MR. HOBBS ON NATIVE MATTERS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5710, 18 July 1879, Page 3

MR. HOBBS ON NATIVE MATTERS

Auckland, June 24.

Mr. Hobbs, in his speech to the electors at Otahuhu, said bis main impression had been that Sir G. Grey was to accept the portfolio of Native Minister as well as acting as Premier; and he might say there was no one more fitted to administer the Native Department. He was undeceived, however, when the Hon. Mr. Sheehan went to Parihaka and demanded the surrender of Hiroki, the murderer, and coming back afterwards looking rather foolish. He was satisfied that Sir G. Grey would do nothing like that. The war, which now seemed inevitable, and which he believed would be the last Maori war, might bo traced to that Parihaka meeting, for there could he no doubt that the effect of it was to give To Whiti an inflated idea of his own importance. He had gone to the native meeting at Te Kopua in order to see and to hear for himself, and he was obliged to admit that it had a very depressing effect upon him. He could assure the Government that they ought to place a person on the frontier to give them reliable information and to act with fidelity. True Mr. Grace had been recently sent there. Ho was a good native scholar, but then his time was taken up in giving orders upon the different storekeepers _ for goods of all kinds, and he thought if the vouchers could he got they would find that the native meeting was a frightfully expensive affair. He believed Sir George Grey did quite right in breaking it up, for there was no option. They never recognised him until he went away, but treated him with contempt, especially the more fanatic of the Hauhaus. They seemed to think that Sir George Grey was the cause of all their troubles, and of the injustice of which they complained. He had spoken to old Manuhiri, who used to live at Mangare, and when he asked the old chief the cause of his animosity towards the Government, Manuhiri pulled out from his breast a copy of the Government Gazette of 1863, which contained a notification by Sir George Grey, ordering the natives to leave nxangare. are avanaum was one or me nnesc specimens of a Maori chief he had ever seen, and at the meeting he spoke with great feeling, though in a subdued tone. He said Grey was their friend and the Queen their mother ; but who parted them ? Te Ngakau also blamed Sir G. Grey, and the feeling seemed general. Nahauia had applied to Sir George Grey one of the most insulting epithets in the Maori language, “ he kuri inu toto ” (a blooddrinking dog). His hearers knew that the accusation was not true, that the Premier had sought to prevent bloodshed between the two races, and endeavored to conciliate the Maoris. The wisest step taken by the Government was in bringing with them the Ngapuhi chiefs, whose loyal expressions had the effect of moderating the utterances of the Hauhaus. He (Mr. Hobbs) was pleased to find a good feeling existed between the settlers on the frontier and the natives. 11 • believed the day was not remote when the latter would abandon their isolation. He had a long and interesting conversation with Rewi at the Northern Club with respect to that chiefs interview with the Government, and it was with the greatest surprise that he had seen the conversation between Rewi and the Governor reported almost verbatim in the Star the same evening. He did not know where the information was derived from, but he could vouch for its correctness. Rewi said he was like a bush pig, and that Majors Mair and Jackson had taken him and Mad brought him to the Governor. The speaker went on at some length to defend Major Mair and Major Jackson from the accusation of attempting to thwart the Government. He was strangely impressed with the sobriety and decorum preserved amongst the Hauhaus, and especially so when he contrasted it with the drunkenness and what not that was going on all the time at Alexandra. It was his firm conviction that no man should hold the portfolio of Native Minister, or, in act, hold any important office in the Native Department, whose political, social, and moral character was not such as to be a worthy example to the natives. Mr. Hobbs theu went on to deal with the question of native lands, and in doing so expressed an opinion that the Government was acting wrong in determining to be the sole purchasers. The natives .' ; not be made the subjects of exceptional legislation in this matter, but should be placed on the same level as European landholders. Of course the contingency of their becoming paupers might be guarded against by making a certain portion of the reserves inalienable. This was the feeling of the natives themselves, and it was the sore point with all of them. It was on the promise of the Native Minister not to interfere with private purchasers, but would assist them, that his support had been secured ; for he had strongly condemned the action of the, late Government in acquiring what was considered a land estate for this island. He disagreed with the practice of proclaiming blocks of land, for it inflicted a peculiar hardship upon settlers. A case in point was narrated of a Tauranga settler. Facilities should be given to honest and respectable men for the acquisition of land, for free trade in these matters was his belief.