A NATIVE QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 March 1917, Page 5

A NATIVE QUESTION.

To the Editor. "V" Sir, —I am writing this letter not la the hope that it muy have any immediate effect, but rather in the- hope that in tiie near future some of the grievances referred to may have sufficient attention attracted to them to lead to remedy or alleviation. When I first reached the North Island in 1882 I was •invited by the proprietor and editor of a Soutli Island newspaper, a well-known journalist, to write for his pa/per a few articles on the possibilities and future prospects of the North Island, which, at that time, was by no means a populous or prosperous country. Among various places into -which 1 wandered at odd times in quest of copy was a West Coaab (N. 1.) Native Land Court, presided over by a gentleman whose name, if ever made known to me, lias been long forgotten. The extraordinary scenes •witnessed in that Court occasioned, in my > subsequent letter to the southern' paper, a reference to the celebrated circumlocution office immortalised by Charles Dlolc* ens in "Little Dorrit," and,a aomparfjoa in the proceedings in, at least, one Instance. These proceedings were, appm cntly, quite worthy of the comparUoa, for after a lapse of—you will perceive-* thirty-five years, the Native Land Ovarii is still steering Its eccentric course in« different to changes of Government sad the many other convulsions, political and otherwise, which have been dealt with and subdued by the masterful head of Father Time since that day Times and customs have changed, hut tile proceedhigs of the Native Land Courts seem practically uninfluenced by the events of the outer world, and apparently only intent on maintaining the endeavor to perpetuate their own 6Kbit* ence In connection with local proceedV iligs I shall not soek to rake up the events of the buried past, but.wiH fnstance an occurrence of recent date. In conversation with a well-known native of this coast he informed me that a, piece of land granted to him by the Native Land Court and surveyed, under the Court's authority, some ten years ago, was a few years later reduced in urea by the order of the Court from, say, J."iO acres to 100 acres, and quite recently he has been notified that a fur» thcr reduction to 80 acres has been de- . cided upon. The native assures me ' that he knows no cause for these alterations. No deaths have occurred in his family, and he is, apparently, quite ignorant of grounds for these reductions being made. He only knows thst the Land Court has issued its mandate, and tliero is no appeal. "Py gorry," he said,' 'I -think my land get too small soon." lie has cause to fear such an eventual' ity, it must be admitted. Admitting . that the Native I/and Court judge may have good reason for his decisions, what I wish to point out is the hardship and expense which the nominal landowner hi this and similar cases is made to endure in paying for surveys and the altera* tions necessitated in the. boundary fences , and hedge? of his holding. Again, it must be borne in mind that the cost of supporting this expensive 'Old Man of. the Sea'' rests on the shoulders—or, more correctly, pockets—-of tho local na< - lives. Also one can feel little surprise, after considering such cxtraortHn« ary procedures as that above mentioned, that many of them who have a present claim to land are being seared into selling rather than risk their areas being reduced to insignificant patches in the near future. The amendment to the Native Lands Act empowering tha Maoris to dispose of their holdings was, in my opinion, a blunder. While thssei lands were reserved they afforded » solid and indisputable security for the future maintenance of the native raee-H a people, with few exceptions, alike improvident and irresponsible. Funds from these land sales may, certainly ; he held in trust and the interest applied by the! Government to the support of the n*A fives interested, but money is a, perish* able commodity. It is what Mr. Wenv mik termed "portable property," awl may be easily conjured away. It will assuredly attract in the future unscrupulous politicians and adventurers aa ;! llles arc attracted by treacle. The con* -. iliiions under which these native lands , v were leased were absolutely fair and satisfactory and were appreciated by : the public, as evidenced by the large fiims obtained for the goodwill of .hose uold, and it is regrettable that the old order of thing? was disturoed. The ad- • ministration ot native affairs -by the Public Tru?t Office may have been expensive, but it has been entrusted to ' officers who have been, and are, capable and conscientious as a rule, and ha* been satisfactory to all concerned. The Native Land Courts may be closely welded tc the same branch of the Publio ' Trust Olliee, hut they are, certainly, not equally serviceable, though extremely costly in their upkeep The decisions of thc a o courts seem to hit individual natives mercilessly at times. There is another feature of this subject, and that is the practically unlimited authority permitted to the head men of this and othei allied departments. In the past history of our.own and other countries this method of leaving the reins of control in tiie hands cf those who may abuse the confidence reposed in them has had disastrous results, but these past experiences have, apparently, failed to impress our legislators. Sonic of those abuses T may deal with, with your , kind permission, <\t a later date; at present I must apologise foj having trespassed on your good nature to siudi an extent.—l am, etc., J. K. STEWART.. ■ : Opunake, March 7.