CORRESPONDENCE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1167, 5 October 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

I THE TARUHKRU BRIDGE. TO THE EDITOR. Sip.,—Un arriving at the Turuhcru Bridge yesterday evening, for tho purpose of crossing to the other side, I found to my surprise that the centre portion of the bridge, which revolves, was turned round, and there was no possibility of crossing. I enquired the cause, and was informed Mr Davies had stopped all traffic across the bridge, owing to his not having been paid for the construe I tion of it. Now, Mr Editor, I should wish to know how long those things are going to last, or how long the progress of the district is to be jeopardised by the Land Company. Mr Davies constructed that Bridge some eleven months ago, and has been up to the present time shepnerding the structure expecting to get paid for his labor and time. Surely this is a deplorable state of things. If the Land Company intend doing any good for themselves and the district why not go ! to work in a straightforward manner, and not mislead the public ? Why not pay Mr Davies for the construction of the Bridge, aud then set to work aud arrange with Mr Barker to place the land in the market, and give the public some substantial cause for having faith in their actions. Till that is done they are only day bv day damaging and blighting the progress of this* beautiful fertile district; it is high time the yoke of bondage was broken, and honesty stamped on the actions of the Company. This must be done, otherwise the public can only come to the conclu eion that they are misleading them, as we have not as yet seen or heard of any action of the Company which would cause us to place implicit confidence in them.—You in, Rwrwii

To the Chief of the Press. Friend, do you publish these words of mine that my Maori and European friends ' may hear of them. The Puketauhinu is a block of land situ- I ated in the Ngatiporu territory, viz,, in the j district of Waiapu ; that laud was adjudi- I cated upon by the Native Land Court in De- ! cember last, 1881, and the manner in which the investigation was made is not at all clear, j This is the way in which it was done :- 'l'he > Ngatiporou were the claimants to the land. ’ and 'J'o \\ hauac-a-Apanui were tiie counter ; claimants. All the. grounds upon which the ; Apanui based their claims were stated. On j the other hand, the Court would not allow ! the Ngatiporu to state their proprietary or | ancestral claims to the land, but without 1 further ado, delivered its ridiculous judg- i ment, which was not in the slighest degree I concordant with any of the legal principles I that universally guide all tribunals—that is to say, the cases of the claimants and j counter claimants had a right to be heard ' j respectively before the Judge ere a judgment I : should have been given against that side ! | which was in the wrong, and in favor of ; j that side which was in the right. Con- ! I temporaneously with this judgment, the | | Government Officer, Mr Gill, unwarrautedly i • advanced moneys upon the land to the j amount of £5OOO. He should have given | some thought to our application for a re- | ■ hearing, and have quietly kept back the ' money of the Government ; and, another | thing he should have carefully observed the | Act of 1880, which sets forth that not until ‘ three months has elapsed after judgment being given shall that judgment be con- I i sidered to have effect ami to be unalterable. > ■ In consequence of Mr Gill having advanced ; the said money on the ’24th December, 1881, , to the Whanau-a-Apaiiui, I requested a 1 1 lawyer to go with me to Auckland in March | 1882, to Mr Fenton, that he might give an I opinion as to the re-hearing of Puketauhinu. Well, he consented to the re-hearing, and at the same time said that we would have to . pay the usual sum in such cases—£2o. : This my lawyer and I did, and the re-hear-I ing was granted—that is to say, the appliI cation for such from Hotenc Pownrangi and I myself was agreed to. Our anxiety in this i resnect was then calmed down. J The money that this cost me—what I had j to give to the lawyer, and what I had to give Ito the Chief Judge, was altogether £l5O. In I August of the present year the Gazette was ■ issued for Puketauhinu. It was like this :

1 “In re the application of Hotenc Porourangi and others for a re-hearing of Pukei tauhinu, a Court is notified to sit at Opotiki ; on the 15th of September, 1882, when the I case will be heard over again before the said ' Court. —(Signed) F. D. Fenton,Chief Judge.” On the loth of September, 1882, I stood 1 before the Court at Opotiki, aud applied to have the hearing of Puketauhinu gone on with. To this the Judges replied that it was not right to hear it, but that the case must be adjourned to Whakatane for the arrival of Mr Gill, as the question rested with him. Then, my friends, grief invaded the minds of myself and my hapus of Ngatiporou on account of the distance we hud travelled from Waiapu to Opotiki, about 150 miles (although I think it is mure), aud then only to be dragged on a further distance of 19 miles to Whakatane, at which place no Gazette hud foretold that the hearing of the i case was to be held. The next grievance was the great oxpcnse[l was put tojm buying food for myself and people—no small item ; then there was the lawyer, so that the trip, inclusive of everything, cost £5OO, besides the prior expense herein above written. On the 24th September, 1882, I, with my lawyer, appeared before the Court and Mr Gill, and renewed my application for the said hearing ; however it did not pleaso Mr Gill and the Court to investigate our claim for a re-hearing of Puketauhinu, the Court stating that the publication of the claims of the Maoris being without effect it could not hear them, but the Court would recommend that a petition be sent to Parliament. Therefore, my friends, look ye at what I thought. 1 thought that the established laws of the world, the .Supreme Power above, and the Queen who rules the Kingdom should have afforded us all that justice which we are to expect as subjects under rule. It should be—Government do thou thy work, and Native Land Court do thou carry out the duties allotted to thee—so would say the Scriptures, but as it is the Court has forsaken its duties, the Government sits as prompter, and decides the ownership of lands in place of the legally constituted tribunal known as the Native Land Court. Really I thought that the laws made by the Parliament were for the purpose of giving relief to and promoting the peaceful settlement of both the Europeans and the Maoris ; that, however, seems not to be, the oppression of the Maori is that which is evidently aimed at. The least the Government could have done when the provision in the Act of 1880, allowing three months for a rehearing was untied was to have given notice of the same, so that ears might have heard. There is yet another matter I will dilate I upon, and that is the law which enables the ' Government to tic up the lands of the i Maoris. In the days of our forefathers down ! to our own time we have always shown an I | ability to provide for ourselves ami our ( | descendants, now’ that we have entered into ■ the intelligence of civilisation the Govern- 1 ment immediately rules that they must tie I up the land and look after it lest private ■ Europeans acquire it by way purchase, i lease, or mortgage. One might view this as < a signal proof of the great affection that the j 1 Government entertain for the aboriginals of ; Now Zealand, and if only th? Government did not also buy, lease, and mortgage and do t other things of a like tenor, better far would it be than all tho good in the world. Therefore, my European and Maori friends ' in view of all this it only remains now for the Maori to die. It will not be the land I but you, the Maori, who will bodily perish , that the Government may soon be sa\ ed the : trouble of legislating fur the vermin feeding ; Maori of New Zealand. I have spoken to my hapus of Ngatiporou ; to cease from completing any more of Mr , Gill’s transactions in our part of the East Coast district, that is to say, with reference to Government lands which are as yet incompleted. Let Mr Gill take the land as he likes, the Maori has no claim to humanity, he is only a dog. I have many thoughts within me which I cannot write, so let this end here.—From your friend who is positively an aboringinal, Tuta Nihoniho, Of Whareponga, Agent for his Tribe—Ngatiporouraugi. Kite Rancitira. Ote Perehi, —Ehoamau e panui kito Perihi enei kupu uku ara kia rongo aku hoa Maori me aku hoa Pakeh». Ko Puketauhinu Poraka he papawhenua e takoto ana ite takiwa o Ngatiporou ara q Waiapu. Ko taua whenua i whakau a kia ete kooti whenna Maori ki Opotiki i& Tihema, 1881, ka hori ake nci a ite Whakawatauga kihel rawa i marama te whakahaerenga o taua Whakawa. I penei ke te ahua kote taha kia Ngatiporou na ana te keihi mo taua whenua Icote Whanauapanui te kai tawari a i poto nga • take ote taha kia Apanui kote taha kia Ngatiporou kihei i tukua ete kooti kia korero ia i ratau take whenua take tipuna ki taua I whenua. Heoi whakatau noa taua kooti i tana whakatau pohehe ka orc nei i haere irunga I ite takungu ote turc <• ngu wliakuwu tunga

Ara k:.’. puaki nga kupu a -■ kai tono raua. kote kia kara ite aroaao ote k ;i whakawa ka pono ai te he kite mca ihe te iika kite mea isika. I roto i tena whakatau ka peke mai kote Apil.a ote Kawanatanga ara kote Lira kite tuku pokanoa inga mcni at ? Kawanatanga 5000 patina iti iho nui atn ranei te ai he whakaaro mana e tono ana matau ite \\ hakawatuarua moto maton whenua ka ata pupuri aia ite moni a te Kawanatanga tetahi me ata titiro aia kite ture Otetau, R’SO, e mea nei kia torn Marama i muri o t*- whakatau ate kooti ka mana ai ka u ai te whakatau. 1 rnnga i tena tikunga ate kiraitana moni kia te Whanaupanni ite 24 Tiherna, 1881, ka tono au kite Roia hoi hoa maku ki Akarana. kia te Penetana ia M.-iche, 1882, kia tuturu tena mahara mote Whakawa tuarua o tena Puketauhinu a whakaao ana aia mete ki mai ano kia hoatu nga moni e 20 pauna hoatu ana e mrna So taku Roia heoi ano ki tino n te Whakawa mania arafcu mana tono kotekotcnc Porourahgi heoi Katahi ka tan te mauri ki rare. Hac ena moni aku ipau ite Roia meter Tumuaki kite 150 puana. Ia Akuhata o te tau nei ka puta mai te ; Kahiti no Puketauhinu epenei ana. i Te tono ate Hotenc Porouronge me ctahi ! atn motu whakawa tuarua mo Puketauhinu i me tu ki Opofiki ate 15 Pepetemer, 1882, ' me u hakawa hou kite aroaro u tana kooti.

Nate Penetana Tumuaki c tana 15 Peprtema, 1885, kite aroaro o te kooti i Opotiki ka tono au kia tutu whakawa nio | Puketauhinu, ■ Ka ki nga tiati ote koct: ekorc e tika i engari me haere ki Whakatane kia tue mai atu ki.ia kei aia te tikanga. Katahi ra pea c nga hoe ka pa te pouri ki ; roto i.m me oku hapu o Tgati..oru mote roa o fe haere atui Waiapu ki Opotiki inga macro 150 ki tc Wuakauroiho nui atn ranei rohohanga ka toia ate ki WhakaL.ne 10 Macro i kaore nei i kahititia ki rcir.i whakawa ai • whenua te rua a nga pouri kei te nui o nga moni epau hei hoko mote oranga mo inatou koaku hapu ina koa te nui o teiici ! mate meteahi mate ahi irunga ite taha kito I Roia huia enei katoa o tenei haeranga 500 ! pauna ipau haunga era kua tn’da irunga ake ra. Ite 24 Pepetema, 1882, kr.tr. au me tabu Roia ite aroaro o te kooti mete kira katono kia tu ano tana whakawa heoi kihei ipai ate kira mete kooti kia whakawa kia taua tono tuarua a matou mo Puketauhinu mete ki mai , ate nooti konga tono a nga Maori ho panui noa iho ekore eakei kia wha' awakia engari me tu u Pitihono rawa kite P.< cmata. Heoi oaku hoa kia titiro mai koutou ki 1 uku muhara. ! Emahara ana ahau ki nga ture c mahia nci hei mana mote ao katoa ko te atua kite rangi kote kini kite ao nei ko t.-.tau kotoa ki raro o te taumarumarnt&Qgo oiii pakau. Tc kawanatanga kiau ki tan mahi tc Kooti i whenua kia u ki tau muhi ina ra pea te kupu | o te Karaipiturc inaianei ka ma hue ite Kooti • tuna niahi ka noho ko te ka>\ unatanga hei I homai kupu hei hound whakutaunga whenua mo tenei hanga ute ture Kooti whenua ! Maori. I Ka hua au kiugn ture e mahia nci ote ' Pureinata hei whukuora hei whakaata nohn I ite Maori raua koto Pakehu kaore ia hei

i whnkiimate inga Maori anake. . Te ai he whakaaro inace k.iwanatauga o ' noho mataru ana te ture o te tirj 1880 mo te ' torn marama ka panui kia rongo kail atu te ; taringa. | Tenei ano tetahi kei nga tun herohore ate kawanatanga inga whenua o nga Maori inga i ra o matou tupnna tae noa ki o matau ra ko ] matou ano kite tieki mo o matou uri ia 1 matou ka uru nei ki roto o tr matauranga ; ka mea te Kawanatanga mana n herehere e , tieki kei riro inga Pakcha noa i'lO te hoko te Reti te Mokete ranei. ! No tohu arolia nui ra hea tenei note Ka* ' w&natanga kinga iwi Maori o nut Tireni. ' Otira mehcinea ana hoki kuer? ato Kuwanatanga hoko reti mokete m 3 etahi atu tikungu penei pai rawa atu inga pai katoa ote ao I Tena ko tenei cuku hoa Maori i’akeha kote mate kau mote tangata Maori c *. oe ana ehara ; ite mute whenua ku a oti hoki tera engari i kote mate tinana kia nawe wn te Kawana- ! tanga tc mutu kite porearea kit? hanga ture ' mou e te Maori kaikutu o niu Tireni. i Kua whai kupu au ki oku h.'.pu o Ngatiporou kia mutu te ata Wlnkaoti inga Whakahaere ate kira ito matou takiwa ote tairaw hiti nei ara nga whenua o Le Kawanatanga engari me man noa atu e • • kira ehara hoki te Maori ite tangata engari he kuri. He nui nga mahara i rots i au ekore e taea cau tc tuhi atu me kuti i enei ?.ato koutou hoa he tangata Maori tonu. Tuta Nih • .iho, j o Whareponga tai Rawhiti kai Whakahaere. I o tona iwi o Ngatiporourangi.