The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1889.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 2607, 28 March 1889, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1889.

oHvnatsoevcr°state or persuasion, religious or political.

On a previous occasion wc pointed out the necessity tha+ exists for effecting a thorough simplification of the procedure of the Native Land Court, if not its extinction altogether. It is a fact, and wc are in receipt of private letters that substantiate it, that there is a strong feeling amongst those well versed in native matters, and amongst the most intelligent natives themselves, in favor of the abolition of the Courts. There is no longer the need for their expensive and interminable machinery. The natives have been so completely educated to the advantages of fixing the tribal and individual titles to their lands that they are now expert enough to be able to perform the greater part of the work themselves, without the pomp and circumstance of the quasijudicial courts of the pakeha. It has been urged that it should be left to the native owners themselves, through their committees, to settle all questions of divisional boundaries. If they arc furnished witha (iovcrniuent Purvey map they can easily decide all these points by on the plan the positions of their traditional and recognised landmarks, without recourse to the voluminous evidence and barefaced inventions which till the records of the Courts at the present

time. They could in tlieir own way finally determine and delineate their tribal boundaries on the maps, then come to the Survey Department and ; Land Registry Office to have them , officially endorsed and registered, on payment of a proper fee. Until all the native claimants had agreed amongst themselves, and the map was returned to the SurveyorGeneral with the boundaries marked thereon and certified to by the chairman of the committee, the actual ownership to the land under treatment would remain in abeyance, and there could be no partition thereof for any purposes whatever. Under the present system room is afforded for oross abuse and frauds. Taking advantage of the readiness of the Courts 'to enter cases from any direction, there is never a sitting hold for the investigation of titles or tribal ownership to any block of land but numbers of J bogus claims are put in, and unblushing attempts made by outsiders to steal a march on the real owners. The consequence is a vast amount of unnecessary and expensive litigation and rehearings. The same fraudulent designs are made on occasions of sub-division ot blocks and individualising of titles. None of these evils would happen it the work was left to the natives, as is suggested. The onus of providing the list of owners to any block should be left to tho native committee of tho, district, which, on production in a completed rorm to the Minister of Lands, could be published in the Gazette for the information and challenge of the tribes interested.Thesameprocesscouldapply to the individual partition of blocks, tho tribal boundaries of which had been thus first decided upon and each individual owner could obtain his certificate, register it under the Land Transfer Act, have Ins and surveyed at his own cost, and be free to do what ho liked with it. The fights of aucflPaaoi'B to deceased owners could be certified to by the committee, registered at a Resident Magistrates' Court, and endorsed on tho Grown Grant or uei'liticitc of title. The natives would thus be spared the enormous and ruinous expense ut the present effete system, and would be placed i„ a better position to become useful factors in the progress Of the country. In some such way tho preliminary responsibility of defuv ' in" tribal boundaries would be 1 placed on the shoulders of the ' native - elected committees: and ; they are quite able ;w4 intelligent enough to undertake it. They would be relieved ot the absurd paraphenalia of the Courts ' which are perplexing and impoverishing, and the proposal would absolutely extinguish Ui« WHWtMtf aP-

peals for re-hearings, wliicli exhaust, their means and over-run the actual value of the land under litigation. The natives would bo freed from the tricks and jealousies excited amongst tlieni.' eves, and from the extortion they suffer at the. hands of agents and lawyers. There is no finality in the existing svsteui, as with re-hearings the Native Laud Courts will continue to exist as long as there is a single member of the native rac© left alive in New Zealand. This is not all the objection ottered to the Courts, ft. was a, fad of the late Chief .Judge, Mr Fenton, to claim for the Native Land Court the same status as that of the Supreme Court, air -Justice Richmond, in a report to the House some years ago, very strongly animadverted oil the inconsistency and incompatibility of this pretension, and said there was no analogy between the two Courts. With this view most sensible men agree. Judge Wilson, who is nowpresiding tit a Native Land Court at Wairoa," Napier, has just pushed this point to a ridiculous extreme, having suspended Mr Baker, the interpreter, for refusing to address him as " His Honour." Ou the other hand, several of the judges object to be so addressod, and contend, very properly, that they are only Commissioners of a Board of Enquiry. If the Government are_ in earnest tlioy will make a sweepiug reform in this branch of the public service, and assist the interests of the natives more than has hitherto been the case. Mr Setli Smith, the now Chief Judge of the Native Land Court, like his predecessor Mr Maedonald, is unacquainted with native usages or with the procedure of Land Courts, and will probably find he is not Hoad of his OVII Department, unless lie takes the bull by the horns. Hitherto the proceedings of the Native Laud Court have been completely controlled and personally influenced by Mr T. W. Lewis, Under-Secretary of the Nativo Office. No interference of this character should be permitted under any circumstances. Mr Lewis and the Native Office should bo erased from official existence, as has been so ofton demanded, by public opinion.