MAORI MEETING AT KIO KIO.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 418, 29 November 1911, Page 5

MAORI MEETING AT KIO KIO.

! 11. ENARM KM II AO'S DREAM. By Telegraph. —Own Corespondent. Otorohanga, This? Day. At, Kio Kio yesterday, the Manicpat o natives opened a fine new meeting house. There were about five hundred present, including a large number of Waikato natives. IIcn«ro Kai hau and Ngarangi Katitia, cand(ialir for (ho Western Maori seal, win' present, being busy elcc--1 ioneoring. Pepene Ekctunc, another candidate, will arrive to-day and deliver an address this afternoon. Htnare Kaihau, on being questioned by a reporter why he had not put in an appearance during the laist. session of Parliament, replied that he had been sick, and continued by saying that he had no intention to withdraw from the contest. lie had many yeare in the House, and had always advocated, in his opinion, tho rights of the natives. He had always objected to the rating of the West Coast reserver, and to th" Government taking the Rotorua hot springs and the fishing in tho lakes from the natives. He did not believe in the Native Land Boards, and thought that the natives should bo on an equal footing with Europeans to trade, with their lands. llcnare then produced a plan of a Maori Parliament. which he proposed was to lie built a; Ngaruawahia. The pirn was signed by F. Louch and Son, architects, Auckland, and t,he fiuild-

inj; v. estimated to cost .£7OOO. A ':ir;■ i• liumiicr of pamphlets were Hsued yesterday en the subject, the contents oi'' which we r<" (Scaling with the proposal, ami <ho Treaty of Waitang'. He thai he had brought, the matter in fere the Native Minister on sever;;' occasions, but never had any sat ist'aei ien. However, be. continued, tu>V( rnment or no Government, tho W. jsi'j ii; i>n:■ <- of Parliament at Ngarii-:r-vi■,in was jtoiujx up. There wan no ;■< use;; why the Maoris should not, have Hume liu!e. Four representatives in the J1 ouye, were insuflicient to punnl the natives' interests. 1 have Mahuta's support, he Raid, and i expect that the work will he in hand in five or six months' time.