The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1874.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 217, 28 October 1874, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLES ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1874.

“ 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.”

It is satisfactory to find that the business of the Native Lands’ Courtois being proceeded with, under the able presidency of Judge Rogan, assisted by Enoka te Whanake, Native Assessor, in as satisfactory a manner as the perplexing and intricate questions of conflicting title will allow. In the nature of things a tedious prolixity surrounds the proper and full investigation of the bondfiles of the claimants, each of whom seems quite prepared to support his or her right, with arguments, sometimes more forcible and energetic, than agreeable or convincing-

Lt is, certainly, one of those consummations on which our daily hopes are fixed, that the question of native title to land in the Poverty Bay district, should be definitely adjudicated on with as little delay as possible ; and that the proper owners be secured in their possessions by Crown Grant. The Native Lands’ Court has been looked forward to as the great panacea for the removal of all the ills to which the patience and long suffering of the settlers have been subjected, for some years, and which—as a super-addition to a general neglect by both General and Provincial Governments — has largely contributed towards the retardation of settlement, and the influx of capital into the district. Whether the Act as it stands at present, after all the patching and darning it has had, will prove to be the efficacious machinery, some think, and others hope to find it, remains to be seen. The present adjudication may be looked upon as a crucial test, not only of the provisions, and efficacy, of the present Act, but of those of any Act that can be framed, having for its object the definite settlement of agrarian disputes between native owners, or disputants ; and we watch the proceedings now. going on in the Gisborne Court with something more than ordinary interest. As an opinion has gone forth from persons in high authority, somewhat adversely to the workableness of the Native Lands’ Act, it is but proper, Whatever defects there may be in it, that they should be kept unrevealed from the N atives themselves, at least, as much as it is possible to do. Nothing can militate more against the successful solution of this great problem, than for the Maoris either to suspect the motive of the Government, or to doubt its ability to deal with their laud disputes. We are, however, quite convinced, that, under the painstaking tact and supervision of Judge Kogan—whose mind has evidently been trained to grasp and unravel the subtle distinctions, and knotty arguments that come before him—the Natives will obtain justice, if it be within the four corners of the Act to grant it to them. If this can be done; if the conflicting claimants — whatever their rights may be—can possibly be brought to that state of moral comprehension, as to quiescently concur in a partial or total deprivation of the lands they have been accustomed to look upon as theirs by an indefeasible right—Judge Bogan is the man to do it; and so much the better for all concerned. For our own part, however, we are somewhat sceptical, as to the difficulties that surround this business being so readily and peacefully settled as some are inclined to think ; but, under any circumstances, it behoves the Government, and all in authority, to give the matter a careful and deliberate attention; and, for the future prosperity of this district, not only to settle the questions now in dispute, but also endeavor to acquire as much territory as possible for settlement, before it passes into the hands of private speculators.