CORRESPONDENCE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 170, 5 July 1909, Page 5

CORRESPONDENCE.

TO TEtK EtMToK. Sir,—There ha? of late been a conI siderablc amount of prominence given to the Te Kuiti Chamber of Corr.ir.ccre. j and the Acting-Premier has accepted !an invitation from the Chairman of the body mentioned to visit tho district. Presumably the invitation was given with the idea that some material good would result from tho visit. Ido not like acting the part of the wet blanket but in the face of history it is difficult to believe that Mr Carroll is to he influenced toward i progress even when brought under the spell of the local Chamber of Commerce. Ido not pretend to be an authority on the subject, but I am convinced of one thing, and that is that the solution of the Native Question docs not lie with the Hon. J. Carroll. Neither does it lie with the Government, nor with the Opposition. The question is one which affects the whole country, and before anything useful is done towards settling it the whole of the representatives, or the bulk, of the whole Dominion must be brought to undirstandthe subject, and know what is happening in this and other districts where the question in all its nakedness obtrudes. Th>» first thing to be tackled,in my opinion, as a preliminary to dealing with the | main question is the task of educating I the Southern members of Parliament. Probably a number of the Northern j members require educating also, but if | these do not understand the subject \ they would surely support any intelli-1 gent meassure which was likely to I make for a solution of the difficulty, i

I am quite aware of the fact that , many of the Southerners have no burn-1 ing desire to be educated on a subject j which in their opinion concerns them, ; or their constituents very little. This is all the more reason why the effort should be made, and made in such a manner that they must take heed of it. I would suggest that the Te Kuiti Chamber of Commerce should turn its i attention to this phase of the question, j The matter is outside the ken of party j politics, and it is apparent that noth-1 ing will be done until the Southern members are interested sufficiently to take the matter up. Let the Chamber j extend an invitation to all the South- f ern members and to representatives of : the leading Southern newspapers to j come and study the question on the i spot. We can undertake to show them, like «c did to the Hon. R. McNab. phases of the question of which they are entirely ignorant. We can show them how progress is retanled through the existence of thousands upon thousands of acres of unproductive land. We can show them an example of township tenure, unique in the history of the world. We can fill them to the brim with examples of how injury is being wrought to both European and Maori, and allow them to go home and digsct the pile of facts, and come to a realisation of how the Dominion, South as well as North, is suffering because our legislators are too incompetent, or too careless to direct their effort towards mastering the j most important subject in the Domin- j ion today. While they were here we \ might even educate them a little on the subject of roads, a subject by the way. which is tremendou?ly affected by the Native Question. The suggestion may seem a large order for the Te Kuiti Chamber of Commerce, but it might seek the assistance of the i Auckland and possibly the Hamilton Chamber. Both are intensely interests in the question, and I consider an effort should at least be made. Trusting the Chamber will be able to see as I do it* this matter. —I am, etc., SUFFERER.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —ln a recent issue of the "Chronicle" reference is made to the Liquor Question in the King Country, saying, "That it is calculated to turn Te Kuitians green with envy, when they conntrast their position with that of such favoured districts as Mokau, Awakino and Raetihi," where license has lately been attained. I may say that the state of the two first mentioned places as I saw and learnt of them as I rode through that district lately, was not a credit to any community, and one not calculated to turn anysober minded person green with envy, at their having attained that license. While staying at Awakino I heard and saw most disgusting language and behaviour going on. Several free lights were engaged in and the state of matters was such that it was no fit place for any of the women or settlers' children to be in or about at certain times. I was told that many of the bona fide settlers of the district protested against the granting of the license, and that it was not the wisb of the local storekeeper to have it, but that the licensing Bench have forced it on the community. At Mokau drinking to excess has been carried on also, and the safety of the public endangered at the ferry, On the face of such results the settlers are again going to make an effort to have the license removed. There is no doubt that the present surveillance of the Liquor Traffic in the King Country is most distasteful and unsatisfactory, and wrong in principle to both European and Maori alike, and the time is ripe for it to be or not to be bandied in a proper licensed manner at the wish of the people. I believe a special agreement prohibits the sale of liquor in the King Country at the wish of the Maoris, but today the surrounding conditions are thoroughly changed, and it is quite fitting that conditions should fall in harmony with these circumstances. The King Country today is closely settled with the whites, and they are demanding their British privileges. The Maori is also asking for these same privileges. ( would say, give to the Natives now the first option whether liquor shall be licensed or not in the King Country, and then if their majority wisb it licensed, take a poll of the whites, and to their respective numbers for or against, add the respective totals of the Maori votes, leaving it to the grand totals to decide what is to be.—l am, etc., F.L.

| (To the Editor) ! Sir, —1 should like to know when ; steps are going to be taken to have the petition in connection with the liquor question gone on with. Apparently the recent agitation was only a flash in the pan, and like a great many other local movements is being allowed to die a natural death. ( notice the local constable has not been nearly so active in accosting people at the railway station lately, a fact which is probably due to the clear decision given by the Magistrate last Court day. At the same time there is the risk that another Magistrate unacquainted with local conditions may be allotted to us any day. and then the same old unbearable order of things would arise again. There will be no proper satisfaction until the position is properly and permanently defined, and this will never be done unless the people take steps to bring it abouL l am. etc., A LOVER OF JUSTICE