Wanted, a Trust.

Maori Record : a journal devoted to the advancement of the Maori people, Volume I, Issue 1, 1 July 1905, Page 5

Wanted, a Trust.

Before finality can be reached in the dealings with the remaining lands of the natives, as well as those already reserved for them, it is absolutely necessary that a trust shall be established which will be free from interference by Governments which rely on the suffrages of Europeans for their position, and whose chief end is the increase of settlement. The Public Trust Office is not such trust, as a review of its constitution and the result of its dealings will show. Con stituted as they are, the Maori Land Councils re equally open to objection for the same and other reasons. We are supposing that it is the wish of the people of the colony to do absolute justice to the race we have, in a measure, supplanted. and to whom it is acknowledged we are responsible in providing them with an equipment for the battle of life and equal opportunity in the pursuit of happiness with their fellow British subjects of European origin. It is not necessary for us to formulate such a scheme of trust, but for adumbration of it we have to listen, in imagination, to the regretted tones of a voice which is still. It was heard on the second reading of the West Coast Settlement Reserves Bill, a Bill which, after becoming an Act, has brought, we believe, almost irremediable wrong to the native owners of between two and three hundred thousand acres of Crown-granted Reserves, themselves over 5000 in number. Mr RoHeston said, inter alia (sec Hansard, Vol. 75, p. 367-8) : “In this Bill enormous power is given to the Public Trustee. . . . This Bill is an instance of what is evidently in the Premier’s

mind make the Public Trust Office an absolute department, controlled only by the Treasurer, who is to be given the power to deal with people’s fortunes as seems fit to him. It is a very dangerous power, which, I think, is intended to be put in the hands of the Public Trustee, who will be acting alone, except so far as he may be controlled by the political head. .My own opinion is that these trusts ought to bo dealt with by a private Bill. If the natives could see that their reserves were removed from outside interference they would feel that what had taken place in the past would not take place again—namely, that by one Act after another the power of retaining these reserves should he taken away from them. It is, I think, one of the most melancholy things to see how provisions, made and paraded before the public with respect to the early settlement of the country in regard to native reserves, have been set aside. The whole of this town is dotted with lands that were originally absorbed by Europeans. That is the position of native reserves at this day, and what I have had to do with regard to these reserves on the Coast has been to make an attempt, partially frustrated by subsequent legislation, to place these reserves on a proper footing that would secure them from being interfered with as reserves have been in the past. 1 wish we could get this : that when a. native property is put into the hands of the Public Trustee it should no more he capable of being dealt with by the General Legislature, as now proposed, than the property of a private individual.” And following Air Rollesion, came Air Taipua, now also departed. Among other things he said: “ . . . The present position is tins: The natives had no moans whatever of getting justice, and of getting their wrong rectified. As a last resource, the natives, having received the advice of lawyers, placed the case in, the Supreme Court. The result of the recent legislation has been a distinct gain to the natives; and the Europeans, finding they did not occupy as strong a position as hitherto, have encouraged the framing of the measure now before the House; and I am quite sure that, if it had not been for the success of the natives in that litigation, no attempt would have been made to deal out justice to them. In my op'ii a great deal of the wrong and confusion is to be laid at the door of the Public Trust Office. All the losses the natives have been put to. and all the confusion that has arisen, may be attributed to that office. It is true the Public I rust Office is now presided over by another officer, and that the gentleman who had charge of it recently has been removed ; but is there any guarantee that the present head of the office will not make the same mistakes as his predecessor made ? It is true that the late 1 üblic Trustee has been removed, but the regulations framed by his office are still in force. But I think that the experiment of placing these lands in the hands of the Public Trustee has been tried long enough, and that we should find some other method of administering them. I think we should make a new departure alto gether.” And that is the opinion of the majority of the natives who were represented by Air Taipua in the House. They find all the worst apprehensions have been fulfilled, and that whilst

European occupation has proceeded apace, no native owner has acquired a holding of his own land with that permanent tenure which would incite him to improve his holding. And the European lessees are clamoring for the freehold of lands solemnly crown-granted to the natives in their respective names by her late and deeply lamented Majesty Queen Victoria. They want a trust similar to the on© proposed by Mr Rolleston. The Waikato and Maniapoto natives seek the establishment of a Trust composed of native mem tiers with a European President. The East Coast natives, who have trusted, now wish wish for a Trust largely composed of gentlemen imported from Great Britain. There is a section of natives who wish all lands to be entrusted to the administration of the Maori Land Councils, under the Maori Lands Administration Act, but it is to be feared that their judgment is not mature, and their aspirations guided by those having an interest in bringing about this result. It would be a suicidal act to place large revenuebearing reserves in the hands of those whose only dealings have been subject to the same interference complained of in respect to the Public Trust Office.