SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1872.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume 1, Issue 4, 26 October 1872, Page 2

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1872.

If the reported speech of the gentleman recently called to the Upper House of Legislature from this district, is the same as that delivered in propria persona, by Mr. Randal Johnson, we certainly think that the honorable gentleman has neither given his subject that deep thought which it deserves, nor the country the full benefit of the powers of ratiocination which he has an extended credit for possessing, and of being able to use at will. It is difficult to understand why Mr. Johnson confined the limits of his motion to the production of “ a copy of a letter dated 3rd September, 1872, from himself, addressed to the Secretary for Crown Lands.” Surely the honorable gentleman did not think that his unofficial

letter, animadverting, we will suppose, on the “causesof dissatisfaction amongst the Maoris of Poverty Bay,” being laid on the table would, per se, constitute a ready panacea for the removal of that dissatisfaction, and at once put the question of Maori title into such a position as to be beyond the reach of future disputation ! Why did not the honorable gentleman call for the production of the Commissioners’ report, which, he believed had been accepted, and we may suppose, acted upon, without alteration? lie would then have been better enabled to show what that report was, and the “ good reasons” the Government had in adopting the peculiar form of Crown Grant which is undeniably a great grievance with the Natives. We should then have known why all the ceded lands were not investigated by the Commissioners who sat in June, 1869 ; and why the Commission did not sit from time to time, until the work was completed which it was appointed to perform. We should have learnt how it was that one of the gentlemen sitting as a Commiss'o n r in June, 1869, sat scyne eightein months after as a Judge of the Native Lands Court, and dispensed the title to some of the remaining blocks under the Native Lands Act. This subject is replete with argument; and the injustice to the Natives, who hold now under Crown Grant, is so palpable that we cannot but feel something is wanting—something more effective than the mild suggestion of Mr. Johnson’s, “ that in handing the lands back to the Maoris, it would be thought desirable that the form of Crown Grant should be different . from that which had been issued on i former occasions.” If, as has been clearly shown, the Natives hold as “joint tenants,” the Government have been ill-advised in practically taking from them their birthright. By ceding their lands originally, they were given to understand that their holding would be improved by accepting a title from the Crown. To give them a title which would disinherit their children, is akin to promising them bread and giving them a stone. It is a breach of faith with them, and pregnant with mischief, inasmuch as an indisputable understanding on the question of their land dealings, is the basis of our security, and forms an essential element in the amelioration of their status and condition.

We should rather have seen, if Mr. Johnson were desirous of excising a chronic ulcer, that he had demanded instant action, rather than leave to the perfunctory apathy of the Government, a question of such vital importance. Unless some pressure is brought to bear, we shall probably never know why that iniquitous principle of disinheritance was fused in the Native grants ; and the Hon. Mr. Johnson would have fulfilled his legislative mission more effectively, had he sought for positive rather than negative information, as to the varying principle and effect of the Grants which have been issued. This question is not to be exhausted in the space at our disposal, and we shall recur to it again.

English Mails. —The outward English Mails will leave as under, during the remainder of the year, via San Francisco:— Auckland — October 31, November 28, and December 26. Via Suez : —Sydney—November 2, December 28. Melbourne :—November 5, December 31.

Mr. Seed the Inspector of Customs, has been on an official visit to Gisborne and returned to Wellington by the Luna. We have only space enough in this issue to congratulate our readers on the result. Tardy justice has at length consented to give us what it could no longer refuse. Gisborne will be proclaimed a port of entry immediately on Mr. Seed’s arrival at Wellington; and all the advantages arising to the mercantile

community therefrom, will be a fact in esse A sub-collector will have charge of the port, and will have an office for the present in the Court-house buildings ; we have'not heard who the gentleman likely to be appointed is, but we trust it will be some one worthy of promotion. The cellar, under the Court house, has been offered by Captain Read, and, we believe accepted by the Inspector, fora bonded warehouse.

We have to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt, from the Superintendent’s Department at Auckland, of a complete file of Provincial Government Gazettes for 1872, and “ journals of the Auckland Provincial Council Session XXVII, 1871.”

The Rev. John O'Connell has been appointed by His Lordship, the Right Rev. Dr. Croke, Catholic Bishop of Auckland, as resident Priest to Gisborne and Poverty Bay district. The reverend gentleman arrived here on Wednesday last by the steamer Keera from Auckland, he officiates and preaches here on to-morrow (Sunday), and at Ormond on Sunday week. He is the first resident Catholic clergyman that has been appointed to the district, and we wish him everj- success.

By the Luna which arrived in the Bay on Sunday last from the Chatham Islands, we have intelligence of the satisfactory position of affairs there. The European population, it appears, with the history of New Zealand before them, got alarmed at the somewhat altered conduct of the Maoris. It will be remembered tliat some time since, a report was current to the effect that letters of a schismatic and revolutionary nature, were being exchanged between the Maorioris (the Chatham Island natives) and their friends, the Maoris, in New Zealand leading up to the questions of prophecy, and land disputes. Probably emboldened with hopes of success in case of a struggle, manifestations of a disagreeable nature have been made so as to cause much uneasiness in the minds of the peaceful residents, who looked to the Resident Magistrate for the protection he could afford. Mr. LaNauze proceeded at once to place the matter before the Government; and the Lunn was dispatched with Colonel St. John and some thirty men of the Armed Constabulary. Colonel St. John says that the aspect of affairs is quiet now, and confidence seems to be restored. We believe twenty of the Constabulary were left at the Chathams, and ten have been quartered at camp Ormond. This latter, we presume, is a step towards planting an outpost on the frontier of settlement here.

A short time since we published a report to the effect that, consequent on the change of Ministry which put Mr. Stafford at the head of affairs, Mr. H. R. Russell would probably be employed in some mischievous capacity on the East Coast. That evil has passed through the resumption of power by what we may now call the peace party; but the seed of evil doers is being sown broadcast in our midst, which will lead to anarchy and tumult of the most mischievous kind. Our own observations have just been endorsed by reliable authority, that the natives in this district are now in a very unsettled state, owing to the course Messrs. Russell and Co. have pursued with regard to certain land transactions in Hawke’s Bay. Henare Matua has, or, until recently had, delegates who have been actively employed in stirring up strife, and inducing a belief in the minds of the natives here, that they can, with his, and the Pakehas’ assistance, repudiate their own sales, and force re-possession of their lands. Some considerable anxiety is manifested at the form and organization of the movement; and' it behoves those amongst us who have any power or influence, to use them in such a way as will avert the serious results which must follow if a determined stand be not taken at once.

Captain porter was a passenger by the Luna to Wellington on Tuesday. Amongst other matters, we learn it is Captain Porter’s intention to lay the whole state of Maori school mismanagement in' this district, by Colonel Russell, before the Government. ’Tis time, indeed, something were done to extricate these schools from the muddle in which the Inspector has succeeded in placing them.