act — inserted, we understand, at Dr Veatherston's suggestion — tht> Government is empowered to fix a special sitting of the Native Land Court at Raugitikei, to hear and adjudicate on all these claims. The Government will, accordingly, refer to this Court all claims that havo been sent in by the protesting party, and will accept its decision as linal. When this has been done, his Excellency will, we understand, be advised to proclaim the native title extinguished over the rest of tho block, and the vexed question of tho Manawatu will then be a thing of the past.