TE KOOTI SEQUEL

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 210, 21 July 1939, Page 4

TE KOOTI SEQUEL

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED INCIDENT OF 50 YE AES AGO - “That • the Government should have introduced a special bill to present aboriginal natives' assembling -in a manner calculated to create alarm, and inconvenience and danger to the public peace, may, we suppose,” remarks The Post, . Wellington, of 50 years ago, “be accepted as. a practical confession that the Premier went beyond the authonity of the existing law in bis recent*proceedings against To Kooti. “If wlmt he- did ‘at Opotiki was legally warranted, there is no doubt that further legislation is not needed, but we liavei from tbe first contended that the Premier’s proceedings were high-handed, arbitrary and unlawful. It may be intended to indemnify bis conduct in tbe present bill, but if this is not done, and Te Kooti proceeds with bis threatened action for false imprisonment,’ wo liavgv little doubt that if the case is tried" before an unbiassed jury Te Kooti will get heavy damages.

“It is as well, however, in any case, that the powers of the Government to prevent the recurrence of To Kroti’s attempt to visit Poverty Pay should be clearly defined, so as to, prevent any further illegal action being resorted to, but the provisions of the bill wilT require careful consideration toi see that they are net* made unduly stringent in interference with native gatherings and native customs. The natives should certainly not be 1 placed under any disabilities which do not also apply to Europeans, nor should their right to hold gatherings for a peaceful and lawful purpose be curtailed.

“We dm not like the title of the bill, because it- tends to perpetuate the idea of there being one law for. the Europeans and another lor the> Maori, All laws should now be made equally applicable to> both. The native should ho. accorded no more liberty than is possessed bv the l{\it he should not possess less iy,. even., the slightest degree.” $ r -