CORRESPONDENCE.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 1845, 1 September 1874, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

; HUMBUG AND THIS NATIVES. 1 To the Editor of tho Thames advertiser. Fin,—Permit me, on a matter roferring to tlie Ohinemuri question, to occupy a small space in your valuable' columns, as I think I may bo able to throw some light on the subject, and give the public an idea of the present state of matters there, and also of the new dodge of baffling, or trying to baffle, the natives out of their lands; not fair play towards the Maori or the pub.lip, and by no means business like. It-appears to me that as long as Mr J. Maokay.and his hangers-on have the public money 'at their disposal to squander as they think .fit, tho whole community will be bamboozled to please these three or .four would-be somebodies if they only knew how. The present state of affairs is the,, " truck " systemcarried out on a scale; a system which I believe to bo repugnant to British law;' but even if this truck system were carried out in its purity and fairly, the objections to it would not bo so great. I ask you if such is the proper course by which to get the country thrown open. I say not, if you want to act lair aud square between pakelia and Maori. My idea is to make your bargain first for the land, or whatever olse you may require from the Maoris; pay them iu'casu for it, you, ,-vill have little trouble in dealing ..with, tiiem; let them do as' they think proper -vith their money afterwards. But, on ho other hand, the truck system adopted ity Mr Mackay will not conduce to any ,'ood.' The Ohiueinuri affair is worked ip iuto a mass of confusion, whiph doubtless will take another five years,,.to, •simplify, and then Mr Mackay. will haye lie pleasure of squandering a few more thousands in doing what he'calls'opening; up the Ohinemuri, but! I say in opening up ilie public purse and olosiug it when there

is a vacuum.- But I must return to the truck or raihana business, and give you an idea how it is managed. For instance, Mr Maori goes to Mr Mackay or to some hanger-on of .his, his so-styled staff, and duns for money or waipero; the native is given an order on some publiehouse, grocer, or slopshop; he takes the order and picks out what he thinks the;best in the shop, which ;are, as a rule,; inferior thoughcharged' ; the.highest'for- and when Mr :; ' Mackay':set : tleswith the native lie raays- : -lie , gavo the ; raihana or order on account of Ohinemuri lands, which perhaps the natives may have no olnim whatsoever over, and if, by chance Mr Mackay did happen •to hit on the right one he, the inative r ; says at once, that he was not aware that ho was to give land for those few rotten rags, or for the gallon or . more of what you call rifle rum or mixture. He says that lie wants moiiey for his 'land, and a fair understanding as. to the price per:acrej and then he would know: what ho was about; but he is even willing to give land to pay for what rubbish he has had, only let him kn'ow' how much ia'nd'lie is to give. Take, for ; example,'tho. Aroha Mountain case;; the Government is said to have advanced fourteen or fifteen hundred .pounds for ;this -and the area 'of tlie block does not.exuoed .sixty thousand acres. When Mr Mackay had the subject before/the meeting at 'Whakatiwai the other day, why did he not say plainly that lie would allow so. much 'per acre'/ and that they had already received so ! much on-account of the- purchase money,; leaving a balance in hand of two or three' thousand pounds, and put this balance' down before the whole crowd of th'fe'm P Had he taken, this method of proceeding there, would not have been a native at the meetiiig who-would not jump up for his or hor share, and the whole thing would have been in the hands of, the. Government, "and" thrown' open ere this to. the public for mining purposes. Oh no! That would not do; that would be settling .1 he matter too quickly, and Mr Mackay would have nothing to fool the public about for' another year or so. Ifi he did so at that time there would he ncj more meetings, and tall talking,' and savage dancing, in' each of which; Mr Mackay is in his element; no more grog drinking for his Maori pets. They, : the pretty dears, don't know how to drink rum; no, not a -little .bit; : I can assure yo : u, sir, that anyone who knows somewhat of the native character, will agree with me on this point, and I have asked more than 100 of the native owners'cf the Aroha block, who all say that there would be no bother about selling the land if the Government would only give them its fair.valuo.incash; but thoy do not see the force of the order business, and, as for old. IVHira, I know-'from 1 his own lips that he will do nothing through Mackay, on account of the raihana truck' system, and whatever he may do, will be done ; through Donald -McLean.. He says he does not believe in the bouncing style of To; Make and his " torn kapa mo te eilrti." There are .various ways of obtaining influence over the Maoris,, but you must not be too nice as to what you do. The best way is, to givo them a fair value in coin for what you buy from them, and by no means swear at them. Another way is to give, thorn whatever they ask; and do not expect anything in roturn but what is going in the shape of potatoes and dried. sharks, shout for them whenever you meet them, without being asked. Thus you gain favour; with natives, bub you must dress well and show that you possess lots of, money, but give them a; share of it. The last, ! and perhaps the surest means of all/and on the 'Thames a far from'uncommon method is to, take unto-thyselt'-.a Maori wife, and always rub nose* with her,-dark-skinned relatives;' and if lady No. 1 does not please you;in. possessing the required '.influence, .why get one or, two more from different tribes; say one from the Ngatipouas, and another frora.the Ngatitam-itera, and so on until you think you- have the key -of the 'country. But I have an idea that the natives are getting fly to ; those dodges, as ; they express general dissatisfaction about the! manner in which their busiuess matters are Ijoing Onlt'Thusb 'Possum Power.