PAKEHA DEFENDS MAORI.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 13 November 1911, Page 2

PAKEHA DEFENDS MAORI.

a To tli e Editor • Sir,—Mi- Monckton played well into tho hands of tlio monopolist and tho largo farmer on Thursday when 0 lie ma do a deliberate and bn.refaced - attempt to stir up tlio extended liver 1 of tho fat agriculturist against the 1 Maori. His embittered attack on " the native is merely a pretext to • en toll tlio votes of a section of the - community, whose knowledge of s things mundane is confined to their - individual interests. To compuli gorily acquire the remaining Maori b lands, and distribute them among - tlio pakolia, sounds very well to a 1 certain class of avareious land grab- - "her, who managed some twenty-five - yeans ago to manipulate his estate i at .-Co an acre, and who now has the t impudence to demand the exorbitant price of Cl 2 10s. There are, however. a large number of men who will fight for the Government a.nd .see that the Maori has fair' play, and i is dealt with, as Sir James Carroll asked that ho should he deai!t with, honestly. and that he is generously ' equipped tr> fight the battle of life, And treated as a human being who was created out of the same clay as ' f ourselves. Mr Monckton, having ; su'bjugated tho native race, would gradually on com pass its extinction .so that the large landowner could • clump Im's idilr and often corpulent s and indolent sons on the confiscated ■ estates. _ That is not the policy of ; Mis Majesty's Ministers, nor of any Ministry that respects treaties, or respects tlie rights of the weaker vessel. Mr Mo nekton held up tho Maori—and the writer of this letter is a European—to contumely, at the .same time bubbling over with enthusiasm. for tho farmer. Somo farmers are quite well equipped with mental apparatus as not to require a. specious vote-catching testimonial from-Mr Monektou, and in this connection it may be said that tho following paragraph from T. P. O'Conor's " Life, of Lord. Beaconsfield" may be well applied to Thursday evening's meeting, wben Mr Monckton was puffing up with pride a small minority of irresponsible farmers :--"A number of stupid farmers, their stomachs well filled with meat and drink, of course, wildly cheered these testimonials to tliei'r own supernal virtues: hut assuredly anyone with the slightc-st sense of humour, or even with an even less than ordinary degree of penetration, could hear underiie.ath this exaggeration and (lattery the tones of utter insincerity.' Ido not believe Mr Monckton was altogether insiiifjo.ro in his honeyed words to the farmers, fie belongs to the "farming" class, and as Mr Monckton belongs to the ta rming eln«s. 1 wonder whether lie is prepared, as a "Reformer." to carry out a reform for us, and see tint we get a minimum wage of 10s a day, mid thus, participate in some of the enormous profits that are being garnered in bv what are known as "old settlers." • Yes. thev are "old settlers," but a Labour Government is coming, and then m'i\ we'll "settle" 'em.—Yours, etc., JUST A MILKER.