THE NATIVE, OFFICE PAST AND PRESENT.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1626, 5 December 1882, Page 3

THE NATIVE, OFFICE PAST AND PRESENT.

' J£o ftlE EDITOR. Sir, —A corrrojspohde'nVwriting under the head of Ngaruawahia, has introduced a topic that I would fain enlarge upon. I , allude to Native Office promises both to, natives and myself. 'Some thirteen years ago I .leased a block ooff f some 300 acres from' local' natives (the 1 late MiAndrew Barton being the acting' head of the hapu)— land awarded, them at the Ngaruawahja. Land Court. The leases contained .certain conditions, and were duly interpreted and registered. „, At ■ tha.£ Jtinie neither the natives or myself imagined that the block would subsc(jueutly be made inalienable, though subject to alienation by consent of the Governor. The native office archives contain the. full history of this case. And I can refer to Mr James Hume, Major Jack son, Judge Mair, Mr J. B. Whyte, M.H.R., and lastly our own M.H.R., in support of my statement and claim. That I was justified in believing when I settled upon this land that I was making a home for my family, anyone acquainted with the merits of the case will understand. There was no jobbery. Yet up to this both the natives and myself have tried and tried in vain to get the case settled. I think I have a right to ask — Is it not as much the duty ot the Native Office to see after the claims and welfare of Europeans as it is to see justice done to natives ? Old settlers who have eaten salt junk and hard biscuit in Wanganui and Waikato are not of sufficient importance to interest the present Government. Now-a-days one must come to the front under a Vescy Stewart or Grant and Foster, laihoa is very good in its M r ay, but there has been rather too much of it in my case.— l am, &c, T. Y. Fitzpatkick. j Hakaramata, 4th December 1882. j