SIR DONALD M‘LEAN’S WORK.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4435, 7 June 1875, Page 2

SIR DONALD M‘LEAN’S WORK.

It appears by telegrams from Napier that the work of the Native Minister on the East Coast is not yet at an end, and that he is now engaged in bringing about a settlement of a long-deferred matter—the Wairoa lands. Eor some years past, the state of the native lands at Poverty Bay and at the Wairoa has been such ns to make the numerous settlers, attracted to these districts by the richness of the soil, feel very uncomfortable about their titles. Ceded originally to the Crown by the tribes owning them, the lands in question were, with some exceptions, returned to the natives on account of the loyalty and good behaviour of the majority of them. But as they were restored in a lump, sundry slices being kept for military settlers, groat difficulty was experienced by settlers, and by the natives themselves, in ascertaining the .precise rights of individuals and of families interested in the various blocks; and this difficulty was increased by constant fresh claims put in by former rebels, who had surrendered, and were living peaceably and quietly. It is needless to recapitulate the various methods attempted to bring matters to a comfortable termination, hampered as they were with the indefinite promises and agreements made by the General Government Agent in 1809. It is sufficient to say, that now the Poverty Bay lands have boon referred to the action of the Native Land Court, which, under the presidency of Judge Bogan, has been doing good work and giving satisfaction to both races. In the matter of the Wairoa lands, the chief difficulty appears to have lain in the fact that the claims of various sections of the same tribe overlapped each other, and that there was a disagreement between the Wairoa tribes and the inland Urewera as to boundary. In addition to this, Europeans had taken up their leases from natives, which were repudiated by other claimants, and they, too, felt that their title was insecure, or, to put it more plainly, that they had no title at all. This, as far as we understand it, is the question upon which the Native Minister is now engaged, no doubt in the same. spirit which actuated him through the wearying investigation he lately held at Maketu, when ho informed the Arawa that they must not think that he was sitting as a judge of the Native Land

Court, but that he was there in accordance with their wishes, to hear their grievances, and to give them his advice. Altogether, the present tour of Sir Donald McLean appears to have been attended with his customary success. 'From Napier to Auckland, thence to the Thames, then to the North, to Waikato, back to the Thames and Ohinerauri, then down the Bay of Plenty to the East Coast, Poverty Bay, and Napier, he has had his hands full of native work, and as usual has done it well. One feature in the policy which he has persistently adopted towards the natives, and one perhaps which has the most helped to bring about the results he has achieved, has been the reversal of the old system of depreciating the authority of the chiefs of the tribes. It was formerly deemed that the first step neoessarry to bring about a new code among the natives, and to induce them to adopt our laws, was to abrogate altogether the influence of the chiefs ;—to break down their power, and to replace them by younger and unknown men, whose sole claim was a smattering of education. How those ideas eventuated wo can easily learn in the records of the last few years. Stung in their pride by the neglect shown to them, the chiefs declined to exert their influence in favor of the Government, and when hostilities broke out their old prestige at once demolished the feeble pretence of leadership assumed by men of lower rank. Had they been formerly treated differently, it is on the cards that they might have continued to be subjects invested with some slight formal authority, until a more settled Hfe could bring about a desire for English law. However, it is useless to speculate as to what might have been : the fact exists now that the Native Minister has recognised the power which chiefs still wield for good and for evil, and that by getting them to work in harmony with the Government, he has been able'to bring to a close more than one difficult and complicated question. In a political point of view, he may be congratulated upon what he has done in the last six months, notwithstanding the sneers of the short-sighted prophets who will persist in sitting on the uncomfortable stool of unbelief, and in shaking their heads dismally, even when they can find no fault, though without the same effect as produced by Lord Burleigh in the “ Critic.” Some of these good people, for instance, profess to see nothing in the Waikato meeting, simply because there and then the isolated tribes did not at once throw open their lands for lease or purchase. Now, to any one who has lived a few years in the North Island, such reasoning stands for what it is worth; —less than nothing. To expect Maoris, after years of fighting and of determined resistance, to give up everything all at once, would have been altogether too much. It would have been contrary to all customs, traditions and manners of the Maori race, and would have been a far less hopeful sign than the course adopted by them on this occasion, which indicates a sincere wish to come to an accommodation, whatever may be the idle bluster of a few braggarts among them. The opening of Ohinemuri being a tangible fact, and one in which so many persons were interested, was of course hailed with delight, and was thought much more of than the interview with Tawhiao. Yet to men looking at the interests of the colony, and not at those of a solitary portion of it, the Ohinemuri success, happy as it was, cannot bear comparison with the result achieved in breaking down the top rail of the fence which has for so long separated the two sections of the community in Waikato, and which has given protection to disaffection and discontent. Of less paramount importance, although necessary from the state of affairs, were the meetings held by Sir Donald McLean in other parts of the island ; but of one of them, that at Maketu, we can only say that, knowing something of the place and the people, we must commend the steady patience which enabled Sir Donald to remain there during a month, listening quietly to tribe after tribe, as it poured forth its grievances, and entered upon genealogical details which would have wearied the soul of every tabarded pursuivant in the Col-lege-at-Arms.