The Waikato Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1879.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1065, 22 April 1879, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 1879.

Equal, and exact justice to all men, Of whatever state or persuasion, religioua or political. Hero shall the Press the People's right maintain, Unawed by iuflnonoi and unbribed by gain.

The importance of the approaching native meeting at Kopua can hardly be over-estimated, and it will not fail to attract the closest attention m all parts of the 'colony. That the future of the North Island, at all events, is indissolubly connected with the settlement of the native lands question is apparent to the most casual observer. In the South, where the country has been from the commencement m the hands of the Government, colonisation has . had unimpeded progress, and has been pushed into the heart of the country m every direction, hi the North, settlement lias been' confined to >a mere fringe, whilst the great heart of tbe Island has been utterly inaccessible to the European. Large tracts of country are still m the hands of the aboriginal owners, unproductive and untaxable, returning nothing to the general wealth, and yielding no revenue towards the development and improvement of the country m the shape of roads, bridges, and public works generally. This great question of settlement of native territory, then, will be fully discussed from a native point of view at the Kopua meeting, and the result must be looked forward to with the greatest anxiety by every thinking' colonist. ' Will the result be m the direction of permitting settlement, or of another' land league, and a harder aukati than we have ever hitherto had 1 That is the real practical question which will be answered on the 28th of the present month. We shall now take a general view of. the position of native affairs during the period that has elapsed since the" conclusion of the Waikato war. Let us. then glance at the objects proposed by the Ministry of the day to he effected, and endeavour to draw some conclusion as to the good likely to be accomplished. * ''

The first practical attempt made to individualise the titles of the natives, and facilitate the alienation of their lands for settlement, was the Native Lands Act, 1865. The general principle of this measure was to provide an easy method for the natives of ascertaining their tribal and individual rights. It worked fairly well.- It accomplished to a great extent the end for which it was framed. Many thousands of claims were heard, and hundreds of thousands of acres passed from the Maoris to the Europeans, and were brought under the plough aud harrow. The percentage of appeals was remarkably small, so. small indeed as to be hardly appreciable. 1 ndividuals of both races meeting constantly m tlie process of buying and selling began to have its effect m rubbing off the hard feelings engendered by the war, and promoting a community of interest between the colonists and theMaoris.

In 1870, Sir Julius — then Mr. — Yogel, m his Government Budget conceived an idea, correct indeed m principle, but exceedingly difficult to execute- — the purchase from the natives nut of the public funds of a large landed estate from tlie natives for the North Island. Had the Government gone into the market to compete with private individuals, no great harm would probably have been done. But m 1873, Sir Donald McLean came down with the Native Lands Act at present m force, which was framed purposely with a view of rendering negotiations between Europeans and natives so difficult and costly as practically to prohibit them. Tender this Act power was given to proclaim that tracts of land required by the Governor should be withdrawn from tlie open market. Here was the first step towards the resumption of . the pre-emptive right of the Crown. But it was not an open above-board step, and was bitterly resented by the natives. They were still willing to alienate their lands, hut the immense cost of putting them through the Court, the great risk of their being at any moment put into the position of being unable to complete their title to the European purchaser, robbed them of a very large portion of their proper emolument arising from their sales. Discontent arose and still exists to such an extent as to lead many of them to determine to form a league absolutely to prevent the alienation of any land whatsoever.

In the meantime since 1869 political meetings, with the Maori King were constantly being held by Sir Donald McLean during his lifetime. These meetings, though doing very little harm, were certainly m our opinion not calculated to do much good m the direction of getting the locked-up lands thrown open for sale. They had moreover the effect of giving fresh life to the Kingite move-

ment, which would soon have died a natural death from sheer inanition. But on the accession of the present Government to power larger and comprehensive measures were adopted. Sir Donald had contented himself with calling together the Ngatimaniapotos and Waikatos re siding within thati limited tract known m a general way as the King Country. But Sir George Grey, with that vigour of mind for which he has always been noted, has conceived the possibility of makiug a regular definite treaty with the great body of the natives of the North island, and ending at one blow all our troubles. • To execute this he relies upon his previous knowledge of and popularity with aboriginal natives m general and those of New Zealand m particular. The idea is good, bold, and statesmanlike, if the difficulty of execution and the results of possible failure have been fairly weighed. To carry out this project it has been necessary to mass the natives together from all parts of the island, and to enormously increase] the power of Tawhiao, m order that that potentate may be m a position to definitely accede to. the terms of the Premier, and that natives representing every section maj' be on the spot to ratify those terms. We have the parties now face to face, and we wait with the greatest anxiety the result of the affair. What the Europeans propose to gain is the assent of the natives to the opening of the country for the railway to Taranaki, and the cession to the Governmont of blocks of land for .settlement. These are the objects for which we have undertaken this great task, and these are the tests of our success or failure. What the natives will really require iv return we can scarcely say at present ; but unless their demands are really too heavy we shall do well to accede to them, and get the country opened. If Sir George Grey succeeds,- he will have deserved well of the country, and will have pito the cap-stone on the edifice of his public services, We feel certain, however, that he will have to propose to the natives some other method of dealing with their lands than the unequal machinery which has existed since 1873, and will have to abandon the "Proclamation'" principle .which our knowledge of the Maoris enables us most positively to affirm will not be endured. If it were the case that the practice was notobjectionable to the Maoris, we should strongly advocate its retention. But np success m reference to.opening country for settlement can be achieved at this meeting that does not rest upon the abolition of the present onesided system, of dealing with the lands of the natives. We are sure that Sir George Grey is wise. enough to see this. If a distinct arrangement can be made m reference to the tract known as the King Country, by which the Government and the King natives will enter into a sort of partnership for the purpose of selling land for settlement — that would be the best method by far. But m other parts of the island, where lands have already been largely dealt with, the proclamation system will, have to be abolished before peace will he restored to the native mind. We saw it at the Orakei meeting, and we shall see it still stronger at Kopua. We do most siticerely trust that the results we have put as a test of success will be achieved, arid the future of this great countryassured. And this is the more devoutly to be wished because the results of failure will, to our mind, render the position most deplorable, and for the following reason : It has been necessary for the success of the

whole scheme to mass the natives. Tribes have thus been brought together and interchanged ideas which has tended towards creating a united sentiment. Old barriers have been broken down ( which formerly existed to- the federation of the various Maori peoples, and cohesion, the ultimate result of all this, will give them three times the power to work mischief that they formerly possessed. Even the Ngapuhis have been invited to this gathering, when old sores will be healed with the salve of the prospect of ah incipient nationality. United, they may stand and conquer ; where divided, as hitherto, they must be amenable to reason. The result depends entirely upon the extent of the personal influence of Sir George Grey. The perilous experiment is being tried with the consent of the whole country upon his personal representations. Let us devoutly hope for a happy consummation, lest we find that, having been pushed into this advanced position, we cannot retreat, and must see the opening of the country for settlement indefinitely postponed, if nothing worse befall us. Still we hope the best. '

The speech of Mr MgMinD, fully reported m another column, does not contain much new matter for reflec- ! tion. It is, however, the utterance of a sincere believer m what he puts before the public, with one exception,, viz., the Education Question. On this point, we must confess lhat having m view the line taken by Mr McMinn during the recent election we are somewhat dubious. The services to the district of Mr McMinn during the last session are however undeniable, and we shall refrain from pressing* this point. With regard to the Land Tax we must confess that our views are not m accordance with those of Mr McMinn. We were m the galleries of the House when the £500 exemption clause was being

debited and watched its fate with -Treat anx<*ety. We do not , ani never did regard the Luid Tax as a financial measure. Its success m this Hue m Victoria has been more than doubtful and unless accom-p-mie I by an Income and Property Tax we believe it for financial parj o*es to be worthless. We look on it us a political tax imposed with the idea of causing the division of excessively largo e_tute.s aud the settlement of the country by men instead of sheop. With this view we deprecate the taxation of s.nall holders. Mr McMiun, on the contrary, wishes fo lower the exemption claim to £50 (why £50, we are at a loss to .undnrstauu).- We disagree alsD with levying a tux upon improvements, unless all property, both m town and m country i s equally taxed. These views were clearly eo'uiciated and explained m Mr Whitaker's speech, during the Waipa contest. For the re3t, Mr McMinn has, a. his vote of confidence shews, carried out his pledges to his ..constituent? — he has rendered a, strict obedience to Sir George Grey upou every vote taken..' We presuras from his speech* that he considers lhat he has- sufficiently redeemed bi?. promises m that direction, anJ intends for the future to exercise the right of intelligent criticism over the measures of the Government. We are glad of this because it shows th>it Mr .McMinn is now' prepared to adopt the course we have always advocated, the retention bf some power m the representative of moulding his actions somewhat m accordance with, his own convictions. As far as really hard wark on local matters are concerned, we speak most positively that Mr McMinn has done as ranch as could possibly be expected of him to further the terest of the district. There are one or two points m the lion. Members speech tp which we shail again refer.