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Petition of the Federated Maori Assembly of New Zealand

[Translation.] — To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives in Parliament assembled

[ko te tohutoro i roto i te reo Māori]

[Translation.]
To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives in Parliament assembled.

The Petition of the Members of the Federated Maori Assembly of New Zealand humbly sheweth,—

1.That your petitioners, the children, and all the descendants of the Maori people, of their own freewill, have acknowledged and bowed to the authority of the Crown of England since the year 1835; and, in the year 1840, by virtue of the Treaty of Waitangi, the whole of the Maori people of New Zealand were declared to the whole world as British subjects.
2.That your petitioners and their progenitors have since always desired to live in amity with the white people that come to settle in these Islands, as we have always had a desire to learn from them the way to acquire wealth and to live in peace.
3.That when Christianity was received by the Maoris they began to live in peace, and to abandon their old ways.
4.Subsequently they released all prisoners heretofore captured in battles and allowed them to return to their homes and people; and were moved by a desire to follow pursuits that would tend to improve their condition and their lands.
5.When the form of government for New Zealand was changed—that is to say, when Parliament was set up, in the year 1854—your petitioners and the Maori people could not understand it, and many apprehended evil for the Maori people.
6.In consequence thereof, some proposed to set up a Maori King, who, acting with the advice of a Council, should have power to issue instructions to all Natives touching the observance of the law, but whose acts and deeds would be made subject to the approval of the Queen's Government.
7.Many were afraid that the new Government would, by its work, deprive the Natives of their lands, and that was the reason why they united themselves to oppose all Native land-laws.
8.It was due to these things that the wars and other troubles arose which ended so disastrously to the Natives.
9.Since the Treaty of Waitangi, your petitioners and many other Natives have, in the Maori-Pakeha wars, fought with the Queen's soldiers against our own relatives.
10.If these loyal Natives had not fought in those wars, the authority or sovereignty of and over New Zealand would have ceased long ago, and the white people would have abandoned these islands there and then.
11.In 1865 the Native Land Court was constituted to investigate and ascertain the owners of Native lands according to laws, customs, and usages of the Maori people.
12.The administration of the said Court has been unsatisfactory ever since; for the lands of the tribes and families have been awarded to ten persons, who, according to the laws of the new Government, are empowered to dispose of these lands as they like; and nothing has been provided to prevent them from misappropriating the tribal or family moneys.
13.Under this law, power has been vested in these ten persons to prejudicially affect their tribes and the tribal lands, and they have been regarded and have posed as the absolute owners of the tribal lands, and the real owners or tribes have been regarded as their dependants.
14.When the new Government saw the error they made by giving the tribal lands to the ten persons instead of merely appointing them as trustees, they passed, in 1867, a new law, whereby the names of all the owners were required to be shown on the face of the Court records. This prevented the ten from alienating the lands of the people.
15.Your petitioners submit that the Act of 1867 has been the best law which has ever been passed respecting Native lands.
16.In 1873 another law, different to the above, was passed by Parliament, and from that time troubles affecting Native lands began, and have since increased from day to day.
17.The administration of the Native Land Court is becoming more and more confusing and unaatisfactory. It injures, but never benefits, the people.page 2
18.Under the laws which have been passed since 1873, tribal and family lands have frequently been awarded to one or two individuals, who have been clothed with titles for the convenience of Pakeha purchasers and lessees.
19.This practice of empowering a single person to do whatever he pleases with tribal lands has been a complete innovation to us, because lands never belonged to one person but to the whole tribe or family.
20.According to the powers vested in these persons by Parliament, we have been debarred from dealing with our own lands. We are sheep without a shepherd, being driven hither and thither.
21.That the laws of Parliament have made us appear an ignorant and inferior people; and the Native Land Court has ignored the existence of the rights of the chiefs; and the Natives generally have been dispersed, and those who had homes have been deprived of them.
22.Your petitioners desire that what land is now left to the Natives be managed in such a manner as would return to them and their children the largest profits, and that that management be left to the Natives themselves, as they are all anxious to cultivate and improve them, just as the white people do.
23.Your petitioners believe that the Natives are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves and their properties, if they were allowed to do so.
24.It would be too difficult to enumerate all our grievances, and the wrongs that we and our people have suffered in consequence of the laws hereinbefore mentioned. We have year after year raised our voices against them, but nothing has come of our protestations.
25.We cannot understand gentlemen of learning, such as those who are sent to Parliament to make just laws, allowing laws which prejudicially affect us and our lands to be passed year after year; for it is said that their duty is to do that which is right, and not that which is wrong and unjust.
26.We have thought that it would only be right that Parliament should be informed of our grievances, and the manner in which our interests have been neglected; but we hear that little consideration is shown to the Maoris, and our prayers only sound as from afar, and are treated as the murmuring of the wind.

Wherefore we pray that your honourable House may be pleased to grant us the things following, that is to say:—

(1.)That the right to manage our own property be given back to us; so that peace nd happiness may reign throughout these islands.
(2.)That the power to govern the Natives be delegated to the Federated Maori Assembly of New Zealand.
(3.)That the said Assembly consist of an Upper and a Lower House. The Upper to consist of the chiefs by birth,
(4.)And the Lower House shall consist of Natives who shall be elected by the different tribes to represent them in the Assembly.
(5.)The said Federated Assembly to have power to appoint District Committees comprised of Maoris, who shall investigate titles to Native lands, and subdivide the same, according to the rules of equity and good conscience.
(6.)We have annexed hereto a Bill which was passed at the meeting of the Federated Maori Assembly which was held at Waipatu on the 22nd day of May, 1893, wherein all that we require are fully set forth.

                              And your petitioners will ever pray.

                                             Meiha Keepa Rangihiwinui (Major Kemp),
                                                                      and 55 Others.

Countersigned by Henare Tomoana, as Speaker of the Maori meeting held at Waipatu, in May, 1893.