The Native Land Question.

Maori Record : a journal devoted to the advancement of the Maori people, Volume I, Issue 4, 1 October 1905, Page 5

The Native Land Question.

(From Wellington Evening Post.) Sir, —In view of the Government proposals relating to Maori lands, .and considering the paramount importance to the colony of dealing in a statesmanlike manner with the six million acres yet remaining, 1 trust you will allow me, through' your valuable medium, to attempt to invoke the attention of members of Parliament and the public generally to some of the very grave acts of injustice and oppression which have been perpetrated in the past upon a noble race, and notably since the present Government assumed office. Remembering the trite proverb about the futility of crying over spilt milk, I am not overdesirous of dwelling upon the “unhappy past,” except to arouse public sentiment towards the absolute necessity that exists for dealing fairly, once for all, with this vital question, so that the. wrongs committed in the past may be rectified, the destruction of the Maoris averted, and the honour of the colony saved. In 1881 the Thermal Springs Act was enacted, under which some three-quarters of a million acres were sealed up. for the express purpose, so the owners were officially informed, of protecting their ancestral estate from the rapacious Pakeha. In 1884 the Native Land Alienation Restriction Act was passed, and was called “An Act temporarily to prevent dealings in Native lands by private persons within a defined district of the North Island.” This measure locked up over two million acres, and the natives were solemnly assured that it was for their own benefit, and would only remain in force two years. Both this and the previously mentioned Act are still on the Statute Book, and under their provisions the unfortunate natives have been starved into selling very large areas at grossly inadequate prices, having, in fact, been compelled by the direst necessity to accept shillings from the Crown, where private ind'viduals would give as many pounds per acre. However, 1 suppose the Government “hath done evil that good may come,” but the result has been most disastrous, and the Ngalimaniapoto tribe, once- so numerous and industrious, have rapidly diminished and become greatly deteriorated, and their district is notorious foi sly-grog selling.

In 1893 the Native Land Acquisition Bill was introduced amid much flourishing of trumpets, and just to illustrate the insidious, unjust nature of much of our native land legislation, it may be mentioned that the Bill, as introduced, contained a clause providing that for the purpose of alienating to Her .Majesty the Maori children of tender years were to bo deemed to be adults. However, the House at that time had some sense of that “fair play” which Britisners are so fond of claiming as their special attribute, and struck out the iniquitous proposal. by the Native Land Act of 1894 the Crown virtually resumed the pre-emptive right, and for the past six years it has proceeded to plunder the natives in a perfectly scandalous manner through the Land Purchase Department. The unhappy Maoris have been placed between the devil and the deep sea, and to escape starvation have often, for a few shillings per acre, parted with valuable lands, the timlrer on which was worth from £5 up to £2O per acre. During the same year was enacted the Public Works Act clauses SO to 93 of which empowered the Crown to seize for public purposes 5 per cent, of all native lands, without any compensation whatever. Later on, the only hope of the native people, that of getting on the electoral rolls and securing adequate representation by voting for European candidates, was taken away, so that they are still forced to submit to that miserable expedient called “special Maori representation,” which, while eagerly clung to by the present Government, as it secures them a number of safe votes, has been entirely destructive of the Lest interests and aspirations of the Maoris themselves, as has so often been eloquently pointed out by the present Native Minister when ho had the courage of his opinions and the welfare of nis race at heart But surely some malignant spirit hovers over all our Maori land legislation, which makes one fear that the new proposals, which will be forced through a weary, indifferent House during the dying hours of the session, will not prove an exception to the general rule. And now the last straw has come in the shape of the Native Land Rating Act, 1904. To the natives this virtually means confiscation, for it is perfectly impossible for them to pay rates on land held in common by hundreds and thousands of owners, many of whom arc absent, or dead, or minors, and which our iniquitous laws absolutely prevent their leasing, selling, or putting to any profitable use whatever. It should also he remembered that, though compelled to pay these heavy rates and taxes, they will have no representation on the local bodies, or any voice in the imposing of rates or expending of the money raised. Already the Grown has interest-bearing survey liens registered on the majority of the native lands, many of the said liens having been obtained in a very arbitrary manner through the. t own interest in certain blocks under purchase having been defined three or four times, and on each proceeding on that behalf half the cost of partition is charged against the unfortunate nonsellers. while those who were complaisant enough to sell to the Crown escaped free of deduction,. Looking through the Surveyor-General’s claims

in the N.Z. “Kahiti,” one comes across items such as these: —A £ls lien being registered against one- rood and twenty perches, and from £6 to £l7 survey liens being charged against small graveyards which were excepted by mutual agreement from the sale of large blocks to the Crown. A Chief Surveyor has been known to make a 150-mile journey to move the Native Land Court to grant a charging order and power of sale against a one-acre Maori cemetery for a survey charge of 2s 6d! At present, if a native wishes to define his interest in a block for the purpose of occupying (lie is debarred from using it any other way), he must first pay a- stamp fee of 10s, then a survey fee of at least- six guineas, hearing fee 20s. and a similar sum for the order, besides other expenses, though the share may only be worth five or ten shillings. Some unthinking persons loudly advocate the compulsory -taking of all native lands and placing them under the Public Trust, as has been done on the West Coast. Well, speaking with a full knowledge of the subject, I say I would rather see the race extinct than that it should be subjected to such an indignity The records of those West Coast reserves form the most shameful pages in our colonial history. Tile good faith and pledged word of Ministers have been set at naught, and Crown grantshearing the name of Queen Victoriato loyal natives have been ruthlessly trampled under foot. The natives on that coast have an average of about four acres per head only, so that all incentive to work farms like their European neighbours has been taken away, and they are driven into sullen isolation under To Vv hiti and Tohu, while, as has been truly stated, “you can always distinguish an European West Coast reserves lessee by his rubicund visage” The present outlook of the Maori people seems indeed to be absolutely without hope. In spite of specious arguments to the contrary, they are rapidly dying out. Hundreds, old and young, die every year in want of the barest necessaries of life, which our miserable legislation prevents them from obtaining, no matter how rich in broad acres they may he. Our Premier is very fond of telling the Maoris, in tearful accents, that he is their father and they are his children, and be will save them from the rapacity of the Pakeha Maoris, while the Native Minister has elevated the “Taihoa” policy to a sublime art. Simple matters, such as the allocating of certain areas set apart for landless natives in the South Island many years ago by the late Sir A. J. Cadman and Sir John McKenzie, and the allotment of some small reserves for the owners round the Wairarapa Lakes, are kept back through sheer indifference or culpable neglect. And while Nero fiddles Romo burns. How long will the North Islanders submit to such an unhappy state of things? Were it to take a special session of Parliament and cost £IOO,OOO to enable the necessary legislation to he passed to deal with this burning question, the time and money would he a mere bagatelle. This is a matter far above all party politics, and surely it is not beyond the capacity of our legislators to devise some measures which, while doing justice towards and saving a noble race from extinction, will also save the honour

of the colony, and at the same time open up these idle millions of acres, the locking up of which so greatly retards its progress. Far too much has been made of the hideous bogey of “Maori landlordism.” Surely it is no crime for Maoris to become landlords. At present there is not- one native who receives as much as £SOO per annum in rents, and there is no necessity or foundation for such an ungenerous outcry. Attention should immediately be given towards setting apart a suitable area of land for each family group (individualisation and further partition could, and would, follow in due course); then certain areas must be provided for the numberless minors and other natives the Crown Land Purchase Commissioners have made landless. The residue should then be purchased or leased under the most liberal terms. Till this is done it will be. unjust and immoral to tax the native lands. Failing some such policy as above outlined being initiated, I would urge the Maoris to cling steadfastly to the Treaty of Waitangi as their last hope and sheet anchor, and to collect funds for the purpose of bringing their grievances and disabilities before the Imperial Government, who will, I am certain, still maintain the treaty “to be as sacred and binding as any ever entered into by the Government of England,” notwithstanding Mr Carroll’s specious argument that it has been abrogated or modified by mutual consent. Much more might be written on this burning question, but- I fear to trespass on your kindness, and would beg you to believe that the great importance of the subject is my only excuse for troubling you at such length.—l am, etc., * AOTEAROA. Wellington, 10th September. [The above letter was commented on by the editor of the “Post” in an appreciative manner, agreeing with the writer with one exception—the denouncement of the Public Trustee. As we quite agree with “Aotearoa,” and have no space now, we must postpone our notice of this important matter till next month. — Ed. Record.]