NATIVE MEETING.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1179, 15 September 1882, Page 2

NATIVE MEETING.

Mr Tomoana, met the Maori and. Eutopean.i'acea in the Public Hall,, Oartertonjj op; Wednesday j evening/; to render 'an account'of his' stewardship during the session about olosing, - On the motion of Mr .Tames Cooper, seconded by Wiremu Mahupuku, Mr N. Grace iwyoledito fhe chair.,; Mr>Mabkayj at the 'request of the Press, acted as interpreter. , The Ohair'miui said—Ladies and'gentlemen, we have met to-night to hear the member Maori; District. He has come up from .Wellington on purpose, to speak' to jus and ; give us his opinion on what'has been'done in Parliament, I hope-you ;will "give him a fair and impartial hearing. Mr Tomoana, on rising, was greeted 'with 'prolohsed cheers. He said V I am muoh pleased to' see'so' many Europeans and Natives'assembled here to hear what I have to say . I am the representative of a lavge Nativß ; but am glad to see ; the Europeans here, as they are mixed with, us. j( What^l r 1)0 veto say is,, that I objeotjto actions-Qf'Native chiefs*'

1 have been rerepresentative, and have Been (no good ;anse?,for ; us from the proceedings taken :l)y Itlie Government; neither iin thiJ list] Esfliament nor the four foihera.| Parliament our |Votes nave"'n|gi6een recorded for the <6overnraent|isGur/first reason was the capturing'-ani) ..imprisonment of Te Wbiti and-Tohu, We would , not, therefore, vote for thein. Again, beoause the aotion •p(d^e,.,(ite^men^a«;^ne«to!tKr interests of the Native race, and there* fore we could not give them our support. The reason is thig i Te Whiti'a latid' waa guaranteed to him by Sir V Donald McLean fourteen years ago/and.yet" we', now find the Government taking,it,as confiscated land, and he is ejected. Then when on this aotion a Bill is brought in to the House the Native members objected. No attention was paid to them, and that was the first thing that preyented us from supporting the Government. Then the Maori members brought forward a Bill, but that .was set aside byfthe Government—the Maori' members/had 1 not approved of the measures [brought fotward. The Government then brought forward a Bill respecting Native reserves, That gave power to deal with lands under Grown- grant: or Native Uenure.fi Maori members,' after' a consultation, thought it would work badly: fdr '.the Maoris. Tho reason of this was, that they thought it did all for the Europeans and little for the Natives.: ■ The Bill contained some very hard and difficult provisions, but was passed by the Lower ! House, When taken to the Upper . Chamber, it was in many ways altered . and modified, I have heard, and others also, that the Bill was passed by the Upper Chamber, but we must wait' and see by experience whether this ; is , so,, | whether it is good or bad for us, the i Maori people, ■ What the Maori members had sought for was to see -more power given to the Maoris ; to work the Bill! Our principal objection was that the Bill traversed the treaty 'of Waitangi, which • set forth that the Maoris should have power to, administer all laws relating to their lauds, forests,".',and fisheries. t Another objection was that the Bill pro- . vided that.the administration: of the re- ! ; serves should be put in the hands of 'a J public trustee at Wellington. The . Natives objected to this, as those in the l' Bay of Islands, Auckland, and elsewhere . would be put i tb-;great expense'to come to Wellington to get any information ; they might require, Then' the Governi ment wished to pass a Bill to take railways over Native lands, but offered no 3 compensation, Then the Maori members r brought in a Bill to enable Natives to j make committess of their otvn; but this 3 was thrown out. lhese Maori committees would have been of great use and ) influence in settling disputes, and would 3 have done good work not only among j the Natives themselves, but "between j them and the Europeans. Another Bill 9 brought in. by Mr Taiaroa for the Native thsmselves to administer/ (he law witlr rogard to property within .Native r settlements. This specially referred to land on the West Coast of the other \ Island. Great vexation,-too, arisen , about a block at Napier reserved by [ Natives, This was riot consented to by the Government, who made objections. We (the Native members) think the Mqop petitions are of importance, but Jind, through the action of the Government,that it is difficult to give them due weight. The Native Minister said we must be cautioua ; in these matters, or ! the Public and Native Committees would be put an end 1 next objection they had was • the Crown and Native Lands Bill. That ° jffeoted.. land--'held under', grant and Native, tenure, but had been passed by the House. As seen from our point of view, this Bill did not meet wjth bur :> approval. During Sir George Grey's ' time, when he was head of the Government, a committee was appointed to inquire into the grievances of the Middle Island, and another was appointed, but J the Government and Governor did "not ' consent to the proposition. He had been willing to adopt things within .his(dig- ■ trict, but nothing had been done that would benefit the Natives. All he had 1 previously stated was hard ami difficult to deal with. There had been nothing to benefit them in the past; ho could not see anything to do so in the future, 1 The Government thinks these Acts that have been pasied are good, Who knows they are 'good 1 Can anyone see anything good in them ? We may judge by this: fourteen years ago land was given to Te Whiti, and now ha is imprisoned, Who can say that after passing snch Acts the Government will t stand there in the future ? But although i they .might object to the rating and pay e of the tribute, the Acts bein« „ pasßed they would iind they were subject 0 them, both as regarded lands under f Crown grants and lands under Native . tenure; and they could not say but that j before long they might have other claims made by local governing powers, There were some good clauses as to Native lands, but a Government might arise who ' would use the Acts badly. It was not any good being alarmed—they ; would t have to aubmit, as these' Acta would . operate over their lands./ It is no good ) our saying, this is the King law, this is. ! Government law, These Acts have _ been passed, and are the law. No doubt j 'h® Europeans complain and say they ! suffer ; but they fight, and strive, arid . conquer. You Maoris are lazy. What 5 he wanted to impress • upon them, was , that they should lease to the Europeans, and.thus get both the rent and taxes. He wished them to consider this, as , although the Maori members objected to these Acts they had become law. He would j suggest that next session, as you are displeased with the Acts, you should petition Parliament, as the Europeans ..do,; to 1 lighten your burden and make the laws for you. Yon sent us Maori mem- , bers into the House to benefit you, bul l | cannot report favorably on what has been done, nothing has been done that. i will be a benefit to you. I think those i bills will do you harm, lhe Maori members found they could not carry out, your desires, The Government' first decided to remove tho Native Land Court from' ( Auckland |to Wellington, though [Auckland was the best for Maori business ias; • tho, Government desired to centralise '. everything in Wellington, This is one ; ithing that makes us;say nothing has taken place benefit of the natives! But since those Acts press -heayily ; ori. u's ~ 'tis no good our going, to sleep, but-wo i must petition and keep on petitioning. I , have spoken, at length, perhap's'-been ij wearisome, but I wanted to point out i what we meant to dp, and why we wen t i against the Government, For the future , you must petition and. back us.up because , the Maoris in my district won't rest untill they get .redress; But many of'you j who, send in petitions hinder our work by, going behind our baoks. ;Yoii put one , thing in'your petitions and then go and tell j the Government something quite differI; ent,! I am very vexed about it, Tho . Wairarapa and Manawatn have done a I lot against the Maori members in this way. I will riot accuse (he Europeans or t officials because the petitions,, areanot gone into. The Maoris say one thing and 1 mean another, and I have known petii tions presented while those signing were in another corridor of the House, ; acting directly against them, If I j was ;a European member I could tell i yoii more on other subjects, but as a i Maori memberT'want you to know 'why l; we djd; not vote; with the Government, i ■ .The Bills have paased, but you must not,

w ! it.!.' 11111111 accuse us of not having had your interest* at heart, There is this difference between we Maori members and Europeans. We simply como and tell you we have failed. They are looking out for votes on a future occasion. I shall now visit all the settle* ments and go into all the subjects on which I have addressed you. Although the Bills have been passed we must search and see if we cannot find out a way that the Government cannoLwork Ihßmlgainst'uF'rwrßii success toboth races, ! Maori and European, ;n the digtrict, ' r 'Wiremu Mahupukaglad.Tonioana had come up, and approvfed ho • had said as the Bills we're adverse to 'the native race, If the Maori mombers found they coulA accomplish but little, they had better have no members. Under the Waitangi Treaty lands held under native . tenure conldnot berated. He was pleased: withTomoana's the.Wairarapa distriotii IjK Mr Tomoana said that as r long as uTj' , present f law w'ai in foroo any ten or fifteen 1 druhketi men'might put in a Maori representative. In the second year the Maori members themselves thought it. •wduld'hebetteir for hi suoh members to be, and thought, to get a, petition from j tlje-people to'do! Way.' with, them, bnt , even if that were done, if the laws were .maddthey would have to obey them, anil ; sometimes when hard questions tho ; Maori members'were able to soften' things down,'; - ! He had. simply' addressed them that the matters might have their 1 consideration, • Tikawanga said their member had ex- , plained the good and the evil thai would i arise out of these laws. He .and the I other Maori members had been, 1 go to Wellington to bring back beneficial ~ results, but now he returned everything I was'adverse, and what the natives asked ! was not.done, nothing had been done for- ; them„since 1873.; The: Bills were op- , pressive as to Native Eeserves; rates I, ought,to be confined to. lands heldifrr i leased by Europeans. I have no fear of ) the Government m saying theae .laws i shall be trodden under foot, and if the . Government likes topui'me in gaolf I'll • go there because they havo , not, carried • ! out their promise as' to,, the.'plder„aiid t younger brother. The Slaori memberi s can do nothing; the Europeans do every--3 thing. 3 . Mr Tomoana said ,it was ;for /those in* 3 terestod in reserves to ! sm ; whaf they i could do. • i Piripi Temaere said it was for them as • they could get nothing from , Parliament ) to adopt European, ideas,! and -sell and s leaso, and so live despite tares., He ,wai ) much pleased with'what Tomoana s done in Parliament,; T| | | { .' Mr Tomoana said there was something i good in the Act, as two Maoris were to 1 be members of the Board if enough lands g. were brought under the Act iu any diai trict." He would tell them not to go to ,1 sleep, but agitate and keep on till they e got redress. ? Mr James Mackay spoke shortly to the a Acta, urging that it was no use kicking d against the Government, r Ngatuere also spoke, i :-A vote of thanks to tho chairman and y cencluded the [meeting, C ■ .