Mr Ballance at Papawai.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2261, 3 April 1886, Page 2

Mr Ballance at Papawai.

Yesterday the Native Minister accompanied by Mr Buchanan,- M.H.R., Mr Lewis the Under-Secretary,' a shorthand reporter, Mr Maurisell,. Coloiiol!/Maedonald, and the Mayor of Greytown attended a meeting of Natives at&ipiqvai. Mis Ballance and a kdy frictifl jffli' also of the party. They web wfafffed bv about 130 Maoris and chiefs on arriwvl at the pah, 1 Mr Ballance addressed them foMbout twenty minutes. He told them .that ha had come up to hear their views on tha Native Lands Bill and see if- they had any amendments to propose thereto, The Natives had prepared a collection for the visitors, but Mr Ballance said ho thought thoy had better go back to Greytown to lunchoon and that he would give the Natives time to prepare a reply to what he had said. This was accordingly tone, and on their return they met the assembled Natives iti a large building, where tables and chairs wero provided Eor the convenience of tlio visitors. Mr Ballance then said his visit to them irose from a desire on his part to he*» iheir views on the proposed Native Land Bill. He told them of the meetings that lad taken place at Napier and \\ anganuf ind what had been done there. He iviahed to hear their sentiments; Piripireplied that he,had hawUho nceting was unanimous in fa^9gmh» Bill at Heretaunga He had .hat tho meeting at Aramohu was mvortble to it, but /he'.himself,, with several )resent then, had not gono to Napier or SVanganui, although . they had been nvited. But at tho same time, if vhat he had heard was true that hey. wero unanimously in favor of he Bill, he could assure Mr Ballance t was quita sufficient. He and :the others vho had not attended would also be in avor thereof. Up to the present he had iot heard anyone dissenting, although h« lad heard additions, and slight' 'amendacnts Jiad been proposed. He spoke for limself and all the Natives present;. The second chief who spoke said: Salutations to you Mr Ballance, a 8 the. Native Minister, also salutations to you tlr Ballance, as my friend. ■ Salutations o your wife and the lady with lier, and alutations also to tho other gentlemen tresent. All that I have to say is simply hat I thoroughly agree with - everything 'iripi has just spoken, and if it is true aa leard, that the meetings are unanimous n favor of the Bill, who are we that did iot attend those meetings to say anything gainst it ? 1 toll you this is aution, when tho Chiefs of a triljßM ipon anything the whole tribe ratiWmat tas been done by the Chiefs, ThaMpsm ild native custom, and wo have no'with o depart from it in the present' instance Another chief then got up and" said in eference to what those who had preceded limhad said, he was quite in accord. 3ut there was one question he had to ask >f the Native Minister, one which, he ionsideved, would bo the most important isked that day on that subject., That vas, it had been reported to him iand to he 'Natives generally, that Hori',Ropiha iad also drafted a Land Bill, and had liven this Land Bill in writing to Mr Mance, saying that that was to be the uture Land Bill with regard to the Native ands, and that ho had heard thift'this Bill liffered entirely with the Government Bill. Ho understood, he continued; that Mr Mance and Hori Popihu including - tho Jovernment had made peace with each ither, and that presents had been : flxchan. ;ed between them. That one of- Hori'a iresents wasa Patua pararUa;--fljld also uats, What the nature nh the presents .'ere to Hori Ropiha was best known to .Ir Ballance himself, Now as the giving nd receiving of presents was a token mong the Maoris that terms had been greed upon between the particsilkjmingsuch presents and hearing ulwiwo (ills wore in existence with regaraw tlw lisposition of the lands belonging to tho lativea, he wished to know point lMk rum Mr Ballance which of the two.'bMie vas going to accept. That was to say if he vas agreeable to give him such information, He did not want an Answer at >llOO, buUdvised him to think well over ho question. Later on in the • meeting hey would all be glad to hear which Bill lie Government meant to adopt, Hori lopiha's Bill or the Government Bill, iccause it was evident to them that iresents had been exchanged, and they iad parted amicably. Mr Ballance then rose to reply, Colonel llcDonell acting as interpreter. He said here was one mistake the last speaker iad made, that as a matter of fact Hori lopiha had never drafted any Land Bill .tall of any nature whatsoever, it was rue that Hori had handed him smitten letition, embodying many grievances hat ho said the Natives wore suffering mder. He (tho speaker), Hori .Ropiha, .nd party, had gone into the mafMjof the Native Land Bill and every eonained in the petition that was given him. Phat tho result of that meeting in . Weiington had been very satisfactory to limsolf and the Government. That Hori kpiha admitted to him that he and others iow said that it was impossible thai here could be two Governments'in New Zealand, That he saw that under orie Jovernment tho two races could units is one, but with two Governments, the? vould always remain as two . people® iori "Ropiha thought it woulchbe* ;ood thing for the Native Chiefs o meet the Government and. to;ether devise laws for tho bonofll >f the nations, and in furthorancft # ftlje nterests of both races, That he had told lori Ropiha at that meeting in Welling: on that there could bf> but one Govern nentin New Zealand, and that''.those )eople in England who had told Tawhiao ind the chiefs who accompanied him that ihore could be anytliing else, had deceived ihem, and allowed them to leave England tnd return to New Zealand under a'false repression, and that on their arrival in Sfew Zealand they had. circulated thai leception amongst the Maoris to theii ;reat harm. Though thej night have Bown the seeds of gtA'dis. lissensions. That Lord Derby haMuvel laid anything to the natives wiierebj hoy could consider thore could be an# hing but the one Government. On the ontrary he had referred them back .to the Jow Zealand Government. He couidtelj hem that threo out of the four chiefs whe .ccompanied Tawhiao to England had low gone over to the Government ide, and were at the present ime assisting them in devising a plan for he benefit of the Native race; these hree men were Hori Ropiha, Topia 'urua, and another. The fourth chief, tfajor Te Wheoro, he had not heard roin as yet, but ho was a personal friend if his own, and lie had no doubt vyouß ie found on the Government side.' He 'as unable as yet to Bay personalty rhether Tawhiao would tyc with the Goyrnmeut or not, He wm jpi|reft thai ■awhia would be. ir* oii(! hem when they mot. If Tawhiao coninued to isolate' Jrfmself from the' Euiy leans, he bo sfe'ding v |Jbh( mong his'. own race. At . th< liferent _pJ«ces he ' had' niei' c the aces, chief after" chief' ha^'epie* orward intf assisted, htnv it\ hts' vlW'i )ne sisl seotiop atone pf fta;awaii i^t HeeJtng at' The toep; <tt& at the meeting at Hawkea BavfflKi lame of the man who dissentecwßrf ?as Sydney Taiwhangaj who was Wi Jhief. ;He told the meeting he w&theri

bs tho representative of Tawhiao and tho Maori peoplo. The burthen of his speech was his own individual' powers and wishes, The result was the meeting told him they would not accept him as the representative of those ho said ho came from. Some further talk took placo, and reference was made to tho Wairarapa Lako question.' Piripi said lie would just say one word ,011 that question. If they began to talk ftnibput the Wairarapa Lako question, it take two and a half days boforo lie. could conclude his speoch 011 that subject, 4L, He understood Mr Ballance had not time j then at his disposal to enter into that vory momentous question, but, that lie' might know in which direction his thoughts lay, ho would tell them that in his opinion and in that of those then present tho Government and the settlers wore in the wrong, and tho Natives were in tho right. At ihia juncture a great many prepared ; to depart, Mr Ballance, however, stayed in Greytown over night, and returned to Wellington tins': morning tw route for ■ Napier where ho has a Native meeting 011 ; Monday. The question of the Wairarapa will be dealt with,'at a future timo.