27

I.—B

has been assumed that I have been the means of doing a great wrong to the Natives, and the position seems to be that I am brought here almost as a criminal to defend myself in consequence of a letter written by some Natives, making statements which are utterly unfounded in fact, as I hope to be able to show presently—statements which will not bear investigation. When that letter was submitted to me I saw that the statements it contained were inaccurate, and that two-thirds of this inquiry were unnecessary. I will be as brief as possible, but I think I shall be able to show that the statements which have been made publicly are one-sided and inaccurate. lam accused of having advanced money in order to get land, from Natives who would become absolutely landless. In the first place, Ido not get an acre of this land, as I shall show by documentary evidence. As to the Natives being landless, I, of course, took steps to ascertain that every one of these Natives held other lands, some of considerable value, and any one who has any knowledge of Native law must know that it is impossible to make a Native landless by mortgage, because the Court will not sanction it. It is an absolutely false idea that it can be done. If a mortgage is brought before a Judge of the Native Land Court he has to satisfy himself that the Native owners of the land have other lands belonging to them. Therefore I could not possibly make them landless ; and if I advanced money to them with that idea I should have to suffer as others have done. These Natives will, of course, like most of the Natives of the present day, live in idleness; but Ido not see that they should live in idleness at my expense, and that would have been the position if I had not taken some steps to secure myself for the moneys that I had advanced to them. In order to make the matter clear I may explain that this was not a matter into which I went as a matter of speculation. For over fifty years I have been in occupation of land in this district, and had constant dealings with the Natives. From my childhood I may say that the most friendly relations have existed between myself and the Natives there —the fathers and mothers of those who are now moving in this matter. I have constantly advanced them money and got them out of difficulties, so that when they got into difficulties they would come to me and I would assist them. I did this through friendly feeling for them; but, naturally, as any one would do, I protected myself, under the law as it then stood, and as it ought now to continue to stand. I may just say this: that the effect of passing this proposed law would be to absolutely ruin these Natives. That is undoubtedly the case as matters stand at present. I might at any time, if I wished to get hold of the land, have sold them up long ago; but I have given them every opportunity to retrieve their position, and I shall continue to do so. Now, I will recite the events which led up to this transaction. When my leases were near expiration, which was in May, 1891,1 entered into fresh negotiations, and on the 23rd December, 1889, I obtained fresh leases. That date is important. These leases were signed then, and dated from May, 1891. These leases were signed by the principal debtors amongst those connected with the present investigation—not by the whole of them, but notably by the parents of those who are movers in these matters. I refer to Piripi te Maari and family. It is very important to remember that date. The principal ones signed on that date, but the smaller ones afterwards. Having got these leases, I afterwards found myself in this position : that I had already made advances to these Natives, and that we were constantly in a state of debtor and creditor account between us, and they already owed me some £800 or £900. Now, I wish the Committee to see clearly what my position was. These Natives were my landlords, and were owing me money, and the law allowed the Natives absolute free-trade in their land, with rights to sell, rent, or mortgage. Now, obviously, to secure myself for the amounts then owing to me by them, and for amounts they were certain to want in the future, the only thing I could do was to take security from them. They were then in that condition that they were running after any one who had money, in order to get some, and would it not have been absolute folly on my part, and that which no man with any sense would have done, not to take the security, which the law specially provides in such matters, and prevent others interfering with my business? Obviously the only thing I could do was to take security. That was in the form of a deed of agreement legally drawn up and absolutely secured under the then existing law, for there was nothing against it. That deed of agreement was drawn up on the 16th December, 1890, and signed by the Natives as they drew money. Their debts had been accruing before that date. lam now represented by people who have no friendly feeling towards me as being anxious to acquire this land from the Natives, and as having distributed money amongst them for that purpose. It is a most absurd accusation to make, and I protest against it. What I say is this : I was bound to get security for the money I had advanced to these Natives, and my solicitor asked me to what amount I would go, and that they were not going to lock up their lands unless they knew what definite limit I would put upon the advances. I said, perhaps somewhat hastily, that I was prepared to go to the extent of 6s. Bd. an acre, which was under the property-tax valuation. But I said, " I wish to avoid any further advances." It was only on compulsion that any further advances were made. They were in difficulties, and they would have to get money. If the Committee will allow me, 1 will read an extract from a letter from my solicitor in January, 1891. This was about a month or so after the agreement was signed. He writes as follows :" I enclose account of Native advances to date. You will see that Piripi, Hemi, and Te Kooro have drawn about half, and Hohepa rather more than half. Te Ngaere has also drawn more than half, while Bopoania has drawn all but £13. He drew the balance yesterday to pay bills with—at least, I paid the bills, as they were all pressing ones. Now he is up to his limit he is greatly staggered, and was very irate with my refusing him even the £13, but I did not give him any cash for himself. I will try to prevent other Natives drawing as he has done, but lam afraid I cannot stop them, as they know how much they can have." That seems to be a complete answer to the statement that I have been showering money upon them, and if the Committee chooses to examine Mr. Inard, my solicitor, they will find that I objected to make any advances which might lead them into difficulties. I must repeat that that disposes of the point that I was showering money upon them in order to obtain their land. The only thing on