The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4535, 2 October 1875, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2.

It would be idle to pretend even that the resolution, proposed by the Hon. Mr. Waterhouse, and adopted without division by the Legislative Council, after a speech from the Premier in vindication of the Government policy, was unimportant. It was as direct a censure of the land policy of the Government as could be recorded. No doubt the Government are responsible to the House of Representatives in an especial sense ;—that is, were such a motion carried in the elective chamber, Ministers would of necessity resign. A motion of censure, however, such as the one under consideration, adopted by the Legislative Council, does not possess the same political significance, but it is, nevertheless, of very grave political import. When one branch of the Legislature, almost unanimously resolves, that “in its opinion the acknowledgment “ by the Government, in the purchase of “Native lands, of ‘rights,’ or leases, “ acquired by Europeans from tho native “ owners, in violation of the laws of the “ colony, is opposed to all sound prin- “ ciples of public policy,” it becomes tho duty of the Government to give their most serious consideration to the whole question. Wo are not now referring to any of the facts, or alleged facts, which were commented on during tho debate. This is not the time, neither is it the proper occasion, for doing so. Our remarks are directed entirely to the general policy, which has been defined, with such sharp-cut lines, by the .Legislative Council. And that policy, in brief, is this : the Government, in its native land purchases, should respect the law. With that policy we entirely agree. The only remarkable fact in tho whole affair is this, that it should have been found necessary at all to place it upon record in the journals of the General Assembly. The Government should not go outside the law in any case, and wo fail to gather from tho explanation of the Hon. Dr. Pollen any

sufficient justification for what has _ admittedly been done. The reasons given by him may satisfy Ministers, they may satisfy many people besides, but for all that, it is beyond dispute that no mere reasons of expediency can be held to justify any Government in recognising illegal transactions. The plea, for example, that a company of private speculators might have locked up a million of acres in the western district of- Wellington against settlement, will not stand the test of close analysis. The answer to it is so obvious as to suggest itself to anyone’s mind on reading it ; but this dread of land monopoly appears to have been the moving cause.which induced the Government to make a bargain for which, with others of a similar character, they have just been formally censured by the Legislative Council. In this case, as in all other cases, the only safe as well as the right policy for Ministers to pursue is to obey the law. If the law as it stands does not meet the case, there are annual sessions of the General Assembly, and the law may be amended so as to suit all the requirements of public policy. According to the Premier there was a great and pressing danger in this ease ; all the more reason, therefore, for bringing the subject before Parliament, and passing such a law as would have protected public interests without doing injury to private rights. We need scarcely say that we sympar thise most fully with the remarks of the Premier, in reference to the difficulties by which the Native Minister is surrounded. On that point, we think there will be only one opinion. And in this article we make no reflection npon that most distinguished member of the Government. Nor do we think any one harbors the faintest suspicion that there has been anything in the matters complained of beyond an error in judgment. The Government, in their judgment, acted for the best; in the opinion of the Legislative Council, and we are satisfied in the opinion of the country also, when the facts are generally known, they have not acted wisely. And as Mr. Waterhouse remarked, if the thing could be got rid of wholly and for ever by ratifying what has been done, we should advise it to be settled as speedily as possible. But a most vicious principle has been affirmed, namely, that private individuals have only to combine and proceed in a particular direction, in defiance of laW, tO enaulc t-hein to force the Government to buy them off, lest tnc settlement of the country should be permanently impeded by their operations. This appears to us to be the gravamen of the whole business. And we confess that we do not quite see any way out of it, except by legislation. Of course, there is another side to the whole question. There is the plausible theory that the Government should not be a land jobber; —that private individuals should be permitted to acquire the lands of the Natives in their own way, which would of necessity bo the most profitable and expeditious way that could be adopted. And if the circumstances' of the country made such a process of extinguishing native title possible, without danger to the public peace, wo should support direct purchase of native lands to the utmost. But experience proves that this system cannot be pursued without very great risk of disturbance in Maori districts. Wherefore the Government muse, of necessity, buy land for settlement ; and here comes in the disturbing element which the Native Minister, on the admission of the Premier, has found it so very difficult to deal with. Now, we feel it to be our duty to sustain the Native Minister in resisting, as we believe he will resist, to the very uttermost, all future attempts at private speculation in land to the prejudice of the public interest. The resolution of the Legislative Council, whilst it administers a severe rebuke for what has been done, is an intimation that in future no concession is to be made to persons placing themselves in antagonism to the Government in the acquisition of land for settlement. We trust the Government will act upon that intimation. It will save them a great deal of trouble, and protect them from much unjust aspersion, besides giving entire satisfaction to the country. One word in conclusion, and it has reference to the remarks of the Hon. Mr. Mantell, on the admission, by the Premier, that in the purchase of native lands the Government were compelled to employ agents, whose honesty was not above suspicion. His words meant this if they had any meaning. We think Mr. Mantell’s observations were called for by the remarkable statement of Dr. Pollen, which appeared in our report of Thursday’s Legislative Council proceedings. This admission was the most damaging part of the whole debate. Such a state of things cannot continue. The whole of the transactions in land are covered with suspicion by the statement, and nothing but a thorough and radical reform of the land purchase department can possibly restore it to public confidence. There is no blinking this question. It has been obtruded so prominently, by the head of the Government, that in justice to himself and his colleagues he is bound to do something more than “watch” the persons employed in the acquisition of native land. Agents, of the very shadyclass spoken of by Dr. Pollen, should be got rid of. There is no middle course possible now. The moral sense of the public will demand it. And so also should the old and tried officers of the Native Department —men who have earned the confidence and respect of the public by long years of faithful service ; —why should they be under suspicion and reproach for the sake .of retaining a few pakoha-Maori touters for land ? There are men in the Native Department as honorable, and high-minded, and painstaking, and honest as any set of men in any otherbranch of the public service at Home or in the Colony, and for their sake, we think it only right and proper to press for the summary dismissal of those agents to whom the Premier referred, and who must be well known to the Government, inasmuch as Ministers are engaged in the very unpleasant and unprofitable work of watching them, to ensure their doing as little harm as possible.