The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 834, 20 October 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact justice to all men, ()• whatever suce or persuasiou, religious o political

Here shall the.Presi the Pkoi'Lb's right maintain, Unawetl by influence and uubribed by Kuin

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1877.

The Native Lauds Purchase Suspension Bill, as a personal belongiug to the late Ministry, is to be buried with them. Why it was ever framed, and why, m direct noncompliance with the wishes of supporters aud Opposition alike, the late Ministry clung to this bill so fondly as they did, we are at a loss to imagine. The new Government have only acted m accordance with the dictates of prudence and common sense m dropping the measure, for to have made it law would have been a gross violalation of native rights that would have aroused a feeling of hostility to the pakeha mile m every friendly tribe. It might have suited the policy of the King and of the ex- ' treme party with him, but to the generality of the natives the suspension of land selling for a twelvemonth, meant the cutting off their supplies, and the withdrawal of their chief source of income. But while giving the new Govern ment credit for sound statesmanship m dropping the measure, we caunot but view with grave appi'ehensions the remarks made, first by the Premier m his allusion to the matter m the Ministerial Satement, and afterwards by the Native Minister when formally moving ' the discharge of the measure m the Hcuse on Wednesday. The one gave as his reason that the bill might be dropped without detriment, because " that really all necessary powers are conferred upon us by the Native Land Act, 1873, which will enable us to interfere to preye 1 t all improper purchases from the natives, and all improper deal ngs with them, and we think that the powers so conferred will anvily suffice to meet theneeds of the piesent momen:." Tlie other is rep< rted to have said, " They would exercise the powers under the Ac; of 1873, to preve at improper spei illation. That Act gave the Gove .'nnient all tho powers required, and these would be usod fairly and hoi.estly." Tho powers thus assumed by the Premier and the .Native & mister will, on consideration, hoi ever, be fou:id to be , unconstitution il, as placing the Government of t le day above and leyond the lious ;. The jjoweid alluded to are contained m the 20th seption ]

of the Act of 1873, and are intended to be used only m extreme exceptional cases. Clause 20 is purely an emergency clause to enable the Government to stop the continuation, of the survey or sale of land, the further pushing 1 on of which would endanger the public safety. The provisions of the Native Land Sale Suspension Bill were to prevent the' further purchase of native land until a Native Land Bill generally acceptable to the country had been passed by the House. The law as it stands at present respecting the sale of native lands may be open to considerable amendment; but there is no such emergency as would warrant the bringing into operation the 20th section of the Act of 1873. The late Government saw this clearly enough, or they would never have introduced tbe new measure, and if they felt debarred from wresting the provisions of the 20th section of the Acfc of 1873 to such a purpose then, how much more so now should the present Government feel a delicacy m doing so when the House, by ordering the withdrawal of the Land Sale Suspension Bill, has virtually condemned the principle and expediency of the measure. To substitute the one for the other is to go beyoud the authority of the House, and, by a sidewind, to do that which Parliament has declared shall not be done. Such a course would be not only, as we have said, unconstitutional, but dangerous m the extreme. It would lay any Government open to the possibility of grave charges ot corruption. Parliament itself has declined to sanction the interference intended by the bill, and it is monstrous to suppose that the Ministry shall assume a discretionary power which Parliament itself declines. The Native Land Sale Suspension Bill was an arbitrary measure, both 1 as respects the native vendor and the European purchaser ; but it had this element of fairness about it that it I ' proposed to deal with all alike. That which the Ministry seeks to substitute for the bill now withdrawn is of a very different character. The power which it gives, if once recognised as affecting any but extreme cases, may be used as a terrible instrument of oppression on the one hand and of corruption on the other by an unscrupulous Ministry, or even by a single Minister. If so large a discretionary power as that referred to by the Premier and by the Native Minister is to be exercised as a mere matter of personal opinion of the desirability or fairness of a sale, then such a state of things, we say, might arise that the dealing with natives for the purchase of lauds would become a matter entirely of Court favour, to be enjoyed by the personal or political friends of Ministers, and to be refused to all others. The Native Minister stated that the powers of the 20th clause would be used fairly and honestly. What we contend is that the administration have no right to use them for any bub the purpose for which they were enacted. Clause 20 of the Acfc of 1873 so often referred to, is as follows : — " It shall be lawful for the Governor from time to time, before the commencement of or at any stage of any case or proceeding, by notice to the Chief Judge or the presiding Judge signed by himself or by a Minister, or transmitted by telegraph, to declare th«it such case or proceeding- shall not be tried or proceeded with, and thereupon the jurisdiction of the Court m such matter shall cease and determine but shall revive with tbe revocation of such notice, Similarly, and by any like notice the Governor or a Minister may stop any survey from being proceeded with, at any time and from time to time." The language, the context, the clause itself upon the very face of it all, bear evidence of the intent for which it was framed, aud any Ministry or Ministers who seeks to wrest it to the purpose proposed will be simply attempting, by a side-wind, to usurp functions which Parliament alone has power to exercise, and which power upon mature deliberation it has ia the withdrawal of the Native Lands Sale Suspension Bill refused to assume.