G.—3a

1876. NEW ZEALAND.

LETTER FROM MR. ALEXANDER MACKAY, FORWARDING DRAFT OF A NEW NATIVE RESERVES BILL.

Presented to both Souses of the General Assembly by Command of Sis Excellency.

Mr. Alexander Mackat to the Undek Seceetaet, Native Department. Sih,— Wellington, 16th August, 1876. I have the honor to inform you that, in conformity with the instructions contained in your message of the 11th ultimo, requesting me to draft a new Native Reserves Bill, certain alterations in the Act of 1873 have been prepared for embodiment in a fresh measure to be passed this session, with a view to remedy the unworkable character of the aforesaid Act. I append a copy of the proposed alterations, and beg to offer the following explanation of the principles and object thereof. It is generally admitted by those who have made themselves acquainted with the provisions of " The Native Reserves Act, 1873," that it is altogether too cumbrous in its operation for the practical and satisfactory administration of the Native Reserve property throughout the colony. In the first place, clause 6 provides that an officer should be appointed under the name of " The Native Reserves Commissioner," and constituted a corporation sole. Under clause 8 this officer is invested with certain powers in regard to the estate to be placed under his charge, and under clause 11 the property is vested in him. By section 7 a Board of Commissioners is created, without whose consent no dealing can be effected with any portion of a Native Reserve; and clause 19 superadds the necessity of the assent of the Governor being obtained to validate all dispositions of land that may be agreed on by the Board, thereby creating further difficulty and delay in the transaction of business, besides troubling the Governor and his advisers with matters of local character, of which they can have but little knowledge, however clear the circumstances of each case are explained ; while, at the same time, it lays the Government open to the accusation of favouritism in event of a lease being sanctioned in favour of a political supporter, in preference to a person holding opposite views. It will be seen, by the foregoing review, that the Commissioner to be appointed under the Act of 1873 would be placed in a very anomalous position, and that the restrictions placed on his actions are incongruous with the position he occupies in regard to the property. In the first place he is clothed with high powers, and then suddenly denuded of them by making his actions subordinate to a Board of Commissioners, of which he is to be a member with merely co-ordinate authority. The Act, moreover, admits of three modes by which the administration of the property may be impeded: — 1. The Board may be composed of individuals disinclined to subordinate themselves to the object which it is their business to effect; or, on the other hand, it may consist of persons of too pliable a nature.

2. The Commissioner, as trustee of the estate, might refuse to indorse the action of the Board in event of his being placed in the minority. 3. The Governor might withhold his assent, under clause 19, to the issue of leases sanctioned by the Board.

Another grave objection is the constitution of the Board of Management. Besides opening a way to private designs, it does not effect the object in view, i.e. to give the Natives a voice in the management of their property. It would simply clothe A, B, and C, of the Native race, with the power to deal arbitrarily with the property of tribes to which they neither belong, nor have any sentiment m common. Had the Act of 1873 been brought into effective operation, this intermeddling with lands of other tribes by the Native members of the Board would have had tho effect of rousing tribal jealousies ; the Natives, as a race, being m >st impatient of interference in regard to landed property. The Act of 1873 makes no distinction between the several classes of Native reserves which are clearly distinct in their nature; and in respect of the rights which attaches to them, namely, lands