THE NATIVE DISCONTENT ON THE WEST COAST.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1109, 2 August 1879, Page 2

THE NATIVE DISCONTENT ON THE WEST COAST.

A report by Mr James Mackay has been laid ou the table of the House on the Maoi-i nrlsnmers at Mount Cook. He says, that the Ngatiwa slate that they joined Te Whiti, because they could get no land satisfactory reserved for them. Had the promises made by Mr J, C. Richmond and B}r Dqnald McLean been carried qui, they would have remained loyal to the Government. jTho Taranaki tribes say that Te Whiti will eventually arrange all their affairs satisfactorily. Their ground of complaint is that lands formerly verbally surrendered to them by Mr Parris, under instructions, from },he Government, havp not beei} placed on a satisfactory footing as regards title. Th°,y say Mr Parris acknowledged the withdKvwal of the Parihakajblock from confiscation, by asking Te Whiti on three or four occasions, whether he had. any objection to the construction of the main road and. telegraph line through it from Opunake tq Stpuey River; also that Major Brown, as Civil Commis, sioner, interviewed Te Whiti as to tho construction of a light-house at Cape Egmont. They, therefore, considered the land to be their property, and confiscation to have been waived by the official action thus taken. The prisoners, of Ngatiruanui have the most unbounded and fanatioal reliance on Tq Whiti and Iss gupi-eme authority. They deem themselves martyrs tq the cause, and profess to feel elated at piinisnment" being inflicted on them. They feel aA'erse to discussing the land question, as they stoutly maintain that To Whiti will deliver thorn from the bonds of the Europeans, and destroy their oppressors by supernatural means, and then peace will be restored to the Avhole earth. A few of the more rational among them say that their complaint is that the lands were never uququered, and held hy Europeans ; That Mr Parris and Sir I). McLean offered them money compensation, at the rate of os per aore, and also promised thorn, reserves. The report then says • " I may here state that from conversation I had with TitokoAvaru aud others, I have come to the conclusion that no disturbance would haA r o arisen if tho Native and Survey Dopartmeiids had been acting in accord Avith the coutroling power which has been vested in the. farmer. Titokowaru states that he asked the .interpreter to stop the i-nu'Vey at a

certain point, as ho wished a piece of land to be reserved. The surveyor, having his orders from the Survey Department, continued his survey over the cultivations." Ihe report concludes :— ' <In my opinion it wonld bo a most serious disaster to the colony if any of the Maori prisoners now m custody should effect their escape, or even bo set free in duo course of law, as Io Whiti and the remainder of his fanatical followers, would at once cot it down to his supernatural power, and will bo srengthened in their belief in the infallibility of his prophecies."