IMPORTANT NATIVE PETITION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 10235, 27 June 1883, Page 2

IMPORTANT NATIVE PETITION.

(PER UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.) Wellington, June 26. 1 The following is Wahanui's petition, which was read in the House, addressed to the Governor of New Zealand and the members of both Houses of Parliament:—This is a petition from us, the Maniapoto, Paukawa, Tuwharetoa, and Wanganui tribes to Parliament. Greetings. Your petitioners pray that you will fully look into and carefully consider the matters whioh are the oause of muoh anxiety to us, and are raising a barrier in front of us, because these matters chat are causing us anxiety have principally emanated from you, the Europeans, in the form' of legislation. We have carefully watched the tendency of the laws whioh you have enaoted from the beginning up to the present day. They all tend to deprive us of the privilege secured to us by the second and third articles of the Treaty of Waitangi, whioh confined to us the exclusive and undisturbed possession of our lands. We do not see any good in any of the laws whioh you have enaoted affecting our lands, when they are brought into operation in adj;i ligation upon lands before the Native Lands Court at Cambridge and othvr places ; and the practices carried ou at the Land Courts have become a source of anxiety to us and a burdoa upon us. Through our ignorance of those laws we have baen induced by speculators (land swallowera) and their agents to allow some of our lands to be adjudicated upon, so that our lands might be secured to us. Sirs, — Having allowed some of our lands to be adjudicated upon, who was it that beoame possessed of them ? It is true that, after the investigations, the natives received a certificate of title showing their right to the lands, but, through the superior knowledge of the Europeans, we accepted foolishly what the lawyers recommended to us by the speculators (land swaliowers), thinking that they were to act in our interests, but in reality they were intended to prolong the investii gations, thereby increasing the expenses to so great an extent that the natives .were unable to defray them, so that the speculators might seize the land, the. result being that we secure the shadow, ' and the speculators (land swaliowers) the substance. We are beset on every ! side by outrageous practices, and the ' temptations we are exposed to by the speculators, and even by Maoris and ' half-oastes, whom the companies have '. seoured to doooy us into the aots - of the companies. In our perplexity ! wo devise some means by whioh we - could extricate our lands from the dis- j asterii pointed out. We ask is there not ' a law by which .v _• uould s-uppross thosd ' evils? and we are told that the only •

remedy is to go to the Court ourselves. Now, while we are striving to keep our lauds, we are aware that your Government, is trying to open up our country by making roads, carrying on trig, surveys, and railways, thereby clearing the way for all these evils to be practised in connection with our lauds, before we have made satisfactory arrangements for the future. Are we to allow the present system to be carried on without romonstrance ? We wish to Btate that if the above-mentioned practiais. are to be carried on in future, we think that it < would not be right that our land should be rendered liable to such an objectionable system. What possible beueiit would we derive from roads, railways, and land courts, if they became the means of depriving us of our lands? We can live as we are situated at present, without roads, railways, or courts, but we could not live' without our lauds.. We are not oblivious of the advantages to be derived from roads, railroads, and other desirable works of the Europeans. We are fully alive to these advantages, but our lauds are preferable to theui. All the matters set forth above are the cause of our anxiety. During the present year certain! persons were selected by tha hapns to denne the boundaries of our lands, and erect posts to mark out the lauds still remaining to us, your petitioners, upon which fho Europeans, to the best|of our knowledge, have no legal claim. We therefore pray tbat your honourable House will give effeot to the following: — (1). It 1b our wish that we may be relieved from the entanglements incidental to the employing the Native Land Courts to determine titles to land ; also to prevent fraud, drunkenness, demoralisation," and all other objectionable results attending the sittings of the Native Land Court. (2), That Parliament will pass a law .to secure our lands to us and our descendants for ever, making them absolutely inalienable by sale. (3i. That we may ourselves be allowed to fix the boua« dariesof the four tribes before'mehtipnedi the hapn boundaries in each tribe, and the proportionate claim of each individual within the boundaries set forth in this petition, which are as follows. (Here boundaries are described.] (4; Wher» these .arrangements relative to ' land claims ace completed by the" Government, appoint some person vested with power to confirm our arrangements' and decisions in accordance with law. If after any individual, shall have had the extent of his claim ascertained, he should desire to lease, it should not be legal for him to do so privately, but an advertisement should be duly inserted in any newspaper which has been authorised for the purpose, notifying the time and place where the sale of the lease of such land will be held, in order that the public may attend the sale of such lease. There , is no desire oh 'our part to ■ keep, the lauds within the boundaries described in this petition' locked up from Europeans, or to prevent leasing, or roads from being made thereon, or other public works being constructed, but it is our desire that the present practices that are carried on at the Land Court should be abolished. :We wish you to understand that, if pur. petition is granted, we will strenuously.endeavour to follow such a course as will conduct to the welfare of this Island, and your petitioners will ever pray. Signed by VVahanui and 415 others.