Poverty Bay Standard. PUBLISHED EVERT TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Saturday, December 17, 1881.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 1013, 17 December 1881, Page 2

Poverty Bay Standard.

PUBLISHED EVERT TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND SATURDAY MORNINGS. Saturday, December 17, 1881.

We shall sell to no man -.Justice or Right; ~We shall deni/ to no man or Right; We shall defer to no man ■JuStloe or Right.

may riot be generally understood what amount of importance there is involved in the 'recent decision given by the Court of Appeal, re the joint tenancy subdivisions of lands in this district. It means, simply, that all the business that has been done ; all the awards made by the Native Land Court Commissioners, and all the certificates of title given by them, in virtue of their powers conferred by Act of Parliament, are not worth a straw ! These are ominous words, whose potentiality for evil may not be at once gauged by the superficial reader. The plain statement of the facts are these : —Wi Haronga, a Native Chief of some celebrity in this district —one capable of looking after his own business —an astute man—what some would irreverently term, a “ bush lawyer ’’—not feeling satisfied with the adjudications of the Native Land Court Judges, in parcelling out the lands in which he was interested, appealed to the Supreme Court for redress, principally., on the ground of general dissatisfaction, but really to test the power of these Judges to make subdivisional awards under the joint tenancy clauses of the Act, and the result is that the Court of Appeal has upheld WiHaronga’s application which, being condensed into words means that all the work done by the Judges heretofore, in making awards to joint tenants is a total loss to the country, and utterly valueless in law. Years of labor are thus thrown away; large sums of money had been washed, and confusion worse confounded is the consequence. Mr Locke also brought a test case before His Honor Judge Richmond some time since, who decided in the appellants favor, and this decision has since been endowed by the Court of appeal ; therefore, all the principal blocks in the Bay, such as Makauri, Whataupoko, the Matawhero’s, Maraetalia and others, are in a state of chaos, or something worse, forit is just possible that, under what may have been held to be good law, the ordinary business operations of the lands have taken place, and actions may lie against the Government 'for damages for losses incurred by the wrongful acts of its servants.

This decision of the Court of Appeal will the more forcibly [demonstrate Mr Locke’s explanation of his scheme for settling the great question of subdivision, and Native title, made during his addresses at the recent political meetings in this district. And in this connection it is a pity, viewed by the light of subsequent events, that Mr Locke did not make a better point in his score, on this particular subject. From what we learn now Mr Locke held the thirteenth trump in his hand, but played it so ineffectually that he lost the odd trick, and the rubber to boot. To a inind storey, as Mr Locke’s must of necessity be, with Native bore, and law; and, in fact, intimately acquainted on all matters affecting our agrarian relations with the Maoris, it should have been no difficult task for him to have dwelt at greater length than he did, on the position of affairs. The Native question —that is, our dealings with the Maori owners in the purchase of their lands—is the all-absorbing topic, of the day. It was attempted to be made the crucial test of the fitness of the various candidates for election, and yet, not one of them, not even excepting Mr. Locke himself, did ample justice to the cause. There is, in this subject, matter for very serious reflection, and one which will tax the energies of our member to the utmost. On investigation we learn that there are about 150,000 acres of land held under joint tenancy in this district that requires adjudication, and which could be brought into the market if properly dealt with. For the furtherance of this object Mr Locke made a sensible proposal, at one of his Gisborne meetings, that a petition should be sent to the Supreme Court to appoint Commissioners so as to bring the whole of these lands under a state of title which cannot be disputed. Were this done, and the partition of the lands placed on a footing that could not be disputed, grand results would follow ; the Natives, themselves, would be satisfied ; the European purchasers would have valid titles, and the prosperity of the district would be assured. Look at the matter how we will, this is a most serious business, and we trust Mr McDonald will make it his first duty to challenge an explanation in his place in Parliament. If our laws are so thoroughly rotten as our Native Land laws are pronounced to be, it is time that some action were taken. And the position isnot improved by a knowledge of the fact that they have been in force and acted upon for years, and that men who are called “judges,” we suppose for want of a better term, are ousted on a point of law by au uncultured, but, withal, extremely astute Maori.