Reserves for Educational and Religious Purposes.

Another large question which is also of vital importance, and which would be better dealt with if we had direct representations from the Waikato and West Coast tribes, is the reserves which have been given in years gone by for public and other purposes. The children of those who gave those lands for education, for religious, and for other purposes are now landless. Notwithstanding this, they have never reaped any benefit from those reserves for the reason that the conditions imposed have never been carried out. It is very hard indeed to know that the direct representatives of your ancestors who made those reserves have had nothing done for them in return. In most cases the trust has not been carried out. This is a matter which Parliament alone can deal with, and which it certainly ought to deal with in the interests of the trust and in the interests of the Native race. I think I have shown you what should engage your early attention, and if you move on the lines I have indicated, the result will be for your good. It will give you what was intended by your ancestors, and it is a duty you owe to your ancestors, to yourselves, and to your children, that these matters should not be left longer undealt with. The sooner they are taken in hand by Parliament the better for you.