[ko te tohutoro i roto i te reo Māori]

Welcome! Welcome! The Right Honourable Richard John Seddon, Premier of the Government of the Colony of New Zealand, and Native Minister.

Welcome with your Ministers and members of Parliament. Welcome to this courtyard, Takurua Turakina, into the midst of this tribe of Ngatiapa to see the Rangatiras who are alive, the survivors of this tribe of Ngatiapa who are living on the remnants of the lands of the old men who have gone to the other world.

We greet you, O Premier, yourself and your wife! [unclear: Let] our greetings through you go to the Governor, Lord Ranfurly, and his wife, Lady Ranfurly. May he live long—the representative of the Queen in these islands who was appointed by the Queen to look around her tribes who live in these islands, the Maori, the Pakeha, whose sworn promise is in writing in the relic of the Old Rangitiras and Governor Hobson, namely the Treaty of Waitangi, in which it was said that the two races should dwell under the laws of England as a protection for the people and the land so that they could be said to be brothers. In like manner, O Premier, convey to the Queen our greetings. Long may she live, Queen Victoria, who sits upon the throne of her fathers and her ancestors, the Queen of these islands as settled in the Treaty of [unclear: Waitangi] in the year 1840, signed and agreed to by Governor Hobson on behalf of the Queen that the Queen would protect her Maori tribes living at this end of the earth. It was signified in that Treaty that the Queen would grant unto her Maori tribes laws like those which she gives to the Pakehas of England. It was also stated in that treaty that the Maoris would have control of their own lands and their goods. Long may the Queen have health. We do not forget the principles conserved by you in the Treaty of Waitangi!

[unclear: Oh] God Save the Queen. Give her long life (brighten her heart, so that she may be [unclear: able] to lay down policies for the [unclear: many] races in the world under her [unclear: dommin]. O God! give unto her ministers understanding so that their administration may be good over the races under the rule of the Queen!

Oh God! save and give great hearts to her Generals and Admirals conducting the battles, and make them victorious over her enemies.

We greet you, O Premier, the face of Sir George Grey, the Old Man, the teacher of thought, the friend of the old Rangitiras of this the Ngatiapa tribe, who with them is lost to us, gone to the other world.

We again greet you and your wife and your children who went to the great day of the Queen of England—that is, to the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen. Great was our feeling and our praise on hearing the popularity of our Maori children of New Zealand whom you took with you as representatives of your Maori race, and who were much cheered by the many races who live under the sovereignty of the Queen. That was a great sign, a isgn of chieftanship for this tribe for the Maori, their good name among the great races of the earth which gathered together at the day of the Diamond Jubiles of the Queen.

May you enjoy long life, O Premier, may God protect, bless and help you and make your heart clear so that you can lay down principles out of which good will come for the two races, the Maori and the Pakeha.

Great is our praise that you present have come in person with some of your Ministers into our midst. We knew that you would accept, we knew, too, that you, O Premier, are the Premier who will grant the application of your Maori tribe to discuss together a means whereby good may come to the Maori tribe.

The last to come among us was Sir Donald McLean, but now you have renewed the visit, having come into the midst of this tribe, the Ngatiapa. Health to you.

O Premier, it is right what you have said in the meetings of your Maori tribes. You said to your Maori tribes "I am your father, and a father cherishes his children." This is why we thought that you should come personally to see the surviving Rangitiras of this tribe of Ngatiapa.

Our elders are all gone, the friends of former Governments up to the time of Sir Donald McLean and Mr Featherstone, and here are their survivors of the ancient chiefs and the descendants of the old ones who have passed away to another world. This tribe, the Ngatiapa, is one which was steadfast in its belief in the Gospel before the year 1840 up to the present time. This tribe has never down-trodden the Gospel from the commencement of the belief to this day, and there are many other tribes who adhere to the faith who were taught Christianity by this tribe.

All the chiefs are dead, but from their

time began the faithful adherence of this tribe to the Queen, and it obtains down to the present day, together with the guarding by this tribe of the authority of the Queen from injury by the tribes who desired to injure it from that day to this. And the strength to uphold the Colony at that time when it was weak hence this tribe has never swayed in its loyalty to the Queen. And to this day the survivors and the decendants of those who have gone still are loyal to the Queen and keep the faith. O God [unclear: yave] the Queen and [unclear: her] Ministers, long live the Premier.

The tribe has united in laying before you the business and the [unclear: reasons] for which you were invited to come among us, the Ngatiapa tribe. Although some of the propositions may be conflicting, you will understand the direction of the desires of your tribe of Ngatiapa, which are explained hereunder:—First, In the year 1849 your tribe of Ngatiapa conveyed two large blocks of land to Sir Donald McLean on behalf of the Queen, the boundaries of which were, commencing from the mouth of the Rangitikei River thence up the river to Te Houhou, whence it ran on a straight line to the Turakina River, thence down that river to its mouth at the sea, thence along the sea beach to the mouth of the Rangitikei River the commencement, having an area of 30 miles square.

The boundaries of the block on the northern side of the Wangaehu River, which was ceded at the same time in 1849, are written in the same [unclear: decd] and signed in the year 1849 are,—Commencing at the mouth of the Wangaehu River thence up the said river to Tapiripiri, thence to Oeta, [unclear: thence] to the boundary proclaimed for the Europeans at [unclear: Whanganui.] thence by that boundary to Motukaraka and to the sea, thence along the sea beach to the mouth of the Whangaehu River an area of 20 miles square. These very extensive Blocks [unclear: ware] conveyed to the Queen by the elders the price paid by Sir Donald McLean on behalf of the Queen beisg £2,500, the money was paid in four instalments to your Ngatiapa tribe. £1000 was paid in 1849, £500 in 1850, £500 in 1851, and £500 in 1852.

Now these blocks above described were not surveyed, nor were the titles [unclear: investigated] by the Court, when they were conveyed to the Crown, hence we, the tribe which owned the land, do not know the area, by roughly estimate it at 600 000 acres [unclear: or] more, and it was sold for £2,500. Then there was a memorandum in the deed of sale of 1849 that the eel lakes should belong to us the owners of the land, but [unclear: oto] ther clause in the deed was "If, however,

the Europeans are able to drain the lakes (swamps) containing eels, then the right of the Maori therein should cease to exist," but our parents did not understand what this meant. That is to say that the [unclear: lawiopeanl] could dry up water and fell forests. They were not aware that such things could be effected by the European.

We will refer here to the address of Sir William Fox, delivered before the Land Court in the month of April 1868, in the investigation of the Rangitiki-Manawatu Block by which you will understand how precious are the eel fisheries to us. There were his words "To the Maori mind an eel lake is a gold mine. For instance, in the heap of food placed before the Superintendent of Wellington at one dinner, there were 20,000 eels. The Maori thinks as much of eel fisheries as of a Bank where money is deposited.

Know then, O Premier, that the eel lakes are the fat of the land of the sea coast, and therein the fool on which those who dwell towards the sea subsist.

Secondly. In the year 1866 Ngatiapa conveyed the block of land known as the Rangitikei-Manawatu Block to the Crown. Its boundaries are: Starting from the the mouth of the Rangitikei River, thence along that river to the Waitapu stream, thence in an easterly direction to Pariroa, and on to Te Umutoi, thence along the boundary of Ahuturanga Block to Te Waikuku, thence in a southerly direction to Te Wheki, thence along the Manawatu River to Te Ahimate, at Moutoa and Pakingahau, thence along the Foxton line, thence to Omaru Papako, coming out at Kai Iwi on the seashore, thence along the sea shore to the starting point, the mouth of the Rangitikei.

There were some reserves made, but in dealing with some of the reserves the conditions under which they were made were not fulfilled.

Your tribe was not able to manage that satisfactorily on account of interference by outside tribes, and for that reason our elders thought that it would not be well that anyone should be killed over the land, but that the land should be disposed of; that is why the land was sold. Your tribe desired to reserve a large portion of the land, but they were unable owing to the obstruction of the outside tribes. There were other arrangements affecting other lands between the Commissioners and the Government, and some of the members of you otribe of Ngatiapa, but these arrangements have never been carried out by the Governments. Waitapu was the name of a piece of land, the balance of the Rangi-

tikei-Manawatu block. The area is estimated at 25,000 acres, but on account of the peculiar conduct of Doctor Buller and Mr Booth, Commissioner, your tribe's interests were prejudiced with respect to that land, Mr Commissioner Booth having paid £7,500 to other tribes who were not entitled to the land, it being a part of the Rangitikei-Manawatu Block which was adjudged to your tribe by the Land Court and the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and it was mentioned in the decision that this tribe of Ngatiapa was the most powerful living in this part of the island.

Thirdly. In the year 1872 your tribe of Ngatiapa sold a block of land called Par aekaretu situate between the angitikei and Turakina Rivers about 20 mies square. There was much [unclear: obstruction] by other tribes concerning this block, but the sale was not hindered by their actions, and [unclear: it] was satisfactorily completed by the your tribe to the Crown.

There were other sales by the Ngatiapa, but they were comparatively small ones.

[unclear: Notwithstanding] the interference by other [unclear: tribes] in the sales of your tribe to the Crown, it was without avail. The Ngatiapa was strenuous in carrying out the sales, and those lands lie peacefully in the hands of the Crown. However, let the Right Honourable Richard John Seddon, Premier of the Government of the Colony of New Zealand and Native Minister, With the other Ministers of the Government, listen favourably.

Fourthly. In all the sales referred to and the subsequent minor sales, your Ngatiapa tribe did not impede the progress thereof, nor did any individuals of your tribe [unclear: seral] petitions, objecting to the sales of any pieces sold from the time the lands were coveyed, down to the present day, although it was known that the land were sold for little moneys, we did not take that into account. Although we knew that the reasons for selling some of the lands were not clear, we ignored the fact.

Fifthly. Therefore, O Premier and the Ministers of your Government, let us remind you of the sales of the years 1849, 1866, [unclear: anr] 1872. It has been explained already that these were good lands and fertile, and were the best lands in this district, the value of which is now from £7 to £30 an acre, and these lands are yielding taxes to the colony to strengthen it; we know that the rates from these lands, which are paid to the Crown, are considerable, and there are many townships in those Blocks, and much profit is derived there-from. For this reason your tribe pays to you, the Premier, the voice of the Government

of the Colony of New Zealand, to be pleased to grant a gratiuty, that is, a piece of land to your tribe out of regard for the facts which have been [unclear: daid] before the Premier, so that it could remain to commemorate the length of time you have held the Premiership of the Government of the Colony of New Zealand, the sitting of the Queen upon the throne of her fathers and ancestors having [unclear: readhed] 60 years, and the 50th year since the first sale of land by your tribe to the Queen took place, without your tribe having made any objection to the present time, when your tribe prays to you.

Sixthly. We beg to remind you of the eel fisheries mentioned in the first part of this address, which were in the sale of 1849. We pray unto you that the lakes or swammps which have not been drained by the Europeans should be reserved, in fulfillment of the promise in the deed (407) which was signed in 1849, and we beseech you, in respect of the swamps which been drained by the Europeans, that we should be recompensed as a mark of grace for the draining of the swamps of our fathers, who did not apprehend that such things would happen after them.

Seventhly. We give thanks unto you, O Premier, for the justice of your remarks at the Meetings of the Maori tribes, and in your speech at Wellington on the 25th of October, 1897, that an Act should be made to save the Maori lands, so that the Maori becomme not landless. It is true what you saidl at Wellington, that in your opinion reserves for the Maoris should have been made out of their lands as permanent reserves when the treaty of Waitangi was signed. Another remark you made is correct, that it was an evil thing for the Colony, the hundreds of men of New Zealand without land. You were right when you said that the remaining lands of the Maoris should be kept for them and their descendents. And so we look earnestly at those words of yours, knowing that you know the desire of your tribe, and we pray you to pass an Act on those lines, which are the same as our wish.

That is, to pass an Act to be called "The Reserves for the Ngatiapa Tribe Act," so that the remaining lands should be so restricted that they could not be sold, mortgaged or seilzed for debt. When we know your feelinggg respecting this matter we will explain the boundaries to be affected by the Act.

O Premier, we have made supplication matou kia koa monga waahi kua oti te whakamaroke enga Pakeha kia whakapunto

you that you and your Government may grant this law to us, because for ten years the several tribes of this Island have been endeavouring to unite, but have not succeeded, andl we feel certain that if we wait until the tribes of of this Island are unanimous, the remaining lands of ours will be entirely gone from us, and lest we should be in the unfortunate position mentioned by you, that it was an evil thing that hundreds of Maoris should be landless. Our Chiefs are constantly advocating that the lands should be kept, but the desire of Maoris to sell land cannot be restrained, andl for this reason, we beg that you will make a law to prevent the sale, and to conserve unto your tribe their lands.

An our lands have passed through the Native Land Court, we regularly pay rates and taxes on our lands, our lands are not lying idle, some of them being farmed, others are leased; but we pay the rates on the lands leased to Europeans.

Therefore we pray that you should take this into consideration, O Premier, that we are paying rates on lands leased to Europeans, and pass a law that the lessees should pay rates and taxes.

Know this, too, some of the lands are leased for inadequate rents, compared with their value, and we beg that you should consider this, and seek a memans whereby your tribe would be benefited. We pray you to assist those of your tribe who have no land. Some of us will explain their position. Wer pray you to help the children of your tribe, who were not admitted to the lands granted to their parents, being prevented by the Native Land Court Rules. We notify you, O Premier, that our lands, being in the position we have explained, the new laws which are being brought into force will not benefit our lands, and we must say that we are unwilling that our lands should be brought under those laws. We must say, too, O Premier, that we do not wish our lands to be dealth with under the Coporation system.

And now the Premier will understand the position in which our lands are placed by what has been explained to him.

May the Premier andl his Ministers of the Government of the Colony of New Zealand have everlasting health.

Enough, we subscribe our names, the men, women and children of this, the Ngatiapa Tribe.