THE NATIVE LAND QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 10

THE NATIVE LAND QUESTION.

'Sir,—l have followed':with muchi interest '■■ the 'various and which have '''• • lately appeared / in' the press 'throughout the Dominion on the above subject. May, we not hope "the writing is on the wall," and that the .people of the Dominion are weighing-the Nativo land administration in y the balance, and that they are beginning to lealiso what theso so-called Native lands mean, and what they might mean to the country if handled on proper busmess-liko lines, 'i'ho state of affairs in the "VVaiapu county in this connection is an. interesting one, and should provo a good object-lesson to the rest of the Dominion. More than half the Waiapu countjf is in the hands of tho and yot last year the Europeans paid £8/36 in lates, while tho Maori only paid £407. It is, however, in the northern 01 Matakaoa riding that the absurd injustice to tho pakeha settler is best seen. In this riding with an area of roughly ISO,OOO acres (only about 27,000 of which are in Europoan occupation) .the county council spent last year ovor £1500 on works for the benefit of the riding, and tho riding contributed tho munificent sum of five shillings m Native rates Now, this has gone on for years, thousands of pounds have been spent m this northern part of tho Waiapu county, almost all of which comes from tho industry of the Euiopeans, and tho entire unearned increment goes tQ,,tho Maoris. A ,few years ago the land north of tho Waiapu River would not be worth 10s per aore', now it is woith 305., and this increase of value has been brought about by the opening up of the county, and the roads and tracks made by Europeans, while the whole of the increase, except in a few small cases of freehold, goes to tho Maoris, who all this time have done practic/ally nothing. In other words, a value of nearly, or, perhaps, quite a quarter of a nulhon pounds has been created by tho industry of the Europeans, which belongs entirely to tho Maoris. Is there any prospect of this ending P Not touch I Judge Sim has been retired when he was doing good work in the Land Court at To Araroa,- in defining titles to these largo areas of Papatupu lands, having dealt with obout 100,000 acres when ho was retired. T&r. Ngata says that he had nothing to do with the retiring of Judge Sim. Mr. Carroll says that Mr. Ngata ! considers Judge Sim tho most competent person possible, Then why wad Judge Sim retired? Why was ho not allowed to finish tho work ho was carrying on'in suoh a satisfactory manner? Can tho truth be that_ if Judge Sim had completed the-investigations the force of public opinion would compel tho settlement of the counand this was not desired by the present eemi-Native Government? Is it not a fact that for years past the whole conrse of Native legislation has been designed with a Machiavellian ingenuity to prevent settlement—an ingenuity of so highly artistic a character that it has deceived, and doubtless will continue to deceive, tho majority of tho public. So successful has this been, so cunningly have all Native lands been entailed, that a piece of land for a freezing works at i Tokomaru Bay could not bo obtained from the' Maoris without speciiil legislation—at least, Mr. Ngata was understood to make n statement to that effect a short time ago at Gisborne. For it is quite tho truth' that under the guise of Papakajanga, or other equally intolligiblo term, almost tho whole of the Nativo land in New Zealand bas been quietly, but practically, entailed on tho Native owners | I If there was any proposal to allow pakeha lands to be ontaifea; good gracious! Just , fancy the terrible shock to tho froc-born elector, just fancy his look of scornful indignation; but the Native land, oh, nol And, of course, they don't call it entail in tho' case of Native _ land—they call it Papakaianga. The Native Land Commission's recommendation for genoral not be forgotten—lialf to, be leased, half to be sold—but the Maoris to have farst pick, whereby they could select all the frontages and good spots, leaving tho hill-tops for jiho whif£ man Incidentally, the p%»j>a, to lW r to ibis hill-tops must make his ro'adslthrougli y .and thus f wins 1 every time easv " That is gcn'eial settlement! "Kapai to hiwi mo to pakeha." And even then the pakeha must go to the board, And tho board* must seo<that not only must the pakeha pay the highest possible rent,- but ho mus't pay, in addition, a sum to cover the cost of collcctins tho snmo, so that his landlord may be put to no expense 5 or tioublo whatever. Marvellous the trouble We take in Now Zealand to piotect tho intorests'of the landlord when the landlord happens to'be a Mion, and we are even careful that every Maori shall bo, and shnll remain, a landholder, though no one apparently troubles to endow Jack Wright or Bill Jones with a quaiter of on aore unless ho can provide It for himself, and when ho does, no ono worries to prevent him disposing of n, but wo mustn't let the Maori man sell his birthright; ho beiny such an innocent' and guileless person that he might make" a mistako and be cheated by some unsciupulous white man.—l am, t\ „, ' PAKEHA. ' July 27.

Sir,—When I wrote my first letter I hoped I " someone ;t<j.-the'fforit' .with; ah'/ox-l ..position of -.tlicr Maori- attitude •.■upon'-'" this question. ■ I .confess I did not expect Dr. ' Buck. I anticipated a reply from a different quarter. But .r am.-more; than plea'sed With the result, for Dr.. Buck liao abundantly :«erv(!<l.my purpose. In a contribution to the ; disouoßioii'comprised:-in /two letters, oceupytwo- of /Vour'.colurnns, ho has peon voluminous and' yolublo, praotioaj, nHitapliorical, ;and sarcastic'.' Ho n-q« covered a groat., deal of ground, ' and fairly spread himself/upon/the.neolithic'ago •and kindred'/topics,; but of ■ tho question' ai .issue hp'i'has. said : :nothi(ig'.'/ That is .exactly. tho';_Ma9Ti..attituderrtalk; v and I TO indebted; to 'Dr.Buck'for giving'.: us publicly such illuminating:proof :.of ,it, .Nothing more co\ild be . asked for, - and I am ' content, ..... but boforo I finally, rctiro from tho arena. I ■Jiavo ,1 .few. words: to jsay to .Dr, Buck upon one outstanding,fc-atuie of .both his. letters'. In his first ho, accuiied-mo of voicing the . European desire to deprive. t)io Maori of his lapds and leave, him Ito; starve. . Seeing that ;■ ,we. : want to give. thflm': gbod : moiiby for land 3 : :.B9ivpi;|)diicing,nothing,':l;as):cd;Dr.'.Buclv.'to inforpi -US -whcther.j .we're 'to- accept' this jfche..Brahuard;()f.-.hi3 intelh'gehcc - or of- his.honesty. vj-]o. the question, :: bnjshes^it• beneath, iliis:'notice. 'In L ; eratoly makes vague,general ohprgus about t-hb faults; atod 'Shbrtboiniiigs':;of':: the '/ratio/and . their, leaders; and statea . that the remaining .Maori lands must be.'taken- over for.'tho ;//Europeans/regardless ofwhat; happens to tho, • Maori," Yet I hadmado 110 such statement. .•:/ My A letter /'was / a'' fortnight/ old-' before / >: his 'v/:oould. appear,./and :his..'will havo at .least ;a / week's start of'-.this one, I: have no: alterna- . tivc but to /accept-liis ipwsistent report /to /■'. statements/which' have jio shadow of founda-tionin'-'fact.'as '.the' standard .'of ; .lii3 seiiso/of •fairness,' and a3 a conscqueiicd to ' declino . further.;/associationwith, so lcapable an ponent of Maori ethics.: I would'merely a pk those who have r6ad Dr. Buck's, .two letters whothor they' do not hear out my analysis of the.terms upon which Maori M.P.'s give a block;vote; to.Liberalism;(Boiled down, those terms ..may: fa, rendered, - "Profess, promise, -and-procrastinate, but produce nothing."— I ,am, etc., ' * . EUROPEAN. July 27.

, , Sir,—l. notice in a late issue a letter-from <JHO 'Of our peoplo :who signs himself < a member of Parliament. . The- Natives who have read his letter seo plainly tho uast obsolete; policy of tho Native Department-r-Taihoa enoa ma —stamped all over it. It is no wonder wo Natives are ;bept back J ;our fathers send -''t» to school. Wo lcarn|ffor; what use? Only to come-■ home to - our kaingas and find, what ? Iron'and weathorhoara house? No, tho same old ponga, jiikau, and raupo.; structures our- savage an-i cestors-inhabited'. . What is tho -.use; of .our education? We want' to 'advance,, not like' Maori members of :■ Parliament; r go, ;back;; to stone vagea and ignorance; . Open 'our lands, give us our lands. . We have f been, robbed mostly by the Government;;; ,We ;want our ; land in our- own names. si> as wo can use it to grow'muttpiii i>vool,:;beefi-and butter. We are no longor savages. We are as capable as tho p-ikcia of farming. Our forefathers were fanners, andwe grew and. exported prime wheat and Hour from tho north before the

war. Wo had our land and no .Nafcivo Department to call Taihoa. Our. pooplo hud their own. scbooncrs, and out tor 8. \Vq traded direct wifch Australia, and provo<l our - capabilities to bo equal to our pakolm friends at sea. Now we aro married and jntormarried with pakeha —men and women. Our daughtors aro the best pioneers wives; our sons aro the kindest)' most considerate, and loving of husbands, glad to , loam from pakeha waihinc, Wo want tho prosont, socalled Native Department eliroinatedj Wo, above all things, want our land momuor of Parliament.—-I am, etc., mAKENHH. . Oparau, Kawhia.

I Sir,—Your, editorial of, this , morning .is rather hard on' the Hon". Mr. Ngata, and mferontially on Ins race, but' if tho lion. ! gontlomau takes it to heart in tno proper manner, it may do him a lot or goou, ■Tlie coloured native of all races seems to '■doliglit in' high-flown language, lie is never satisfied with good; plain, common-souse words. A big word is to' him irrosistablo, and 1 hyperbole -. aiid "high-falutin' are employed wherover possiblo, to. tlio exclusion of -well-chosen, ordinary languago. His is tho "penny a liner" style, long smco discarded, except in "bdek numbers. ilie hon. gentleman has considerable attainments as a scholar; why should ho apo the language of tho "baboo"? As to Mr. Ngata s appeal for tho preservation of tlio . Maori by--"fusion," does lio seriously mean it? Docs ; Mr.- Ngata, with his knowledge of the results of "fusion" in this country, wish that process to vbo-continued? What kind of white man, as a rule, has married a Native woman ? . Further,; what sort of white "woman, as . a rule,- has married a Native man? I need not answer my,own' question, ■and'.'will''not - pursue tho,theme, but I would .ask Mr. Ngata whether the .mixture, so far as wo havo had experience of it, has been il benefit to cither race? . Aro tho children of - this - ! mixture desirable as a- class ?,' "IVnat' of/our oxperionce with''Eurasians? ' • Any white man who has lived in India, will answei that queryin unequivocal\terms. Thattho hybrid has capabilities' in, absorbing' the teaching so open to him in ni-s native schools and colleges is undoubtedly a fact, but when it comos to administration —to putting into cold-, action his --attainments—wlion lias bo been.a success? ;

1' -Mr',' Ngata is either - very ignorant. or. very disingenuous when he asks for fair-play for his race. They are governed by tho same King', 'the 'samo laws .(cxcept . where 1 the Maori lias been selected! for favoured,- legislation) ;' tho schools, scholarships, the Courts, handicrafts, professions: are'; they not all opon to him and his brothers? Let bis own case -reply I' - What moro dons Mr.'i'Ngata want?- It/is,-, apparent /'what, .the Maori does want; he wants to get to work, to earn his bread .'by' tho sweat of his brow, to ;give up horso-racing;- billiards, -and beer, to cultivate tho splendid and immense aroa of. land ho n'6w.;.nolds;;dog-in^the T maiger : .'fashion,' not using; it -himself, "arid - not allo'wing anyono .else :to utilise - it. Lot the -Maori pay atteniion'; to : sSnitatioh';,let 'him'.get', to'understand that . time is ; money; and' weeks spent at .''tangis'- "conferences," . and kindred 'meetirigs:- : ar<i 'd'- ,-of ' bbth;;; time ; '.and money, that they. consume his means,: .and j;n.pov ( oxis^hinvi : flnd-. '-Let tho Maori give" an.exhibition ' of himself ana herself for the benefit .of tho tourist. ;.vLct.;hjm , ; l turji'.; from opera. bbuffe. to tho tragedy.of Jife, or, at all events;,' to ite reality. Tho' M«iori has his future in his own hand 3,; if -he chooses,:,with his i eyes open, to dio out through 'inanition,' laziness,';, dirt,- idisease, and vice; in spito of/what the despised white man offers him freely; who will be to; blame? •If ;'tbofe;:'are;i jioojr; Nativesjl so - there' are pool .whitesj/ and if the 1 Maori is so niuch ;a phil-. 'anthropist as Mr.--Ngata .makes, him;, out,why 'do/iiot'the-rich ;Ma6ri3 provide for their brethren, - and not ask the pakolia to give them the Old Age; Ponsion ? As to Native lands; - I'-have ,a' good deul to say, but must remember your limits as :to. space. Taihoa.— I am, oto , , LLB •Wellington; July 14, 1909.