NATIVE CLAIMS AND BRITISH EIGHTS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 2, 11 July 1861, Page 3

NATIVE CLAIMS AND BRITISH EIGHTS.

To Vie Editor of the Hawke's Bay Time*. Slit,—To examine the claims advanced by the natives and their “ protectors,” it is necessary to deal with them seriatim ; on the land question their rights are partly inherent and partly derivative. We all agree that the earthAvas placed at the service of mankind; the command to replenish the earth and subdue it, is not yet fully accomplished. While on the one hand I admit the right of the inhabitants of any country,whether civilised or savage, to retain as much land as they require for to raise food, or even as much as they can really occupy, I cannot admit the principle that an uncivilised race are naturally entitled to prevent a civilised race occupying and subduing large tracts of waste country. How is the command “ Subdue the earth” to be obeyed if a few individuals are to be privileged to prevent others occupying land that they themselves either cannot or will not use ? This is the light in which the native claims of “ inherent right” should be viewed, for they are collectively but a very few when compared with the population maintained by an equal area of territory in Europe, or in some parts of Asia. The same All-wise Providence that ordained that population should increase faster in some countries than others, and that its rate of increase should in some lands far exceed the rate of increase of production of food, has also provided large tracts of land almost uninhabited, waiting the hand of the husbandman, by whose labour the wilderness changes to a fruitful field. Will any one dare to assert that the All-wise intended that a few savages should be the only inhabitants of these islands ?—for this is the real question at issue, notwithstanding all the mystifying that has been attempted by the pro-Maori party here. To prevent for ever the alienation of land to the stranger was the great object, of the different landleagues formed during the last few years in different parts of the country ; and to carry out the same purpose is the aim of the 'Waikato kingship, into which all the other landleagues are now merged. A Hadfield or a Williams may, with ingenuity worthy of a better cause, attempt to disguise the fact ; but any one who looks at the subject without the coloured spectacles of Ajiostolic successors, need not be duped by their multitude of words, intended to mystify the whole question. We may, therefore, dismiss the question of “ inherent right of savages” to “ prevent civilisation,” and assume ourselves entitled by the laws of nature to occupy and improve the wilderness. But there is another side to this question which cannot be so lightly treated, and that is the acquired rights of the natives. We should not be justified by natural laws in encroaching on any possessions that they actually hold°and use. Further than that, the word of the Sovereign of England has been pledged to them on certain terms, which are binding on us as a people, and however inconvenient to us, may not be set aside so long as the other party to the compact maintain it inviolate. I allude, of course, to the Treaty of Wsitangi. Under it the natives were guaranteed quiet possession of their lands, &c., on condition of submitting to the British sovereignty and yielding the pre-emptive right of purchase to the Crown. The terms were favourable to the natives, and very inconvenient to the British colonists ; yet so long as the natives in any way recognised the treaty, and acknowledged themselves bound by it, we were also bound to keep our share of the bargain. I need not now discuss the question as to whether the guarantee was intended to include the whole island, or only the portion actually in possession, about which there are different opinions ; seeing that practically the view most favourable to the natives has been adopted, no land having been taken possession of at any time without uemg pam ror twice or thrice over), or, to quote from a pamphlet published by Mr. Busby, the word of the King (of Britain) Las been maintained, for what man (among tne natives ) can say—my land has been taken from me. From the Treaty of Waitangi all the rights of the natives to obstruct colonisation are derived, and as a large proportion of