THE DARK HORSE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 251, 1 April 1915, Page 7

THE DARK HORSE.

CAUSES SOME CONCERN.

ON RATING QUESTION'S.

According to the Auckland Star's Maiigonui correspondent, an extraordinary letter eam c before tlie last meeting of t'ie Maiigonui County Council. Mr. Tau llenare, M.P., wrote' to tile Council in regard to rates on native lands, asking for a suspension of operations until Parliament meets, since he considers there is a possibility, of the Rating Act being so amended that the clause giving local bodies power to charge the natives rates would no longer operate. Councillor Wrathall at once took strong exception. The letter, lie said, was an extraordinary one, and would be viewed with profound interest throughout the Dominion. Was it possible that Mr. Tau llenare, whose vote meant so much to the party in .power, expected to be in a position to dictate a policy affecting the whole of the Dominion? Mr. Massey was already claiming Mr. llenare as a supporter. Mr. llenare know how much his vote meant to Mr. Massey. Could it mean that Mr. Henare was going to demand in return for his vote the exemption of native lands from local body rating? If \p, what of the Massey party's Reform policy, which aimed So strongly at placing the Maori on just the same plane, in this respect, as the European. What now about the equal burden of citizenship? Were the white men onlv to hear the cost of roads and bridges, running for miles through native lands It would b"e, indeed, interesting to know just what Mr. Tau ITenare's letter meant. The letter was received.