THE TE KUITI TOWN LANDS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 22, 22 March 1907, Page 3

THE TE KUITI TOWN LANDS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Never during" the years of my identification with our duties to the Maori have my contentions and prognostications been so positively confirmed as at, and since the sale of the Te Kuiti town sections, and because it offers an object lesson to all I shall review the subject from the beginning. When we first came to New Zealand and saw the magnificent jewel Captain Cook had discovered for the Imperial Crown, and that France and our cousin, the Netherlander, also desired to possess it; and further that its owner, the Maori, was too manly and numerous to be trifled with, we resorted to the Britisher's usual ruse : we made a treaty with him in which we distinctly confirmed him in all his then possessions, so long as he wished to retain the same; and if he would accept Queen Victoria as his sovereign liege lord, she would protect him against outside aggressions and invest him "WITH ALL THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES OF A BRITISH SUBJECT." aMark this clause well: not only because it is a sacred promise, and its framers considered it of such importance that they honoured it with a separate article, but because it is THE KEYSTONE OF THE ARCH WHICH CONNECTS THE TWO RACES ! Direclly the ink of the signatures was dry, we proceeded to avail ourselves of its provisions : we bought his lands at prices which he then thought sufficient : axes, pots, blankets, guns, rum, brass-and-glass trinkets, the moth-eaten dead stock of the shoddy manufacturer, all the cheap marine store trash we could pick up, and foisted these on his ignorance as treasures of great price ! And he, poor creature loving us as the harbinger of peace and prosperity to his race ; and believing that the powerful nation which could make such marvellous merchandise would teach him the secret by which such greatness was achieved, accepted our assurances and promises and dealt honourably with us. The years went by ; more pakehas arrived ; more land was required ; but by this the Maori discovered to his sorrow that this wonderful stranger was a common ordinary fraud! A spineless, contemptible flatterer who promised much but performed little ; a conscienceless, earth-hungry mole ! And when the Maori compared the garbage given him for his land with what we kept for ourselves, and that our professions were unreliable, he refused to part with more land until things were rectified. But it did not suit us to rectify things ; so we played off one chief against the other; made drunkards of the land-owning chiefs-, and when they were in a state to sell their souls for a drink, bought off him land that did not belong to him : and on the pretence of this sale —and because we were not strong enough—we imported soldiers and rifles to force the rightful owner into compliance with this bogus purchase, or kill him! These are matters of history. Then the heart of this proud, brave heathen swelled with indignation, and reverted to the retaliation of his fathers ; and when we settled a farmer on land so fraudulently obtained, he tomahawked that farmer —which we called murder, but he : utu (payment). Also because thus his fathers punished trespassers, and he knew of no other law to assert his rights ! And so the horrible tale is written in blood across the pages of history: on our side illegal usurpation, and on his, his races' retaliation ! Taking all these facts into sober contemplation, is this writer exceeding moderation when he holds up to scorn the iniquities of his race, and now at this twelfth hour begs of it to be just in its judgments and lenient in its verdicts, and render unto the Maori that which the third and final article of the treaty invests him with : All the rights and privileges of a British subject ? " This brings me to the wail of the disappointed, who thought that this outlawed creature should not bid for a homestead in the Te Kuiti town land sale. Let me tell " Disgusted," who " never saw an owner allowed more than one bid," that the bidder was no longer the owner, nor even landlord at all: the Maori Land Council is the owner who collects the rents and distributes them among the nominal "owners!" Let me further tell him that had we not enmeshed the owners with illegal restrictions, whereby they were prevented from obtaining full market[£values by private negotiation, which, as British subjects, is their privilege, and they then contravened commercial usages, his objections would be admissable; but because they are so restricted they were compelled to place it in hands which could obtain such values; and they were within the rights of equity and as British subjects, if they wish to retain their own, or obtain others, to bid until they were satisfied ; for they have to pay the same as you or I, and conform to the same Maori Council regulations. But I will for the sake of a text admit that their bidding and consequent raising the price was dishonourable (which defacto I do not). Have we not for over sixty years diligently taught them, all the chicaneries ourselves practise in acquiring their lands, and are they not within the limits of retaliation justified in giving blow for blow ? The Maori is too accomplished a pupil not to profit by

our tuition ! The eyeless pot may say the kettle is black, but the witty epigram of a dear old Maori lady fits here nicely: "A white board casts a black shadow." AVe have forced the Maoris by our own illegalities to protect themselves, and who is to blame t : :en? Not you or I brother. And ye be judged ! —I am, etc., W.B.