TWO MILLIONS STERLING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1577, 22 October 1912, Page 4

TWO MILLIONS STERLING.

. ■ -« A NATIVE LXND CLAIM. A grievance of long standing on the park pf the Ngaitahn, a tribe of South IsJ land Maoris, was brought under the notice of tho Hon. W. P. Massey (Prime Minister) yesterday by a. deputation, which was introduced by Mr. C. Parata, M.P. ; I It was stated that in 1848 tho Government acquired 7,000,000 acres of the tribal lands, extending; from Kaiapoi to Otiigo Heads, the understanding being that a doposit of X2OOO should be paid, and that ono acre in every ten should be reserved for tho use of the Maori settlers. The Maoris got the £2000, but they never got the one acre in ten. In addition, the Government took 13,000,000 acres further inland belonging to tho same tribe, for which it paid nothing, but in regard to which the Maori* understood that tho principle of giving the Maoris one acre in ten was to be extended. Since then the clajms have been brought beforo the GoW ejrnmcnt and Parliament on soveral occiW sions. In jBBI a Royal Commission rev ported, after full investigation, in favour! of tho claims of tho Natives to consideraV tion, and as late as 1910 the Native Affairs Committee of tho House conducted a lengthy inquiry inlo tho'matter, and a , petition on the subject, which it referred' to tho Government for favourable consideration. The Natives claim that tinder' the terms of tho cession of their land* they were mititled to be provided withschools, hospitals, n.id medical attendance, and they further asked that the terms of the agreement should be carried; out—that they should receive for their own use one-tenth (2,000,000 acres) of the. 20,000,000 acres acquired by the Govern-! incut, or an equivalent, which they osW sessed at ,£2,000,000. In addition it was' stated that tho Natives had for manyi! years been put to great expense during! the past forty years in prosecuting their claims, which they regarded us only reasonable. Sir. Parata pointed out that the system of giving baek to the Natives ono acre Out of ten purchased, had been, as stipulated by the Imperial Government, carried out in nil purchases made in those days except in this particular" case. When the Landless Natives Bill was beforo the House a few years ogo. Sir Joseph Ward assured them that it would Jot affect the claims of the Niraitohu.

. The Prime Minister, in replying, 6aid that a matter of, this kind could not Iμ fettled right off. Ho proposed during! the recess to go fully into the question, • and ho hoped ho would nrrivo at some" satisfactory conclusion. The Government intended to do justice to the Natives of both islands. He hoped and believed that they would arrive at wine Pfttisfaetory solution of the long-standing diffi. culty.