THE NATIVE RACE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2348, 14 November 1908, Page 4

THE NATIVE RACE.

ARE THEY READY FOR POLITICAL EQUALITY?

MR. A. T. NGATA’S VIEWS

At the conclusion of Sir. Lissant Clayton’s political address in His Majesty's Theatre last night, Mr. A. T. Ngata, who was in the audience, requested the candidate to give him live minutes in which to reply to some of his expressed views on the native ’ question. The necessary permission wa® given at the close of the questions, and Mr. Ngata mounted the platform amidst applause. After thanking Mr. Gayton for the favor granted to him, Mr. Ngata said that he was not an elector of the district, nor did he think ho had any right to speak at the meeting, but to some remarks made by Mr. Clayton regarding the native land policy ho felt it his duty to reply. He was a member of the Native Land Commission. and as such it was not for him to defend their reports, but for the Government to do so if they adopted those reports. On the question of poiicv, however, it was his plain duty to speak and have the issue clearly placed before them. The policy of the Opposition was freef rado with native lands, and to remove certain, disabilities under which the Maori was supposed to be laboring._ Mr. Ng&tfir paid a higli tribute to 3lr. ”W. H Herries, whom he said he regarded as" one of the ablest politicians in the Dominion, but with whose native land policy he differed totally. Ir they were prepared, he asked, to put the Maori on the same platform as the pakeha, were they c-ay that the Maori was, on an fit to take his place with Me wfcljfrpeoples? (Cries of •* v He claimed tlm± Jpur not reached the and education to upon him I?he rights anSHli'ivileges, with the corresponding of eitiyrotfVriAjWNffiiikon. Mr. Clayton hadTcomMMed to the Asiatic. lujTlle, Zijr2*gata, held that there tvtts , as tue .Asiatic had beeii for the forefront of a civilisation. The reason thej/cl'icl not want the Asiatic was that thev could not compete against him, their'standard of living being so high and that of the Asiatic so low. Referring to the negro, Mr. Ngata said that it was claimed for him that liis blood was germicidal, but __ the Maoris were still not inured to drink arid epidemic diseases, and were fast disappearing year by year. Mr. Henare Ivaihau had written condemning the work of the Native Land Commission. but, strange to say. when the time came he brought hair a million acres of land to the Land Commission for settlement. He (the speaker) claimed that in giving equal rights to the Maori, they were forcing a condition of things on a people who were net ready to receive it. He referred to the recent Maori Congress in ’Wellington, where he claimed' that tlie Maoris of both Islands were unanimous. through their delegates, in rejecting a xu'oposal to secure equal representation. Mr. Ngata concluded by an appeal to the people to be fair, to look round and carefully study the conditions, and then to ask themselves if the Z'.laoris were ready to assume the full rights and privileges and tho full responsibilities of citizenship of the Dominion. > Mr. Clayton, 5u reply, said that ho held that free-trade in Maori land*; was quite feasible under proper restrictions. and the setting aside of sufficient lands for native sustenance. A living example of the ability of the Maori was to be found in the eloquent supporter of the Native [Minister to whom they had just listened, and he believed that many of the natives, . given the opportunity and properly handled, would- prove themselves as fit. Mr. Ngata, he believed. wa s an energetic -man, but looked at things fronf the point of view of the Native Minister, and was, to a certain extent, dominated by the older man, who loved the life'of political ease. Referring to Sir. Ivaihau. Mr. Clayton claimeed that his position was perfectly logical—that while he condemned the Land Commission it did not mc-an that lie had altered hisA mind when he brought bus acres for settlement by that Commission. The fact was that the law had been thrust upon him, and he was iorced to bow to it. On tlie question of Asiatics, Mr. Clayton held that he had insti-—-tuted no comparison between riTi’em. and the [Maoris, nor woulcv*^?B*like to do so. They admitted a lower race to the country, and granted them citizenship, and it was surely not too much to expect that the same rights and privileges should be granted to the [Maoris, amongst whom and on whose land they lived. He was tlier surprised to hear Mr. Ngat a s statement regarding the unanimity prevailing at the Maori Congress, as all the reports that had come through and had been published in the newspapers would lead to tho belief that otherwise was tlie case. One feature of the system of equal representation was, however, that it would probably lead to the elimination of native members.