Sessional Notes.

Manawatu Herald, 16 August 1904, Page 2

Sessional Notes.

NATIVE LAND COURT JUDGES.

The question of the salaries paid to Judges of the Native Land Court was raised during the debate on the Estimates on Friday night. Complaint was made that the salaries were inadequate. Mr Herries said there was no class of work that deserved to be better paid than the work of the Native Land Court Judges. The natives in all parts of the colony, he alleged, were complaining that the Native Land Courts were not doing their work. This was a matter of very serious import to the natives of the North Island, and he thought that something would have to be done to rehabilitate the Native Land Court. The payment of higher salaries wtmld secure a better class of men as Judges. Mr A. L. D. Fraser said men who occupied these positions required to be acquainted with the folk-lore of the Maori; they must be men of great mental acumen, with a knowledge of the customs of the Maori people. He, personally, had sat in a Court where the Judge was receiving £4OO a year, and who had to deal with lands worth three quarters of a million. He did not think any Judge sitting on the Supreme Court in New Zealand had the responsibility of a Native Land Court Judge. The Hon. J. Carroll, in replying, said be was in favour of any amendment that would raise the salaries of civil servants. However, the-matter did not rest with a single Minister. From this y*ar they had fixed the minimum at £4OO. Some of the old Judges were receiving £550. As new men were appointed, it was hardly advisable to appoint them at a salary received by men twenty-five years in the service, and so it was thought just as well to start at £4OO, and then advance onwards, according to merit. Mr •Seth-Smith was the Chief Judge at the present time at a salary of £6OO. Chief Judge Davey had been drawing £BOO. It was the intention of the Government to gfltf Mr Sethgraith to consolidate 'the Native Lands Acts during the recess.

MAORI FOLK-LORE. I xplanation was asked on Friday night of the vote on the Estimates of £250 for Maori legends. Inquiry was made whether this work had anything to do with Mr Izett’s recent book. Meeting complaints made in regard to that work, the Hon J. Carroll said he had nothing to say about European writers of Maori history. The work on Maori legends in question was being prepared by Mr Stowell, a half-caste, of the Bay of Islands, a man thoroughly versed in the folk-lore of the Maori, So far as his (the Native Minister’s) own knowledge was concerned, Mr Stowell was a very capable man. His work was almost completed, and there would be nothing European about it.