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Parliament you have some representatives who are sent there specially to advocate your cause, and they, I think, will admit that the House has always shown an inclination to listen with respectful attention to what they have to say, even in cases where they may not altogether agree with them ; and it is a well-known fact that the Native representatives, especially during the last five, six, seven, or eight years, have been men quite capable of fairly representing the interests of the Native people. They have been men of zeal and honest purpose. There is hardly a question now affecting the Native people that is not brought before and discussed in Parliament; and therefore I have asked you, with confidence, to refer all your grievances to the Parliament and to the Government. It has been said by some in the Waikato that the proper power to grant all your wants is the British Parliament; and a deputation headed by Tawhiao lately went to England for the purpose of inducing the British Paj^"^>*ent to interfere in this colony. They presented a petition to Lord Derby, and that petition was i^erred back to the Governor of the colony, because neither the British Parliament nor Lord Derby had any power to interfere in New Zealand. There are societies in England which live by agitation, and which represented to the Natives who went to England that the British Parliament would do something to redress what they called their grievances. They represented that if only Tawhiao were placed at the head of affairs all would be well. Even if that were possible—we know it is not possible, but were it possible—who, then, would rule the Maori people? Why, less than half a dozen chiefs who have surrounded Tawhiao, and who would pull the wires; and I venture to think that their own interests would be placed before the interests of the race. I tell you there is no hope in that quarter. In the first place, they have no power, and, in the next place, if they had power, it would not work well for the Native people. Enough on that head. I shall now ask you to follow me in detail over the subjects which have been so well introduced by the various persons who have spoken to-day. I will take those subjects in the order in which they were presented, and try to do full justice to them. In those cases where we cannot agree I will show you my reasons for differing from you; and, after I have done, if you can give better reasons than mine, I shall be prepared to submit. Therefore, let the strongest reasons prevail. The first subject is the appointment of Committees to administer blocks of land. The second subject refers to the appointment of Boards for disposing of the land. I shall deal with these two subjects as one. It is the intention, next session, to introduce a Bill for the purpose of giving the Natives the power of dealing with their own land. If the owners can be dealt with separately without having their interests defined, then, I think, the land is very likely to be wjongfully dealt with; but, where the people have the power of dealing with their land by some organization representing themselves, then the land is likely to be well administered. Now, what we propose is this : that, in the case of a block of land having passed through the Court, and one hundred persons having been found to be the owners, those owners should meet and elect a Committee. We propose that the Committee should consist of seven persons, and have the power of dealing with the land. The Committee should have power to sell or to lease. But it may be that, in some cases, the Committee might be acting contrary to the wish of the great majority of the owners ; and, after the Committee have made up their mind to a certain course, we would give a majority of the owners the power to veto the action of the Committee. I will show you the reason for this. Under an old Act of Parliament ten persons were often put in the title, and these ten represented the whole of the owners who were placed in the schedule, and' were trustees for them. Now, we have found by experience that, in a large number of cases, these ten persons have assumed to themselves the rights of owners, to the exclusion of all the others. We propose to take the power out of the hands of these persons, and to extend the power to all the ownei'3 to control their own lands. When the Committee has made up its mind to sell or lease its land, it will apply to the Board to take action. The Board will have the power to arrange with the Committee for surveys and roads —what proportion the land ought to bear. In order that the Board should fairly represent the Native people, it is proposed that there should be one person, a Commissioner, appointed by the Government; that the Chairman of the Native Committee of the District should be a member of the Board; and that there should be another member of the Committee, a Maori, to be appointed by the Government. This will give the people power in every case, after full discussion and openly in the light of day, as I have said, to dispose of their own lands; and no persons will be able then to get possession of Maori lands by a back door. Now, there will be one limitation to this power, which I should like to explain to you. The lands will have to be sold or leased under the laws of the colony. This is done to prevent monopoly, to obtain for the Native owners the best price, and to obtain for the colony a large European population. I believe that, if this becomes law, it will enable the Native people to administer their own lands better in the future than they have ever done in the past, and to put a stop to the scandals which have been a disgrace to the colony. I will now come to the third subject—the Eating Act. With regard to this Act, lam not personally in favour of it. Ido not know whether the Eating Act will be repealed by Parliament, as there is a strong feeling in favour of the Natives paying rates; but my opinion is that Native lands should not pay rates until they can be used, and therefore I am not in favour of the present Eating Act. I refer to the Native Lands Eating Act. But I think that, when the title has been ascertained, and the interests of the Native owners subdivided, the time has come when they should take the same position as Europeans, and my reason is this : I think that, since roads are calculated to benefit Native lands, Native lands should, contribute to the support of the roads, and that the Native owner should stand in precisely the same position as the European—pay rates, and be elected, or elect members, to the Eoad Boards and County Councils, and exercise a voice in reference to roads and lands generally. That is my opinion on this head. The fourth subject refers to the 10-per-cent. Native land duty. I admit at once that this is a very serious grievance. I know the difficulty of small lessees paying a large amount of duty down at once, and my opinion is that the old system should be returned to, and the duty paid once a year. Where the duty is paid in a lump sum it interferes very largely with the rent which the lessee can