I.—3b.

30

T. PARATA.

you won't get one single acre." And yet this man, Mr. Alexander Mackay, appears from the printed records to have been appointed to watch and safeguard the interests of the Maoris. I say that that was not the case. He was never appointed by the Maoris. Who appointed him? He was appointed to serve the interests of the Government, He was there to represent the Government interest and to see that the Maoris got as small an area as possible. He was the Government official representing the Government interest before the Court. It is quite wrong to -assert that he ever yvas an advocate on behalf of the Maoris. He was a Government officer. He was purely and simply and only a Government officer, and as a Government officer the man could do nothing else than act in the interest of his employer, the Government. He could not possibly be expected to act against them. Now, to prove that I am correct in what I am saying, when this Native Land Court was adjourned from Christchurch to Otago there were present the Maori Chief Haereroa and the chiefs of Otago, Waikouaiti, Purakaunui, Taieri, Te Karoro, Moeraki, Kaiapoi, and also Topi Patuki, of Ruapuke Island, and Horoinona Patu, of Aparima, and others, and they discussed the position in regard to the Ngaitahu claim and the action of the Court at Otautahi (Christchurch), and I myself and my elders and leaders, Haereroa, Merekihereka Hape, Matiu Kihepane, Kalmtii, and others of the then living influential old chiefs who were also my own immediate relatives, and myself, asked Mr. Mackay, who was preparing a list of names of residents of the district, for what purpose this list of names was being prepared by him. He replied that the purpose for which this list of names was being compiled was in order to ascertain the number of people and the areas of land which should be given to them. Our old people had placed the matter before the Court, and they left it in our hands. So I asked Mr. Mackay to increase the area of the Waikouaiti Native Reserve. His reply to me was, "No more land will be given you, because Governor Grey has already agreed that additional land be given you outside of the boundary of the Waikouaiti Reserve which was laid down by Mr. Mantell upon the basis of 10 acres per head at the time of the making of the survey of the reserve." Now, if Mr. Mackay had been the advocate and representative of the interests of the Maoris he would have requested that a larger area of land be given the Maoris instead of refusing to do so—that is to say, he would have asked for a larger area than that contained in the reserve at For that reason we could do no more. We did not know what had transpired at the Court at Christchurch. We did not know whether the Ngaitahu claim had been allowed by the Court at Christchurch. The only additional thing that was allowed us at W T aikouaiti was two little eel-weirs. The Matamanga Lagoon contained 3 acres. We were given the right to go there and catch eels, and at Te Hakariki, where there were 10 acres. These places were outside of the boundary of the Waikouaiti Reserve. I am sorry I have to take so long a time over these things, Mr. Chairman, but, at the risk of wearying the Committee, 1 think it my duty to endeavour to impress upon the minds of the members of this Committee the fact that these matters are matters of very serious importance to us, the members of the Ngaitahu Tribe. To proceed to my next heading—the unfulfilment of the promises which were originally made. Now, sir, I say that, although Sir John Hall signed his name to Mr. Kemp's deed of purchase in 1868 on behalf of the Government, and even though a subsequent Act was passed by the Legislature validating his signature thereto, I say that even in spite of these things the Maoris have never conceded, have .never believed, have never admitted that the Government of New Zealand have ever treated them properly ; and they still persist, and have never ceased to persist, in putting forward this claim to the Government and Parliament of New Zealand which lam advocating at the present time. And the chiefs have been continually writing to the Government, and up to the election of Hori Kerei Taiaroa as member of the House of Parliament, Haereroa, Matiaha, Wi Potiki, Taare W T etere te Kaahu, and other chiefs of the South Island being then still living, and. also some old chiefs of Kaiapoi—l can mention their names : their names were Wiremu te Uki, Aperahana te Aika, Hakopa te Ataotu, Manahe, Wi Naihira, Hopa Paura, Tarawhata, Te Maiharoa, Tanahira Waruwaruti, Pohau, Tamati Tikao, and others —all these continued to press the claim. Taiaroa was elected to Parliament, and they said to him, " Now, young man, what you have to do is this : Seeing that you are now elected a member of Parliament, you have got to call upon the Government to make good the unfulfilled promises made by the New Zealand Company and Kemp and Mantell. at the time of the purchase by them of our lands in the year 1848, which promises have remained unfulfilled up to the present," In the year 1873 the Maoris held meetings at Te Umukaha and other places with a view to placing the Ngaitahu claim before Parliament. Sir Donald McLean was then Native Minister. Then Taiaroa requested the Government to look into the matter of Kemp's purchase, and Wakefield's purchase of the Otago Block. The promise made at the time of each purchase, and which was contained in the terms of the purchase, was to the effect that when the land was surveyed one acre out of every ten acres and one block out of every ten blocks of land would be returned to the Maori owners. The Government's reply was, "We admit that the Ngaitahu claim is a just one, and it will be duly considered." This greatly comforted the hearts of the Maoris, for they realized that this was a promise made to them by the members of the Government, undertaking that the matter would be put right. Down to the year 1873—from 1848 to 1873—the Maoris were endeavouring to obtain the fulfilment of the promises which had been made to them, and they then became forced to the conclusion that these promises had never been and never were intended to be fulfilled and never yvotild be fulfilled. The next step which they took was to build a meetinghouse which they named " Te Hapa o Niu Tireni," the English rendering of which means the unfulfilled promises which had been made to the Maoris of the Ngaitahu Tribe. The Maori people with their chiefs assembled at Te Umukaha in order to formulate and lay down the grounds of a, claim to be submitted to Parliament. Mr. Rhodes, member of Parliament for Ellesmere, knows all about it They first petitioned the Governor, and they then petitioned the House. 1 will presently give the Governor's reply. I think it was Governor Fergusson. Henry Tracy Clarke was Under-Secretary of the Native Department at that time. The Maoris were informed that the