The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22. AN ILL-ADVISED AGITATION

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8010, 22 December 1905, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22. AN ILL-ADVISED AGITATION

Written for Maoris, and intende 1 to be read by and acted on by Mauris, the editorial which appears in the current issue of the Maori monthly journal, " Pipiwharauroa," is calculated to do far more ham than good. The objc 3fe of the writer is evidently to stir up the natives to united aci tion in resisting the operation of the i Maori Land Settlement Act of last session. The writer lays great stress On tbe benefits to be derived fr.im presenting a united front, and the lifting up of a united voice by union of tribes, thereby causing "the Government to fear "to forcibly lay hands on the land of tbe Maoris," One nan hardly take the writer seriously, yet ih spite of the manifest misrepresentations as to the letter and spirit of the Aot referred to, there is an underlying current of specious argument well calculated to arouse the tender susceptibilities of the natives, The way in which confiscation is artfully incorporated into the article is of itself enough to excite the Maoris into transgressing the law, while the pointed advice to send a deputation to England with the newij that the treaty of Waitangi has been trampled upon has a direct tendency to sub- j vert the authority of the New Zea- j land Government. Even if there were a scintilla of truth in the indictment, there is not the slightest justification tor the means taken to redress an imaginary grievance. * * # *

Br a happy inspiration, a stray sentiment, which Europeans generally will j applaud, has crept into au article which otherwise is totally devoid of common sense. The writer truthfully says: " The means by which the Maori will bo preserved,, and increase in numbers and in strength, is not by money, but by energy and diligence in cultivating the soil." This is exactly the argument which forms the main principle of the Act. It has beenj: recognised that the Maori landowners have not done their duty by their land, which has been nllowed to become a wilderness and a menace to European settlers owing to noxious wet Is. Had tho natives used their energy and diligence in cultivating their land . they would have profited vastly, the country would have been enriched, and it would have been better for nil concerned. But they have not done so, nor is there any visible sign that they intend to meud their ways. Meanwhile the colony suffers, progress is retarded, and the principles of political economy, so far as nativo lands are concerned, are sot at defiance. It is this unsatisfactory state of affairs that the Act of last session was designed to remedy. * * » f

To allude to- confiscation in comic?, tion with the leasing of Maori land is utterly absurd. There are no compulsory powers of purchase in the Act, which practically constitutes a Native Laud Board in each district for tbe purpose of leasing, for not more than fifty years, such native land as may not be required or may not be suitable for Maori occupation, and at the end of the fifty years the land may revert to tho natives. The only power of purchase is that whereby tbe Government may acquire land from the Maoris on the majority of the owners interested being willing to exocitte a transfer, and then the lands become .Crown Lands, but even in this event the Governor must first be satisfied that the natives interested havo sufficient land or other property for their own support.

# * * * The whole scope of the Act is in the direction of safeguarding and improving the condition of the Maoris. The greatest care is taken that every native landowner shall have sufficient land for cultivating, so that ho may get a living from its product. The great evil in the past, has been that in a large number of instances there were drawbacks that discouraged the Maoris from cultivating their land. In some cases they held too much; in others their individual interests wore too indefinite; others again had not the means, and not a few were either at a disadvantage in regard to roads Or buildings. The Aot provides for advances of money to obviate these drawbacks, and to induce the natives to work out their own salvation,! while all the surplus and unsuitable | land will be cut up and utilised for their benefit. It is difficult ta conceive what more could be done to solve a problem which was growing very difficult, if not dangerous, and instead of raising an outcry the erli tor of the Maori " Cuckw " should have enlisted the hearty co-opera-tion of his readers in carrying out what is admitted to be one of the best measures that has framed in the interests of theMioris. Instead of writing: "0, chiefs, be swift to a ; :t . . ; the cautious war

party first builds its entrenchments," far bettor and wiser would he have acted by saying: " o,"chiefs, be swift to act; be loyal to the Government. Let them see that you hasten to use diligence and energy in cul!ivating your land, and look forward to the reversion of those lands which now you cannot use to advantage, but which will return to you in years to come. Above all rejoice that you live under a wise, liumme and just Government."