THE STANDARD. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1873.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 109, 29 November 1873, Page 2

THE STANDARD.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1873.

“ We shall sell to no man justice or right: We shall deny to no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

The early closing of the Deed, of Cession Commission Court, and the termination of what promised a short time since to agitate the country for many months to come, was as unexpected as the result was satisfactory. The political importance to the colony of a peaceable solution of the difficulties which have compassed the confiscated land question on this coast since the fiat first went forth against the rebel tribes, can hardly be measured by a few words of approval or congratulation : and possibly the great majority of settlers in the district and elsewhere, not intimately connected with, or directly interested in, the scheme of confiscation, are unable to see clearly through the hazy vista of circumstances that surround

it, and to realize the great advantages that will follow the adoption of the Report of the Commissioners by the Government, on one of the most important investigations in which the colony has ever been engaged. As we have reported, the natives, acting on the suggestion of the Crown Agent, Mr. Locke, have accepted terms that, according to our view of the matter, are but an instalment of justice to which they were entitled years ago; and the Commissioners accordingly recommend that the remainder of the Ceded Block, excepting, of course, those portions already passed by their Court, and the lands retained by Government on account of Hauhaus, should be handed over in globo to the following tribes, namely, Ai tanga a Mahaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngaitaiiupo, and Ngatikahungunu, quite irrespective of any and all individual claims, thus leaving them free to enjoy the luxury of free trade in the disposition of their properties, given to them under the Native Lands Act.

In saying this much we would gladly have added that no seeming injustice has been done in the Government not being in a position to protect the rights of Europeans who have entered into preliminary negotiations with the natives for the leasing of some portions of the Ceded territory. It is essentially hard upon the individual; but in working a comprehensive scheme, involving not only the interests of many, but also the peace of the district, the few must, in the nature of things, give way. And this brings us again to the question of injustice which, primarily inflicted on the natives, has had a retardative effect on those who would have become bond fide settlers, had they not been thwarted by the tardy administration of the Government.

Z* The instructions given to Mr. Locke carry with them a conviction to our mind that the Government has only now discovered its real position, and has at last conceived an idea of its proper duty in doing that which should not have been delayed so long; and we purpose giving a short account of the different positions this confiscation business has occupied from

the date of the Deed of Cession to the present time, in order to show how fully justified the Government was in supporting the action which has been taken under it.

The true object of the Deed of Cession as most persons are aware, was to yield up to the Crown all the land contained within certain boundaries, on the express understanding that applications from “ men of those tribes who have adhered “ to the Queen, and who have sent in “ their claims within three months of the “ date of the Cession, should have them “ adjudicated on by a Commission of ‘‘Judges of the Native Lands Court.” The first Court of Judges appointed by the Governor, sat in Gisborne on the 30th June, 1869, at which an agreement was made by Mr. Atkinson, who, by virtue of his authority as Crown Agent, said he had succeeded in making an arrangement with Mr. Graham —acting on behalf of the interested tribes —by which certain portions of the confiscated lands were to be relinquished to the Crown, in full satisfaction of its demands against the rebels, and, zn consideration of which he, Mr. Atkinson, wm willing to waive all claims to the remainder of the Block. Mr. Graham acquiesced in this arrangement, the natives affirming the same in open Court. The portions given up to the Crown were the Muhunga, Patutahi, and Te Arai. Mr. Graham also handed into the Court certain claims lodged prior to the 18th March 1866 —- under the three months clause named in the Deed of Cession, and the agreement wai ratified by the contracting parties. It is evident from the foregoing that the subsequent delay and effete action taken by the Government, were provocative of much ill feeling. The natives did not understand their position and the Government could not explain it to them. A dangerous delay of four years, gave them opportunities to hatch new grievances, and to attempt to quash „ an agreement they obviously bad forgotten the exact terms of. Ignorance of their true position was their chief inducement for enlisting in the ranks of Hen are Matua, with the avowed object of getting, rid of a bargain whose value was depreciated by a most careless neglect, and non-ratification of its conditions. It is, therefore, pretty clear that the decision recently arrived at should have been given in 1869; we should have been

saved much irritation and annoyance; the natives themselves would not have suspected our good intentions ; and the territory, for the most part included in the agreement, would have been occupied and settled. But what is to be said of the Governments which, in the face of agreements made by their own officers, kept the country dangling peace and trouble, for a period of four years, and then tumble by accident, as it were, into the proper path of duty ? Whether such a concession at that time were wise, is beside the question as it stood until recently. We have merely to deal with the facts as we find them. Mr. Atkinson undoubtedly should hive done in 1869 what Mr. Locke has done in 1873, by -which all the disturbances of the past few months would have been avoided. The carrying out of these stipulations in their integrity is, therefore, we repeat, but an instalment of tardy justice to the natives* long, though unintentionally, withheld'.