The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday Morning. Saturday, May 10, 1890. THE NATIVE LAND COMMISSION.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 452, 10 May 1890, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday Morning.

Saturday, May 10, 1890. THE NATIVE LAND COMMISSION.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God’s, and truth’s.

From the brief telegraphic report of Mr Ballance's speech at Wanganui on Wednesday night it is impossible to gain much information, but he seems to have touched a sore point when he dwelt on the appointment of Mr Edwards as Native Land Commissioner As to whether the appointment is illegal we have nothing to say, beyond expressing the opinion that it is a point which ought not be made so much of unless there were much stronger grounds to back it up than any we have yet known. But the fact that has still to be dealt with is that the principle which Parliament acted upon when the Act was passed has simply been trodden under foot by the cumbrousness of the details. No man that has been led into the purchase of Maori lands on a moderate scale would think it other than madness for him to set going the machinery of the Commission, and if he has a good claim to show the chances are that he will either hold on in the hope of ultimately getting some relief,- or he will consider his interest like the debt in a bankrupt estate which has no assets. The expense would be ruinous. A man with a very large interest at stake might be able to find the means to avail himself of the Commission, but it is certain that Parliament never intended the Commission to be for rich men only. Of course we may be told that our contention is disproved by the fact that Mr Arthur, M.H R., who took great credit to himself during the election for having helped to get the measure through, is himself taking advantage of the Commission, although he also informed us at election time that his title was now quite sound and that only a little form had to be gone through to get it made perfect. Well we must admit that to be a very strong argument, but as to which way it applies may well be left to the intelligence of readers. And it may be added that so far Mr Arthur is the only person in the whole of the East Coast district—which has been such a sufferer from bad native land titles—to make application under the Act. It is charitable to assume that Mr Arthur was greatly mistaken in what he said before the election. But no charity towards a political opponent can do away with the fact which we some time ago pointed out, that the ruinous fees to be exacted by the Commission make that body worse than worthless, because a monopolist has some chance of making use of it, while a man who has dealt on a less extensive scale stands a good chance of losing all that he has before his case can even be got well into. In principle the Commission is an excellent idea, in practice' its weight is likely to crush those whom it was destined io rescue,