BALCLUTHA FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1878.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 199, 3 May 1878, Page 5

BALCLUTHA FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1878.

The settlers of Inch Clutha will be glad to learn that by a proclamation in the Gazette the island- has open constituted a- district under the Hawke's Ray and Marlborou»h Rivors Act, 1868. The boundaries given are— "All thflt piece or parcel of land in tbfi Provincial District of Otdf'-o known a? Inch Clutha; bounded on the north and epst by the Matau branch of the Clutha river, and on the south and west by the Koau branch of the said river." It is unnecessary now to refer to the great damage tnat has freouently been occasioned through floods on the island* At a public meeting of the inhabitants, after full inquiry and conI sideration, it was unanimously resolved that the. district should be brought undff the operation of the Act. This was believed to be the only means by which i he* periodical destruction could be averted. The assistance of the Government was asked in the matter, and j that assistance has been extended. The parties directly interested have it now in their own power to carry out the works they themselves belit-ve would j prove effectual — the works they believe j would prove a remedy and the only remedy. Immediate action should now be taken to apply this remedy. It is necessary to elect a Board, and take other initiatory steps so that the Board may be g-ot into working order and everything- be put in readiness to take advantage of the most favourable time and circumstances tor electing- the embankments. The island is everywhere known as the Garden of Otiig-o. We truss the .owners will now show 'hat they so regard it, and are prepared to protect; it agaiost the ravages to which it has hitherto been liable. »- . ...... One of the Committees appointed at the commencement of each session of the House of Representatives is the Committee of Native Affairs. The chief duty of this CommnreH is to examine the numerous petitions that are presented to the House hy the Natives, and to report upon them. The Committee consists almost entirety of members from th« JNorth island. Any member who speaks Maori, "or whose sympathies are known to be with the Maoris, is almost certain to bo elected. The four Maori members are also members nf iliis Committee. Tim Committee reports- to the House from titn«i to time. At the pnd of each session the reports are collected, together and printed in English and Maori. We havo the report of last session before us, and to it we purpose direcring the attention of our readers. •• No fewpr than 131 petitions were reported on by the Committee last session. Some of these are from individual Maoris, but by far the greater nnmber are from two Maoris and upwards. One petition has no fewer than 1023 signatures, and there are many petitions with upwards of a hundred names attached to them. Almost all the petitions are reported on favourably. This is just what might be expected from the constitution of the Committee. We need not say that the grievances of the Maoris are of a very varied character. One Maori prays that his son Aperhama may receive some Government work. This is one of tho few casss in which the Committee report unfavourably. We are inclined to think that the old gentleman did not in his conduct of this piece ot business show the usual ingenuity of his race. He miefht easily have assigned some special rewson why his son should be taken into the Government service. Had he done so we have no doubt the result would have been very different. A goodly number of fifty Maoris petition " ior the appointment of a doctor by the Government, who will attend to the Europeans and the Natives at Kaikoura/' We know one or two districts in Otago that; have put forth efforts to induce a medical man to settle amongst them, but as yet withou f success- Why don't they take a leaf out of the book of the AJaoris ? We may. in most things be able to teach the Maoris, but if there are some things in which the BJaoris can teach us, we should not despise the lesson. Why don't the people in the districts to which we have referred go to the Government and ask them to appoiat a doctor to these districts ? The report of the Committee should act as a gi'eat encouragement, for they reported^ that it was " a matter for the consideration of the ' Government." . Another body of Maoris eome.befpre the Legislature by petition, stating that they gave the land on which/ a certain: railway had been constructed on ; the understanding that the Maori people should be allowed to travel by rail

without payment, and praying for redi'ess on the ground that this understanding had not bpen complied with. Tt would appear that no promise of rhis kind had been made. The Committee, however, found that certain, promises had been made, which they recommendpd the. Government to carry out. This was just as it should be." Our object in referring to this ense* at all is to draw attention to the new and vprv ingenious kind of compensation desired by thp Maoris. The idea of a free pass as compensation for land taken for railway purposps is entirely dpw to us. We are doubtful whether the idea could have occurred to any except the fertile brain of a Maori. Now, however, that the idea has been broached, we can ppe many arguments in its favour. We commend the idea to the serious consideration of those who have the joyful prospect of a railway passing through their lands.

There is .another railway petition which we consider depervpe a passing notice. Certain Maoris had heard that the Government intended taking- a railway through land belonging* to them. The railway had not then been surveyed and it has not been surveyed up to the present time. On the strength, however, of the report that the Government intended making this railway tho Maoris pntitioned Parliament, and asked that the very mode«t sum of LIO,OOO should oh" granted them as compensation for tha injuries likely to be inflicted. T,he curious thingis that the Committee did not see its way to make a recommendation to the Government to pay the money. We may depend upon it, however, that in due time the Maoris will gpt their LIO,OOO. there is an old adoge that " it is the early bird that catchps the worm." The bird that is too enrly in the field has only to wait a little." 80 these Maoris will wait and watch, and in duo course their zeal and patience and watchfulness will be amply rewnrded.

We need scarcely say that by fsr the? greater number of the petitions presented by the Maoris to the Assembly refer to land. • These land petitions, if we may so term them, may be divided into three classps. One class refrfs to the confiscated lands. The petitions referring- to these lands are not from tribes of Maoris desirous of getting their lands back. They are from ind£ viduals and families of Maoris, who claim that pieces of the confiscated lands may be restored to them on the ground that they did not take up arms against the Queen. Tag petitions »r#», without exception, favourably reported upon. Large portions of the confiscated lands have been restored to the Maoris, and doubtless large portions will yet be restored to them. A second and numpi-ous class of these petitions refer to lands that have, passed through Hie Native Lands Court. The complaint is that the pßti»ioner<s have nil interest in cartafu lands which they describe, and that this interest ha* not been acknowledged by the Court, either because the petitioners were unable to attend in support of .their cl^ra, or because they were not ahlf> at the time to bring forward the necessary evidence, or from some oiher cause. They nr-U either for a re-hearing (if the case, or lor money or land as compenpation. As the reports are almost iuvarial>!y favom*ablej we presume that a good'mnny of these claims will on further enquiry be. acknowledged as good, and that' the petitioners will receive if not all they ask at least n considerable portion of it. These things show that in one resppct the Native Lands Court is a very losing concern for the country. The Court; is established for the purpose of determining the ownership of Native lands. As soon as the Court has decided that a block of land belongs to certain Maoris, the land passes into the hands. of these Maoris. The country receives no money advantage from the transaction. But if the Court commits a mistake— and in so difficult a matter as deciding-: the ownership of Native lands it may readily be believed that the Court does sometimes make' a mistake — then the country is called on to make good the mistake by giving compensation either in money' or .land to the person injured. The land in which he originally had no interest is in no way responsible. •■

A third larg-e sfiction of these landpetitions refer to fh« Native Land Bill tit fit was before the Assembly last' session. The greater number of theso seom to bavrt been drawn out by one person, nnd circulated among 1 the Maoris Cor signature, Some of. tliera, however, have evidentl)' orio-inated amonp-st the, xMaoris who sio-n them. We draw this conclusion from the quaint way in which they are worded. For example, one body of Maoris Xi think that fill laws affecting Native lands should remain in abej'fince for a time,, alleging- that- there Is •no hurry, as the Maoris do not intend to carry their lands away, or place them under the dominion of France, but are coi t nt to remain under the authority of the Queen." In Some of these land pet.itiojis-a gre-at deal s>t miscellaneous | matter is introduced. For example, one body of Natives give, expression to the following, vievys : v That Native title should be solely investigated by Oom- ; mitfcees of Natives ; ! that purchases* of land by the Gpyprnmeht phould 7 cease- (' that-" the :'Na'tive ! L l ancls Oouri, ;qf; "1877 shoulfl be thrown out ; : tha"f Government control over NativeireXerives. should be done away with : thafesawevs

should not proceed, and that trig stations may be destroyed by Government, or otherwise they, would.be by the Natives; that all pounds in which Native cnttle and horsea are impounded may be broken down ; that the Government and the thirty-nine co unties should be overthrown ; . that the Native members in Parliament should be equal in number to the Europeans, and that all magistrates who have acted improperly be dismissed ; that it is wrong- to issue Crown Grants for Maori land, and wrong to make roads on- the property of Natives." Our readers may imagine that the Committee would be quite bamboozled as to Low they should report on this petition. They were, however equal to the occasion, for they reported that they did " not deem it desirable to report an opinion on the various matters embodied in the petition, especially as the subjects referred to, and opinions expressed are so numerous as to render it almost impossible to do so in a satisfactory manner."

We are sure we would weary our readers were we to refer to many more of these Maori petitions. There are one or two, however, that we cannot refrain from alludiDg 1 to, at least in so far as stating- what they are abonr, One small party of ton Maoris pray that the making and selling- of honey beer be free from any license. Several petitions refer to road ratp.-;, and* the opinion is expressed that Native lands should be exempted from these rates. The Natives of Mongonui express tho opinion that some of them should have seats in the Mong-onui County Council. And last, though not least, a Native named Tareha and certain o f hers approach, the legislature, not with a petition in the strict sense of the word, but with a sort oi congratulatory epistle, in which *bey express approval of the Government of Sir George Grey.

The most serious thing about these petitions is the very large sum which it wll take to satisfy the demands of the petitioners. Uf course there is no such thing as satisfying the demands of Maoris. But it must be done to somo pxtent, and even to satisfy to some extent the demands of the present j.eritinners will cost n very large sum. Tbis sum will certainly never be known, probably could not be known. But there can be no doubt that it will cost many many thousands. And who is it that pays these thousands? Why, the colony pays them, or in other words the revenues of Otago and Canterbury pay the lion's share. It is very hard that the revenues of the MiddleTsland should ha expended on matters altogether beyond her borders, and which are not of the very slightest advantage to her. The Middle Island has all along been the milch cow of the North, and it would appear that she is to continue in this position for all time. Were it not that our revenues are available to meet these claims, fewer of them would be made, and even those that were made would be morp easily satisfied.