CLAIM AGAINST THE CROWN.

NZ Truth, Issue 110, 27 July 1907, Page 6

CLAIM AGAINST THE CROWN.

Maoris and the Otago '.Purchase. •As time goes on and the gent-ie Maori becomes better educated and more "civilised"- year by year, so does bis comprehension widen as to what thieves the white inhabitants of the . earty days really w-em. They knew long ago that they hadn't been done. fairly by, and that bottles" of runi', and blankets, and blunderbusses and- old billy-cock hats and red handkerchiefs weren't quite the proper medium of exchange for vast tracts of land, which, were filched from them when they weren't- thinking. Very little money passed at any time. But both m the North and -the South just nov/, tbe educated Day and Martins are thinking and saying things, and m the caso of tbe South Island the Government will shortly find itself up against a. stupendous rock. The influential Maoris there have been conferring, and have opened their cavernous mouths to an appalling extent. The Ngaitahu tr be were the original OWNERS OF THE SOUTH ISLAND' and they aro making claim against the Crown m respect of what, is known as the Otago Purchase, .Kemps' Purchase and the Muribiku Purchase. These embrace most of tbe Canterbury, Southland, and Otago provinces, and thc acreage runs to thirty millions. And for all. this tbe Crown only paid a paltry £5000. Certain promises were- then made to the Maoris by tho purchasers, and these bave never been complied with.. Large areas 'that were, to have been allocated to those who signed the deeds and their heirs hadn't been set aside. The Crown has time and again had reports made on tbe matter, and although these have been favorable to the Maoris nothing bas ever been done. Now those concerned ; are up m arms m ear-nest ; a fighting fund is being formed, records are to be searched, and the Government will have to face tbe problem with botb eyes open.