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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5451, 16 September 1878, Page 2

We publish elsewhere a letter from Mr. Thomas, the author of a pamphlet under the title of “ Byotwarry; a Solution of “ the Maori Land Quoatiop,” of whom and of his projects we have heard so much of late. Mr. Thomas, in the introduction to his pamphlet, tells us that ho is about to retire on a pension from the service of the Indian Government, and that he is not seeking land for himself either as a-farmer or as a runholder, and has no individual interests to serve. Under these circumstances, as a stranger and a gentleman, he was entitled to something bettor than the scant courtesy and inhospitality with which he has been met recently at Taranaki. Liberty, according to the interpretation of the present Govcr.imeni, would appear to be the right to do what they like, themselves, and to control the actions of others. Mr. Thomas has been guilty of the great offence of waiting to see llewx at Waiters, and to talk to him about the native tenure of land in India, which is known as Byotwarry. This is an offence for which ho has been abused to order by the subsidised newspapers, and subjected to much personal inconvenience and insult by people at Taranaki who, in fear or in slavishness, take their cue from the groat men in office. Mr. Thomas will probably survive it, and as he appears determined to ventilate the subject, we shall give him with pleasure the opportunity of doing so in cur columns, without committing ourselves, however, to an approval of his views. If they are sound and good, it will be well that they should be made known and fairly considered ; if they are impracticable, they must stand condemned. Except by reason, Mr. Thomas has and can have no power of enforcing them.

Byotwarrry may be roughly defined to be a system of occupation of land on perpetual lease, upon certain conditions; so long as these conditions are complied with by the occupier the lease is perma,nent, and the title is as secure ns if it were freehold. In India .the Government is the landlord, and the ryots the tenants. In the North Island of New Zealand the Maori people who are proprietors would be landlords having the beneficial interest, and the European settler the tenant, the Government being the intermediary. Having premised so much we shall allow Mr. Thomas to speak for himself; it is fair that ho should be heard upon a subject of great interest about which he speaks with intelligence and with the authority of experience.