Wells’ “ Rough on Corns."

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1345, 21 August 1883, Page 2

Wells’ “ Rough on Corns."

Ask for Wells’ “ Rough on Corns,” “ 7£d. Quick relief, complete, permanent cure. Corns, warts, bunions. Moses, Moss & Co., Sydney, General Agents. Don’t Dio in The House“Rough on Rats” clears out rats, mice, beetles, roaches, bed-bugs, flies, ants, insects, moles, jack-rabbits, gophers, 7i<l. Moses, Moss, & Co., Sydney, General Agents.

NATIVE LAND LAWS BILL. Si'EKoi iißttvxßEii by Mr. A. McDonald IN THE HoU.SK OF Rkl , KF>F.XTATIVRB, Oth August, 1883.

IQm r&thek* taken by surprise by the speech of the Native Minister to-night. I remember when, in 1879, the honourable gentleman told this House that it was not the intention of the Government to purchase any Native land ; that it was their intention to wind up what negotions had been begun. What ia the result ? To-night he proposes something, to my mind, far w jrae than the right of pre-emption, I do not believe in half-and-half measures, My Vtetv la thia: that if we are nf.'t,to have complete free ln land let us have the right of prw-fethptlon, and I shall always be found supporting a measure of that kind. I have said so before, and 1 repeat it now. In 1879, when the present Government came into power, there was a return laid before the House, and, if I remember right, the Native Minister referred to it and said, We spend so much money in the various provinces of this colony.” I will duly refer to one or two. In the Provincial District of Auckland they aprnt £201,000, and the expenses were some £30,000 odd. In the Provincial District of Hawke's Bay they paid away £18,500 odd, and the expenses were £6,000. In Wellington £Bl,OOO was paid away, the expenses being £lB,OOO. It does not pay the Crown to purchase Native land ; the expense is too heavy. My own convictions are these: I believe in free trade in Native land, the Government providing ample reserves for the Natives. I believe that is the true and r ight course to take. The honorable gentleman told us to-night that the Government were going to the expense of surveying thq lands. I should like to ask the honorable gentleman how much has been spent in surveying Native lands up to the present moment ? I should like to ask him how much he has spent under the Thermal Springs Act, and how much he has received ? I say that this Government has squandered the money of the taxpayers of this colony. I charge them with having spent thousands in the Lake District and received nothing. The people who leased land under the Thermal Springs Act cannot get a title to the land, and cannot do anything with it. The Government have nut got a title to it. It was only the other day that I was up there, and can assure this House that a half caste was building a house on the land which had belonged to his father, his grandfather, and his great grandfather, and also to his wife’s relations, and he was actually stopped by the Govarnment, and there is the house half built; and all this because the land was wanted for a public park to satisfy the Minister of Lands. Ido not know what the Native has done since, or what he will do, but he told me that as long as he lived he would never sign the title. Now, there is one thing iu regard to that district: there are men there, pioneers, who went up there and spent thousands of pounds in building publichouses to accommodate tourists, Ac. I refer to Mr Graham and Mr Kelly, who were induced to go there. What would the district be but for them ? And the Government are doing their utmost now to turn them off, and are trying to settle them on another block of land, which, in my opinion, is unhealthy and unfit for human beings to settle on. I refer to the town laid out by the Government, to which they have no title. I challenge the Minister of Lands or the Native Minister to tell me that they have got a title to it. I tell them that they have leased lands there for which they cannot give a title. It was only the other day that a public meeting was called in Auckland of people who had leased this land from the Government, and they refused to take any further steps with regard .to it. I would like to find out from the Government how much of the money of the taxpayers of the colony they have paid to carry out the Ther-mal-Springs Act, and how much they have received in return? I do not know what to call it. I would not like to call it a paying speculation for the colony at any rate. There i< another thing I should like t<» refer to, and •t. i a remark that was made by the Native Minister the other day. That honourable gentleman made a statement in the House the other evening to the effect that it was not his intention to prosecute a charge against a gentleman who made certain allocations against him in abo ik called “ A History of New Zea'and,” The reason was this; that he could not afford the expend! ture j that the expense would be too great, and ho could not undertake it in justice to rrimself and his faimly. Well, 1 agreed with him in that. But it was only yester lay or the day before that the honourable gentleman cot up in bis place and mov- d that a certain petition should be referred back to the Committee. When he found the Government o mid not carry that, ho said, “Well, then, I will move that the petitioner shall have the privilege <»f suing the Government in the Bnpri’nie Court ” In his own case he s»i<l he would not enter the charg’ on account of the expense • and yet in the case of th'S unfortunate petitioner, who has to e*rn his living by the sweat of h's brow, ho never con•id ’red whether or not he could aft’ >rd to go into the Supreme Court to prosecute his ivtion. But ‘ho Native Minister, having the i taxpayer’s money at hie back, says to this man, “ Ho to the Supreme Court ; 1 shall prepared to meet you there.” The Native Minister does no**care what money he spends • o defend this a-tinn when he wishes to gain his own ends ; and he does not mind whether this poor individual—l refer to Mr Coyle— An Hon. Mi'MßEw.— Ife is not p »or

Mr. A. McDonald.—lam glad to bear it; but, whether he is or not, it is not right. I say that every man should have justice. The Committee recommended over and overagain to leave the case to arbitration, but the Government fought it inch by inch. I am not going to refer to that any more. Then, there is another thing. When I came into the House in 1879 the greatest charge that could be brought against Sir George Grey, who was then Prime Minister, was this : that he had attended a meeting in the King country at which Te Kooti was present. That was the greatest charge the present Government and their supporters could bring auainst Sir George Grey’s Government. What has happened since ? What has this Government done to try and gain confidence in the country? They sent the Native Minister up to shake hands with Te Kooti on behalf of the Government and .of the Parliament of this country. I say that if this House were to be divided as to that proceeding a majority would decide against it. I for one disapprove of it most emphatically. As long as I live I shall protest against a thing of that sort, and I will give him reason directly. What has that man done in the district which I have the honour to represent? I will tell the Native M inister, and then 1 will ask him if he is sati ified that in the action he took ho did justice to himself, to this Parliament, or to the cob my. I have said that the greatest charge brought against Sir George Grey was that he alloi red Te Ko iti to be present at a meeting which he attended in the King country. No w, what happened the other day? The Native Minister went up there and shook hands with Te Kooti several times—an honourable member suggests that he rubbed noses. I have bee i told that he did that too, but I do not believe it. However, he shook handsi. and this is what he said—he will contradict me if I am wrong : that he would guarantyt that Te Kooti would be a free man withim

ten days, and have a Proclamation to that effect gazetted by the Governor, Now. I say thia af Tr Kooti i that I do not think n« if a free man now. Ido pot think the Native Minister knows, but 1 wlll.tell hint I do not think the Amnesty Act gave hint the powiat to do that which he thinKs he done. I refer tc cue thing, and 1 believe that tho Minister of Lands is to blame in this. When Te Kooti and the other Natives were sent to the Chatham Islands they were guarded by twenty-four men, who went with them, and who knew exactly how to treat Maoris. Th? present Minister 1 of Lmdi, who was then Under secretary, went there on behalf of the Governnient, and I belie ve— I have been told so, and if I aid tvroiig h$ will correct me—discharged twenty-two cf the guards, leavipg two men of the original guards in charge, who knew all about, MaorUj and put others m their place who knew nothing at all about Natives ; and that is why the Maori# escaped. There were only two men of the original gdard left there—Maloney and a man tftmed Elliot, Te Kooti ieturned to Poverty Ray with about two hundred Maoris, and landed at a place called Nick’s Head. He went and got all the Nativei aud armed them and what was the result ? The Europeans of the district fought against them and re* sisted them. To Kooti then went back to the ranges, and watched quietly until lib got an opportunity, When hb camb down Mid massacred the people. Almost thte first no killed was Major Biggs and his wife and one 5 child. Te Kooti himself ordered that Major Biggs’s tongue should be cut out and placed on his wife’s breast; he smashed in the briirts of Mrs Biggs’s child; killed Mrs Biggs, rolled the child up in her arms before he killed her, and placed the tongue of her husband on her breast. This is the man whom the Native Minister Shook hands with. I will say no more. I will not refer to the murder of Captain Wilson and family or to the Mohaka massacre or anything else, I will leave it there. The people there will tell you how thirty-eight Europeans were killed. 1 do not believe that any Government or any Parliament that knew of these things would ever grant that man a pardon. At Mohaka he actually killed Europeans and threw their bodies to the pigs. There were three Europeans burned alive there by Te Kooti. And yet the Native Minister goes and shakes hands with the murderer. Now I will refer to the remarks made by Te Kooti when he met the Native Minister. He said “If you molest me, beware. What I have done in the past will be nothing to what I shall do in the future.” After hearing that, the Native Minister pardoned him, and said, “ I extend to you my hand in the name of the Government and of the Parliament of this Colony; and within ten days you will be a free man/’ Not only that, but what did the great chief Hewi say ? Re wi said, "lam glad to hear you make these remarks. If you had not done so, you would have found me fighting on the eatne side with Te Kooti.” All I can say is, let them fight, let them get the best of it If they cau ; the sooner there is an end of thi# the better. These were the threats held out to the Native Minister, and yet in the face of them he says, “I will extend to you my haud,” and he did. There is one thing I should like to ask Government. Ido not believe that man is pardoned at all, and I sincerely hope I am right. When the Natives left tne Chatham Islands they had a head wind, They could not get on. So Te Kooti said, “Oh, I will very soon settle that,” and he went and threw his own uncle overboard. I should like to ask the Government if the Bill will apply to that crime ? I say it does not, for that did not arise out of the war. There is another matter that I must refer to, , and it is this : There was a half-caste carry* ing despatches for the Europeans between Gisborne and the Wairoa, and this young gentleman was caught at Te Rlnga by Te Kooti and his people. Te Kooti said to him “ What would your mother or her forefathers say if they knew you were carrying these despatches ?” and he thereupon gouged the young man’s eyes out and left him on the flat, Mr Speaker —I think the honorable gen* tieman is using language rather too wide of the subject of debate. Mr. A. McDonald — I should be very sorry, sir, to infringe the rules of debate, but I thought this was a good albround debate, and I only wanted to show what thia Government had done to maintain itself in office. The honorable member for Mount Ida said this Bill was of far more importance than what the Native Minister did In going through the King country by the grace of God and the leave of Wahanui. I deny that altogether, and I say he went through that country by extending his hand to the big* gest murderer that ever appeared on the face of the earth, and he was guided throagh it by another murderer. The leave he got from Wahanui to go through the Kina' country was simply this : “You may go through hut you must neither look to the ri/tht nor to the left.” I have a letter that will prove that. I believe this Bill will lock up the whole of the North Island. It does not affect me in any shape or form. Some members think that ! have been purchasing lands from the Natives in the North, but I never did. A return has been laid on the table giving the names of those who have purchased land from the Natives since 1873, and I defy any one to say he can find my name there. I think the names of some of the purchasers in Taranaki have been left out, but I will not go into that matter.