The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4th, 1939. MAORI LAND CLAIMS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 45, 4 August 1939, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, AUGUST 4th, 1939. MAORI LAND CLAIMS

MEMBERS of the native race will not be wise to threaten, or even to discuss, a boycott of the. centennial celebrations if their ancient claim to compensation on account of early land transactions is not satisfied. There is no dispute over the facts in which the„ Ngaitahu claim, in particular, originated. The purchase price of the 12,500,000 acsres bought by the agent of the New Zealand Company was disgracefully low, and the provision that native reserves should be created, ''ample for the present and prospective: wants* of the Maoris, was never duly fulfilled. The truth was laid out in 1921 by a commission over which Judge R. N. Jones presided; and the payment of £354,000 — principal and accrued interest' —-was recommended. With the Ngaitahu claim there ranks also that of the Waikato Maoris who suffered from the confiscation of native, lands after the Maori wars. Their demand, stated before another commission in 1927, was for a capital sum of £358,666, or for an annual payment of £10,750. The commission proposed an annual payment of £3000. In principle, therefore, the justice of both the Ngaitahu and the Waikato claims is established, and the evidence for them, so far as it can now be traced, is clear. It was for this reason that it seemed unnecessary to reopen investigations as the Prime Minister, two or three years ago, suggested he might do. But the Government has had every opportunity and ample time to negotiate with the claimants on the limits and riatiure of a settlement and has, in fact, had several interviews with representatives of the native raoe. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the general exchanges of opinion on, these occasions have never been carried further. The Prime Minister and others have promised not to be less generous' than previous Governments, and so on; but it is evident that the Maoris have reason to find present delays disappointing. They may also urge, with propriety, that it' would be shameful if the centennial year were to open and close without the removal of an historic grievance between the native race and the white. But they will hardly soften it to hasten its removal by hinting that it may be sufficient to divide the two races on an occasion which should unite them fully. There is time, yet, for the' frank and reasonable negotiations which can settle the matter once and for all. They should be hastened and carried through. But if it is-for the Government to be straightforward and generous, it is for the native race to be moderate and to recognise that old wrongs are righted less by accountancy than by confidence and co-opera,tion.