The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1914. WHY THE MAORIS ARE WEEPING

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2182, 22 June 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1914. WHY THE MAORIS ARE WEEPING

Trusting no doubt to Hie fact that vory few of the general public iite any close interest 'in a-ffaii'-s, our morning contenrgpfqry on Saturday last seized on this subject- to acM another contribution to the Accuimi" lating mass of misrepresentation aact falsehood designed to prejudice the Government. Taking as its text ail extravagant remark of an old Native chief in the north, it set out on aft endeavour to show that the Maoris •arc weeping becausc they have not been - fairly treated by Una Massev Government; and it sought to prove that gross injustice had been, ekm-o them by certain legislation passed last session relating to the West Coast settlement Reserves. Underlying the whole story was the suggestion that the Natives concerned in these leases had their interests closely safeguarded by Liberal Governments, whereas the .Reform Government had compelled them to Knew the leases against their- will oil terms advantageous to their European tenants. A more malicious and unwarranted fabrication, it would fee difficult to conceive. That there shall not be left the slightest room lot doubt on this point, we propose first of all to quote two short extracts from the New Zealand Times articrk and then to give tire actual facts. The extracts from the Wq.rdist journal arc as follow: What would he said of 4 latr Hint scrapolled a European owner, after a leaee liad. expired, to renott" that lease for a period of ten years, whether lie wished to do so or not? That is'wltat was <loae last session- to the Native owihub of 18,399 acres of valuable dairying , Ja-i«ia on the West Coast of this jsla'iiiL In view of the pfpfession tiat the Maoris were to ho lilaced fen. an equal footiiij; with tho European?, and iji she light of tho admission in the Aift Hint the Maoris wished to occupy and oultivato the land themselves. iite policy of the Government was coercive, arbitrary and unjust to the , .Natives, ,fta inni'.iir how advantageous it Was £0 thj liuropeans. The facts of the matter arc that prior to the year 189g all tho lessees of the West Coast Settlement; Reserves lands had leases tinder the Act of 1881, which provided thai at the end of 21 years the lease should be put ii]") to auction; the outgoinglessee if not desirous of bidding, or unsuccessful in doing so, being entitled to n sum not exceeding £5 per acrc by way of Compensation for improvements. This eompensrUklji was lu be paid by the incoming tenant. 11 will lie clearly seen that under the Act of 1881 the interests of the. Natives were fully safeguarded, and that any departure therefrom, to their detriment and without tboir consent, could not bo honestly- made, AV'ha-t actually happened) ' however, waa

that in 1892 a "Liberal" Govern-meni, ] witiiiuit eunsitltingij. the Natives, I yielded to the pressure of the pakeh.V j lessees with votes, and . introducDd and earned an Act giving flic L n the right to convert their' liist i ,io perpetual renewal- leases. ■ Three years later, some uf the k™ec h*\ ing failed to take advantage of. this aKioiidiucnt of .the law in their favour, within the 1 - time pro-1 nci'ibcrl, a "Liberal" Goyeniment, again without consulting the Native owners, '.yielded once more to the. pressure of (he pakeha, lessees and pa anooher atiiending Act extending the period within which a lessea might decide to convert. Yet again 1 in 1698 a "Liberal" Government,. still without consulting the Native owners, gave the . pakeha lessees a still further extension of time in which to eon vert. .As a result of these three opportunities I'lost of the lessees converted their leases to per - petual renewal leases, thug depriving the Natives for ever of the opportunity of obtaining possession oi their own land. . Thai; is why many of the West Coast- Natives have been weeping for years past, Only -somo 18>899 acres temarnod to the Kativca in 1900,. the year in which the final right to convert expired. In due coitysc the pakeha lessees of those .remaining lands, repenting of their past negle-fit of their opportunity to convert, wished for yet another ohijireo. _ The Ikforro Gsv-fern.me-hfe, unlike its "Liberal" presfeeessors mentioned above, declined to sacrifice the interests of ihfe- Natives, On tin' contrary, it consulted both the Ma* lives and the representatives of the lessees, and Ui<; Act of last session instead of being:, as asserted by the A'cw Zealand Times, a measure "coercive, arbitrary, and unjust to the. Natives," "compelling" to renew their leases, made provision for what the Natives themselves desired. Instead of passing the Act'to prejudice the Natives., the Reform Oovcrnment passed it the Natives wanted it, and becaus" it was fair to all parties. The Bill was drawn up Jby the Natives themselves, with the assistiiwce of their own legal adviser, -and it is this Bill that bas become the law to-dav. It is not necessary to go into the whole details of. the Actnow to show how the Native owners will benefit under the legislation of last session. Our purposo is served for the T.m.jnent by the exposure We have nado of the dishonesty of the methods which -a.ro being itsed in an endeavour to mislead n^d'decern the public respecting the actions of the Incidentally the facts brought to light in the performance of this task may not. be without value as a further reminder of what t'hs country hag escaped from by the eha-tigi? of Govefjiment whi-dh has tafcsLi place. . •