NEW ZEALAND.
[To ma EDITOR OF T1E " Branum:1 am sorry to have misled your readers, even for a week, by my letter contained in your issue of February 6, and thank Sir George Grey for correcting me. I wrote hurriedly during the excitement occasioned here by the Poverty Bay massacre, and unconsciously described the action of the Government in the pur- chase of native lands in the present rather than in the past tense. Unfortunately, though the system was abolished by proclamation in 1865, the evils it caused are present realities, and at the root, I believe, of the prevailing disaffection. The hatred of the natives is not so much against the settlers as against the Government, both general and provincial—they have lost all faith in its fairness and impartiality. Nor can the system be said to be entirely abolished, for one of the two exceptional cases is that of the Manawatu block, in this province. For that the superintendent, acting as the General Government, paid, in 1866, 225,000 to the natives. Many of the owners, however, refused to part with their land, or to receive any part of the purchase-money. Hence disputes have arisen, and the claims of natives against the Government, as a land-purchaser, have, for a long time, occupied the Native Lands' Court. Under these circumstances, one is not surprised to find that the natives are not satisfied with the decisions of the Court. On May 8, 1868, Archdeacon Hadfield wrote to the Wellington Independent, saying, "I beg leave further to say that an applica- tion will be made to the Government, in accordance with the pro- visions of the Native Lands' Act, 1865, for a rehearing of the Himatangi case. It is not unlikely that a case may be also tried in the Supreme Court. Anyhow, unless the native owners of the land obtain what they consider justice, they will not rest contented without an appeal to the Privy Council." The dispute has not been settled yet, nor has the Superintendent ventured to take forcible possession of the block.—.I am, Sir, &c., A COLONIST.
Wellington, N. Z., April 27, 1869.
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