FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE

fully occupied by 30,000 Colonists, that no new Immigrant can find a footing without displacing some prior occupant, it cannot be a matter of surprise that the Province of Auckland with 20,000 English, and 40,000 Native inhabitants, should begin to feel some pressure of population. The vast tracts of worthless land in New Zealand are seldom taken into account in calculations of this kind. It cannot be denied that the lands still in the hands of the Natives are looked to as the supply for this increasing demand ; and thus the authority vested in the Provincial Council over the Waste Lands of the Province, upon the extinction of the Native Title, tends continually to widen the breach between the two races, and to destroy that community of interests upon which the prosperity of the Colony has hitherto been based. The Waikato will soon be to Auckland, what the Waitara is to New Plymouth. The simple remedy appears to be, to give the Native population in the midland District the benefit of the principle of the New Provinces Act; and to limit the Province of Auckland to the territory already acquired, or over which the Native Title is likely to be speedily extinguished. 111. The internal Government of the Native race under the authority of the Crown. If the central district of the Northern Island, including Waikato, Taupo, Rotorua, Tauranga, Opotiki, Waiapu and Poverty Bay, were formed into one or more Native Provinces, a simple system of elective and representative Government, under the immediate sanction of the Governor might probably be brought into operation. The form of Government, as in the Swiss Cantons, need not be in all parts exactly the same, but might be adapted to the wishes and customs of particular tribes : provided that in all cases two fundamental points were adhered to, —that the Chief iWagistrates and Councillors should be recommended by the tribe and confirmed by the Governor, and that all regulations made by them should require the Governor's assent. It would probably be found possible to bring together these Chief Magistrates in a general council, and any regulations made at such a meeting and assented to by the Governor, might be held to be binding upon all the tribes. This system ought to rest at first upon voluntary compact, and to be rather offered as a boon than enforced by authority, because while the Native people are thirsting for better government, they are not without fear of oppression. The tone of some of the English newspapers has given them sufficient reason to expect the usual fate of a race assumed to be inferior. The expense of any such system of Native administration is the next question, but not one of great difficulty. The surrender by the Native owners of all the best harbours has placed the commerce of the country almost entirely in the hands of the English colonists. Here again the Provincial system has an injurious operation. The Council of each Province looks upon the Customs Revenue of the Province as its own. It is not borne in mind that the Revenue which the Provincial Council administers st Auckland, includes in large but uncertain proportion the proceeds of the industry of 30,000 Natives employed in the cultivation of land, in collecting flax and kauri guru, in felling and hauling spars, and in the navigation of coasting vessels. For a long time Auckland had scarcely any trade but that which resulted from Native industry. It may well be doubted whether the £7,000 reserved for the Native Civil List, and the same sum voted for Native Schools together, make up the proportion which the Natives contribute annually to the General Revenue. But without relying on this doubtful source of income, there would be no difficulty in providing hereafter for the expense of Native administration by endowments in land. The rent which would be willingly paid by any English tenant for a farm or a cattle run would be far more than the largest sum ever offered by the Government as a salary to any Native Magistrate or Assessor. Endowments of this kind would have the advantage of increasing in value, while votes of the General Assembly, on the contrary, would be the occasion of continual debate, and would not be likely to be augmented. IV. The Native Land Title, as regards the actual occupation of land by the Natives themselvea. The Native Land Title is simple enough in its origin ; but, from obvious causes, extremely complicated in its actual state. In its theory it is this : —A few leading chiefs, with a small body of children and retainers, arrive at different parts of the Island, and make a rough partition of the territory among themselves by natural boundaries of mountains and rivers. These families grow into tribes each possessing the patrimony derived from its ancestors. To preserve this inheritance unimpaired was a primary object of their care To this end two restrictions were necessary. 1. Upon the right of alienation ; and 2, upon the liberty of marriage. The case of the daughters of Zelopehad is strictly analagous to Maori usage. " If they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received." " Let them marry whom they think best, only to the tribe of the family of their father shall they marry." Other reasons may be assigned for these restrictions, such as— The right of the tribe to require service from all its members. The necessity of keeping up their own numbers. And of preventing strangers from acquiring landed property, to be used to the injury of the tribe.

Expense of Native Department.

supplied by Landed Endowment.

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