PUBLIC MEETING.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 210, 15 August 1884, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

A public meeting convened by His Worship the Mayor in response to a requisition, was held last evening in Parnell & Boylan’s Hall. There was a fairly large attendance. His Worship the Mayor occupied the chair, and in opening the proceedings, said—l dare say you are all aware of the object of this meeting, namely to pass resolutions regarding the Harbor Bill, the Railway Bill, and obtaining of a Native Land Court as a permanency for this district. These are all matters of vital importance to the future progress of the district. The Harbor and Railway Bills have already passed through their initial stages and the question of the establishment of a permanent Land Court has already been mooted. I am well aware that they are great undertakings, but they are not too great to be carried out. It is a great mistake to think the district is too small to make a start in a work of such magnitude. The initiating of the works would cause a great influx of capital and make the settlers wealthy. I feel very earnestly on these matters, and am convinced that from the names appearing on the requisition there is a desire on the part of the prominent men of the district to unite for the common welfare —notwithstanding the opinions they may hold on other matters (applause). As I believe the Chairman of the County Council is prepared with a resolution I will ask him. to come up and proceed with it. Mr. W. K. Chambers—The resolution I have to move is as follows : “ That it is absolutely necessary for the convenience and welfare of this community that suitable harbor accommodation should be provided, and the country, by the construction of a railway, opened up for settlement; and that in view of the large estate held by the Crown in this district which would be greatly benefited by the construction of these works, the cost and burden of such construction should be borne by it. And this meeting, drawing attention to the neglect which this district has suffered at the hands of every Government of New Zealand would urge upon the present Government and Parliament the advisability and justice of passing an Act to accomplish the above purposes.” Speaking to tlio first position, viz., the Harbor Bill drafted, Ip.i of opinion that the Government should take up the work. It is undoubtedly a national work. As a matter of fact, with the exception of some accommodation at Cape Runaway, there is no harbor of refuge along the whole of the East Coast, and for that reason alone we have a right to call on the Government to initiate the work and make a start. From my own knowledge gained during the last ten or fifteen years, I am in a position to state that the district has been shamefully neglected during the whole of that time. The money that has been spent does not amount to a tithe of what has been sent out of it. We have every right to expect that our complaints should receive earnest attention. Touching the second part of the resolution I think a harbor without a railway would be as useless as a railway without a harbor. There are thousands upon thousands of acres of land lying absolutely useless for want of proper means of communication. The amount of money spent on the formation of roads in the district with the only material available under present circumstances is absolutely painful to think of. With facilities for procuring good metal a tithe of the money at present spent on road formation would suffice. We should all unite to further the railway project and get it promoted. There is a large area in the Motu district lying idle for want of communication which can only by obtained by means of a railway. The timber alone to be obtained from that district would more than suffice to provide the cost of the line. I have been told amongst other things during the week that the Custom’s revenue alone sent out of the district annually, and for which we get no returns, amounts to £30,000. That is a

very large sum when compared with the money dribbled out to us year by year. No old settlers have any doubt as to the prosperity of the district if better treatment could be obtained from the Government. (Applause). Mr. Townley—l have much pleasure in seconding the motion. I am sure every settler will approve of it. I know of no district more entitled to favorable consideration than this. Until the people themselves take steps to stir up the Government, things will remain as they are. So long as they are content to allow steamers to pass our port through stress of weather, for want of harbor accommodation, so long we shall be without the requirements we ask for. As an instance of what interior communication will do look at Napier. A few years ago, before they had a railway there, they imported every stick of timber they required, now they export a large quantity. The Government had on many occasions promised to favorably consider the harbor proposal, and the present was a very favorable time to urge it on. (Applause). The motion was carried unanimously.

Mr. James Mackay—l have been asked to move the second resolution, which is a matter of vital importance to us all. I refer to obtaining facilities for more frequent sittings of the Native Lands Court. On this depends most of the future prosperity of this district. You will be surprised when I read you a few figures bearing on the subject. The number of cases waiting to be heard in this district may be summed up as follows: —Wai-o* matatini, 500 claims, 750 succession claims, and 200 subdivisions; Uawa, 50 claims, 250 successions, and 200 subdivisions; Gisborne, 60 claims, 450 successions, and 450 subdivisions. Total—adjourned and new claims for investigation of title, GlO J succession claims, 1,450; subdivision claims, 850; giving a grand total of 2,910 claims to be heard. These are original claims under which the natives receive certificates of title to the land. Those who wish to succeed to their possessions cannot, do so until the proper successor is ascertained and certified to by the Judge. The consequence is that Europeans who have leased these lands cannot pay rent, as they do not know the proper person to pay it to. As a matter of course both the Natives and Europeans are dissatisfied. In the same way with regard to subdivisions, there may be ten owners of a block, seven of whom wish to sell while the other three do not. Until the subdivision is made and the part of those who wish to retain their land is defined nothing can be done with the block. I wish io point out that for years Government have promised that a sitting of the Native Land Court should be held at Wai-o-matatini, where there are 1,450 claims to be heard of different kinds. I have heard it said that judges are afraid to go there because there is not proper accommodation. But there is plenty of accommodation in the shape of a school-house and a large runanga whare, which was erected on purpose when the promise was first made. If a permanent judge was stationed in our district he could conduct Courts at Gisborne, Tologa, and Waiapu, and find more than he could do for many years to como (applause). When the preliminaries for obtaining a block of land from the Natives have been gone through the deeds have to be sent to a Judge of the Native Lands Court who may be at Bay of Islands, or goodness knows where. If the Courts were held periodically at short intervals the work could be got through without any trouble. The injustice to the Natives will be apparent when I tell you that some of the cases have been shelved for the last six or seven years. At the present time many cases which it was promised should be held at Wairoa are being heard in Hastings. The sooner some system is introduced and these grievances settled, so much sooner will there be a large population to help to support this district in prosperity and plenty (applause). The resolution that I have to propose is, “ That as the opening and settlement of the Native land on the East Coast is a question of vital importance to the people of this district, and as the Natives are unanimously desirous of passing their lands through the Native Lands Court, and throwing them open to competition, it is the opinion of this meeting that the Government and Parliament should be respectfully requested to take such steps as will ensure the immediate holding and continuous sitting of Native Lands Courts at different centres throughout the East Coast district. In fact from the large number of claims which have been lodged with the Registrar at Gisborne that it is highly desirable that a Judge of the Native Lands Court should be stationed permanently in the East Coast district, and hold periodical sittings at the most convenient places within it. Mr. E. K. Brown seconded the motion and said : The settlement of Native titles is of more importance than any other thing that can happen. The settlement of titles will be the means of bringing capitalists from all parts of the Colony. It is our duty to stir up the Government and get our rights, viz., the harbour and the railway. We have a right to demand that sittings of the Land Court shall be held until all the claims are disposed of, and when that is done prosperity will follow. (Applause.) Mr. W. L. Rees, who was received with vociferous applause, said—During the last few days public feeling has been in such a state of commotion on political matters that it was thought both advisable and desirable to call a public meeting together, in order to get an expression of opinion on matters of great importance and devise means of strengthening the hands of our representative (Mr. Locke), the Native member (Wi Pere), and Sir George Grey, who has also given his word that he is determined to work for this district. Ono Government has recently breathed its last and another has come into power, and now is the time, before the new Government has taken any great schemes in hand and before the members of the House have settled themselves down to their work to push our wants before Parliament. (Applause). Although the matters of a Harbor Bill, railway communication, and the Native Lands Court, are of vast importance to the people of this district and our own representatives, they are not of much consequence in the eyes of many other members for the simple reason that it is no business of theirs to find them out. If before the Parliamentary fight really begins we can get our small wants attended to, so much the better for us. Instead of being ranged on opposite sides I am convinced that the residents of Gisborne and its surrounding, whatever may be their opinions on other matters, will join hands in pushing on these important public questions. Something has already been said as to the amounts of money paid by this district into the Treasury and for which we get absolutely no return. I have taken the trouble to collate a few figures which will give a clear idea of the principal items of taxation levied on the East Coast to pay the interest on the great loans, in the expenditure of which we have no share. (Applause.) All the requirements we ask for will pay for themselves. The harbor and the railway to Motu mean an immense increase of exports, and a corresponding decrease of the cost of articles of home consumption. In asking for a harbor and a railway we do not ask the Government for any money, nor do we ask them to become responsible for payment of interest on borrowed capital. The land itself would be improved to such an extent that it would more than pay the cost of the proposed works, and the provision of a permanent Land Court would allow the development of the Maori land to take place. The following items of revenue represent the profits derived from the district under various heads :— Postal, 1882 .. .. £1482 7 8 Telegraph, 1882 .. 1573 13 7 Total .. .. £3056 1 3 Fees paid through the Land Court, 18831884 .. .. £1429 11 6 Customs, direct, 1882 to 1884 .. .. 30,439 11 2 Customs, indirect, say 7000 0 0 Thus you will see the duty paid on food and clothing alone is £13,000 per annum, to which you have to add the cost of goods on which the duty has been paid before they are received by the merchants here. The New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company alone have paid over £7,000 in stamp duty since 1872; another office has paid £1,278 since 1873. Altogether £14,000 has been sent out of the district in stamp duties on native lands alone. We pay annually £30,000 in taxes for which we get nothing. All this burden has to be borne by the settlers and those who wish to buy Maori lands. The Government made much demur in giving us

a sitting of the Land Court at all, and yet the fees in that Court pay all contingent expenses and yield a large revenue besides. In postal revenue} and telegrams the Government have taken £13,887 out of the district. The rovenufl from those departments now amounts to something like £B,OOO annually. As another instance of neglect, although the whole cost of construction was guaranteed, the Government refused a telegraph line to Tologa Bay, and it was only after years of importuning that they consented to give us the paltry line to Ormond, the total cost of which was from £6O to £lOO. The district is picgressinc more rapidly than any other in New Zealand (Applause). We all know the difficulty there was in getting the Supreme Court held here. There was the same trouble to get a Court* house. Yet the Resident Magistrate’s Coilrt yields a revenue of £855, the Licensing Court £4O, or a total, with other attachments of £1,300. The salaries of the Judge and the necessary officers are more than paid by the costs of the Court. They had been years in trying to gdt a Supreme Court, notwithstanding the fact that thd country was saved £l,OOO a year by not taking witnesses to Napier. Everybody gained a great saving in time and monev. Not a single step we have ever asked the Government to take lands them in the slightest expense, on the other hand the public revenue and our own comfort is vastly increased. Some time ago when I was in Wellington Mr. Bryce promised we should have a resident judge. We have not got one simply because the Government have not appointed sufficient Judges to do the work. There has not been a sitting of the Native Land Court at Wai-o*matatatini for over five years; although there are upwards of 500,000 acres to be adjudicated upon, and which can* not be thrown open until they pass the Court. Transfers registered in 1883 represent an area of 172,295 acres, leases, mortagages, Ac., 155,259 acres, and the area of different sub-divisions amounts to 234,851. The Customs receipts from 1879 to July, 1884, amounts to over £54,761. For the year ending 1883, two hundred and five steamers visited the port, representing a tonnage of 121,688 tons, and 51 sailing ships representing 3,456 tons, giving a total of 125,140 tone. The approximate value of our exports to the end of 1883, is £90,500, and to the end of August 1884 about £105,000. There are now in the Gisborne Court 900 cases waiting to bo heard. These figures should be sufficient to induce public men of all shades of opinion to work together and compel the Government to appoint a Judge to reside here until the work has been very much reduced. In two years £15,000 has been paid in stamp duties alone on Native land transactions. There is a fruitful crop to be gathered regularly into the treasury if we can only get a Judge to do the work, Until the people show Government the necessity for these things they will not grant them. The Harbor and Railway will pay for themselves. There are some 6,000 or 7,000 acres purchased by Government from the Natives at Bs. to 4s. an acre, lying useless. The Government have spent £lOO,OOO on this land which is not only yielding no revenue, but actually costing £5,000 a year for interest. We have a right to demand that this land shall be thrown open. Just consider that the construction of harbor and railway works means the expenditure of £250,000 in the district, and that means a large addition to business and a consequent amount of prosperity. (Applause). If the Crown lands were thrown open they would produce sufficient revenue to pay for the whole of the works in three years. The 266 ships visiting the port had to be tendered, and look at the loss in time and money occasioned thereby. The time lost in tendering would more than pay the interest re* quired. We should follow the advice of O’Connell and “ agitate ” until our rights were granted. (Applause). We merely ask for the same privileges as those granted to Dunedin, Auckland, Timaru, and other places. We must send a petition once a week if necessary. (Laughter.) We may even get Wi Pere to place our wants before Parliament in Maori, and if that won’t do let them have a petition every day. (Renewed laughter and applause.) The only thing the Government has ever given this district is the bridge over the Waipaoa, and they would not have done that if they could have sold the land without. I am quite certain the Ministry will be glad to recognise there is such a place as the East Coast if we keep on pleading until they do. (Applause.) I will now propose “ That tin chairman of the Borough and County Councils be requested to forward to the House of Assembly a petition embodying these resolutions, and praying that both Parliament and Government will enquire into the facts alleged in the same, and will take such steps as they may deem necessary to redress the wrongs which this district has suffered, and to satisfy the just wishes and requests of both races upon the East Coast, and that the following gentlemen be appointed a committee for the purpose of carrying out this resolution Mr. Rees, Mr. Townley, Mr. Mackay, the Chairman of the County Council, and the Mayor.” The Chairman—l am fully convinced that if the petition and figures are properly drawn out there is every chance of us getting what we ask.

Mr. Carlaw Smith seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. Mr. Rees proposed a vote of thanks to the chair, and pointed out that his Worship wm always in the front rank when the good of the district was at stake. (Applause.) Mr. Mackay seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation.