THE NATIVE POLICY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5488, 29 October 1878, Page 2

THE NATIVE POLICY.

TO Tim EDITOR UK Til «ii.i /.& LAND TIMES. ' Biß,—r Vs far as one can from the tc’e grains, it seems that the cheek” ou which the Native • Minister pridea'himself has failed him at tho last moment, and that the audacimi* proposal contained in his “ native affairs statement” has not been embodied in a BUI. This proposal was as follows : —“ Before any title Has been declared to be complete we shall require that it shall pa-s through the ordeal of the G overnor in Council, and for a certain number of months after completion of the legal titles wo shall reserve to ourselves the right to do one of three things-—either-to take the whole, of the block ourselves, paying the purchase money and the interest and expenses that may have accrued ; or, secondly, to take up'part of the block ou the same terms ; or, thirdly, that a certain quantity shall be cut up into small sections for settlement. These are the essential conditions we shall make in regard to the purchase of any native lands in the future.” (“ Hansard,’’ No. 15, p. 229.) On purely personal grounds, were I a shareholder in that; new land-sharking company of which two Ministers (the Hon. Robert Stout and the Hon. John Ballance) are provisional directors, I should regret extremely that such au admirable “principle” ou which to “deal fairly with the native people, and enable them to exercise full discretion in the selling of their laud,” has not been embodied in a new Native Lands Act. It would have opened up such a splendid field for. the exercise of that happy union of financial skill and political influence which has already distinguished the proseat Government in newspaper and telegraphic enterprise. In as in the case of the Beer and Joint Stock Companies Duty Bills, Ministers have, I fear, submitted to pressure from within and from without, aud deprived confiding shareholders of a “ good thing.” It is hard upon shareholders, and especially hard upon that numerous body of speculative persons who, having no particular political convictions, support a Government simply for what they can get out of them. However, “ there is corn in Egypt” yet. The “ land rings,” whether they belong to the Ministerial company or not, can still work a point. Nearly every Gazette contains refreshing evidence of that anxiety to encourage settlement and to “ deal fairly with the native people,” on which the present Government prides itself. It will be hard indeed if ths powers the Government already has cannot be used to favor its friends. These Gazette notifications look so fair and simple that X believe few Europeans, dud scarcely any natives, realise their full significance. “In pursmince of the provisions of the GovernmentNativeLandPurchases Act, 187 7,” says the Gazette, “it is hereby notified that money has been paid by or on-behalf of her Majesty the Queen for the purchase or acquisition of the several blocks of native land in the North Island, which are more particularly described and mentioned in the schedule hereto,” &c, &c., which schedule occupies no less than seven pages of the Gazette now before me, that of the 16th instant. Of course there may be cases in this and other Gazette notices, in which the spirit and intention of the Act are prop rly applied, that spirit and intention, being, that private speculators should be prevented from tempting the native owners to repudiate their bargains with the Government, when they were really, though not technically, complete! la the case of Europeans an action at Uw.for damages, or a suit to compel specific performance, is enough to secure the interests of contracting parties; hut it is obviously impossible to deal with natives in this wav, and the Legislature, - trusting to the good faitli of the Executive, very properly made speoi »I pro. visions in various Acts to meet the . exigencies of the case in the manner above indicated. By what almost amounts to a criminal exe'eise of the powers conferred upon it by law, the Government is in the habit of entering into what are really sham negot’ations for the purchase of blocks of native land, aud then gazetting them out of the reach of private purchasers. A laud purchase commissioner, or a native land agent, is employed to conduct these negotiations. A native, whose claim to any jure o- the land held by his tribe or hapu is of the most shadowy description— ** jocular tenures ”in England make no approach to the huge joke involved in most Maori tenures tolaud—can always be found who will sign anything that will give him £5 or ss. to spend in drink ; aud on the strength of this the whole block is gazetted out of the market. Usually, no doubt, more than one person signs and receives payment on account; but in many cases the total - sums paid ou large blocks of laud do not amount to more than £2O or £3O, and what is worse, nothing is settled about the price per acre to be finally paid; The whole thing is really so monstrous that I cannot believe that these transactions will hold good in law, and if I wanted -to speculate in native lands I should not hesitate to go in and purchase from the real owners any of those gazetted blocks, aud fight my claim out in the Supreme Court. Perhaps that is to be the game. The friends of the Government—the laud-sharking company, &c.—may be let into the secret. The “ kuo ving ones,” freed from competition in the open market, may take their chance, , Then the Government may suddenly find that its action lias been illegal from the beginning, and will not attempt to enforce its claims, Result : Fortunes fqr the friends of the Government and tho natives victimised.— I am, &c,, Economist. Wanganui, October 25.