A CURIOUS DOCUMENT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2088, 24 May 1907, Page 4

A CURIOUS DOCUMENT.

ADVICE TO THE MAORI RACE

Hearing that the president of the Maori meeting at Waalii, Tupu Tainga'kawa, had received an anonymous letter which referred to the presentation of a flag to the Maori race by William IV., and that in, order to obtain further information on tlie subject he had advertised in tin Auckland Herald asking the writer to communicate with him, the representative of the paper at Huntley asked the chief in question if such were true, and though inclined to be reticent he at length gave permission for a copy of the’ following curious document to be made:—

“Auckland, February 20, 1907. J‘To Taingaltawa, secretary to King Mahuta,

1 ’This is my word to you, to all of you—be strong against the ‘Ture Muru’ Act of 1905. Do not let the Government take your lands and put them up to auction as if they were waste lands of the Crown. If yov go to England, be strong to show that the Native Land Act of 1905 sweeps away the Treaty of Waitang? 1840, and the Constitution Act, 1852, so far as the natives are concerned. Let your cry bo that his independent nations in 1840. signed a treaty. One party to the treaty agreed to acknowledge the Sovereignty of Queen Victoria, the other party to tho treaty

guaranteed to the nativo tribes, col- j loctivoly and individually, tho full | ’and undisturbed possession of their lands, forests, fisheries, and other properties, to be sold only with tho consont of the native owners. Beware of putting your lands in the hands of land boards, and extinguishing the native title to lands. Tho Treaty of Waitangi protocts tho native title, bub if that title is extinguished all is lost. If the Government of England rofer your potition back to tho Now Zealand Government, thon state that there is no hopo for justice in New Zealand, for 11,500 adxilt Maoris signed a petition in 1904 and 1905 to bo placed on the Same footing with regard to their lands as Europeans, but .no notice was taken of tho potition. Lot somo of your loading cliiofs throughout tho North Island sign a document firmly denouncing tho Treaty of Waitangi, on ;the plea that one party to the treaty, tlio British Government, had not fulfilled their solemn obligation by giving the Maoris full and undisturbed possession of their lands, and imparting to tho natives all tlio rights and privileges of British subjects. Keep- this document until you hear the final decision of tho British Government, then, if you are referred back to tho New Zealand Government hand in your document demanding the treaty, which would mean that you prefer to go back to your position of independent federated trihes of Now Zealand under your flag, given you by Willliam IV., 1835. This will bring matters to a crisis, and something will have to be dono to put the Maoris in the position of natural born subjects of His Majesty, as provided for under the Native Rights Act, of 1865, and this will give you the full possession and rights over your own lands, and no New Zealand Government can dare to interfere with your lands, no more than with the lands of other British subjects. “Enough from your friend and well-wisher to the Maori race.”

About 26,000 acres of land in Mohaka No. 1 and No. 2 will shortly bo cut up. Seventeen thousand acres will be leased to the natives, and tho balance leased to the highest bidder, European or native. The blocks will bo cut up in various sizes.

The Politik, Prague, speaks as follows of Miss Marie Hall, the violinist, who is to commence a tour of New Zealand at an early date:—Am ong the lady violin artists we know Mario Hall now unquestionably leads. She is more than a virtuoso on tho violin, she is an artist in the real sense of the word. In her rendering of the difficult solo part of tho Concerto of Ernst, Miss Hall has no comparison to fear, she docs not only master this . part technically, she brightens it by the tone she produces and by the always woll-seasoned tempo. Besides, she possesses tho talent of realising, so uncommon to her sex.