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Letter No. VI.

It appears to me on calmly studying the voluminous notes of evidence in the Wilson inquiry, which I now have before me, that one of its most important aspects is that which affects the honour of the Government, so far as the Government is responsible for the conduct of the inquiry. The Commission issued to the two gentlemen who formed the Commission will, I presume, be called for at the next session. From it we shall learn, what was the purpose for which they were appointed, but at the outset it is evident that two members of the Civil Service, dependent more or less on favour of Ministers, were not fitting persons to conduct an inquiry in which friends of Ministers, and even some of the Ministers themselves, were alleged to be concerned. One of the Commissioners, Dr Giles, has since been promoted to an Under Secretaryship, and (without reflection upon him personally) the promotion will cause people to scan more closely his conduct as a Commissioner during the investigation. There are many things that, so scanned, call for explanation. I will cite one or two, by way of illustration.

The letter written by Captain Porter to Henare Potae, in which the latter was commiserated as suffering from the ill-feeling entertained by the Judge towards Mr J. A. Wilson, is one of these illustrations. On being cross-examined by Mr Wilson, Captain Porter had denied that he ever said or wrote anything about the animosity of the Judge towards him. To refute this, Mr Wilson produced the original letter in Maori, with a translation. Captain Porter did not deny the authorship of the letter, but objected to its being handed in as evidence. His objection was "on principle, the letter being a private one." Commissioner Giles objected to the letter being produced in evidence, and "considered it irrelevant." Captain Porter then said he had no objection to the letter being read, as it was only an expression of his own opinion, losing sight, apparently, of the fact, that the existence even of such a letter had been just before denied. It is with the conduct of the Commissioners, however, in this matter that we now have to deal. Mr J. A. Wilson, after the letter had been read, held that it had been given to him by Henare Potae to make use of, and that it was indisputably a public letter. It was written on public business, and, he might have added, that it was calculated to damage him page 36 in the eyes of the Natives, and to impress upon them, that Captain Porter was the only man who had the influence that could save them from this injury, and get them a hearing from Sir Donald McLean. At the close of the discussion that ensued, the Commissioners—according to the notes I have before me—"expunged a portion of Mr J. A. Wilson's evidence" that they had already taken. The portion so expunged bore both on this letter, and on the conversation which Mr Wilson had described as having occurred between himself and Captain Porter. It is hard to imagine any possible justification for this course on the Commissioners' part. They might fairly enough say that Captain Porter's opinion of Judge Rogan's motives did not commit the Judge himself; but the letter was assuredly a strong point as affecting the soundness of Captain Porter's memory generally. The Commissioners first took Mr Wilson's evidence, and said they would call Captain Porter with reference to it. He denied the truth of what Wilson had stated, and, if the letter had not been produced, this denial would have placed Mr Wilson in a very invidious position, as having made another statement "which he had not substantiated," and which statement was in itself "of an improbable nature." The letter is produced, and the tables are turned at once by the Commissioners, who coolly refuse to receive it, and who proceed to expunge from their written minutes all the evidence they had previously taken in connection with it. Such conduct is inexplicable. Mr Wilson had a perfect right to examine Captain Porter, at least as to the grounds on which the opinion expressed by him in that letter was based. It might have been surely borne in mind, that one prominent purpose of the investigation was to see if he had reasonable grounds for complaining as he did of the difficulties thrown in his way, or if he had been actuated by personal and improper motives. The case did not present itself to the Commissioners in this light, but it cannot be a matter of surprise, that Mr Wilson should complain of a Commission—so acting—as having burked the inquiry, and that he should be now demanding a rehearing of his case by a more competent tribunal.

A second, and even more notable illustration, is the mode in which the Commissioners dealt with a charge of improper facilities given by the Lands Court to Mr Cooper, who had been long associated with Captain Read, in the opposition of which Mr Wilson had complained. The incidents connected with this and the Commissioners' treatment of it are worthy of special notice. Let me first remark that, in order to save confusion, I am obliged to use Mr J. A. Wilson's full initials whenever mentioning his name, as Mr Wilfrid Wilson, a solicitor ia Gisborne, was employed by the other side to appear for them page 37 throughout the inquiry. They had thus the advantage of legal representation. Mr J. A. Wilson was compelled to plead his own cause, and one would have thought this fact alone sufficient to cause any impartial tribunal to give him the full consideration due to the double difficulties of his position.

It is necessary, in order to understand the bearing of what follows, that your readers should recall the description I have already given of the mode of conducting land purchases. The Natives, after getting their land surveyed by an authorised Government surveyor, and going through certain other formalities, are said to have their land "in Court." A day is then advertised in the Gazette for the hearing, and all claimants are expected to appear. If all be correct, "an order for a memorial of title" is issued. This order is of no practical value till seven months have elapsed. During that time, an appeal against it may be made. At the end of seven months, the memorial itself is issued, and the Natives who are named in it, or the persons to whom they have sold their interests, are certified as the owners. On this memorial being issued, the Chief Judge of the Native Lands Court reports it to the Government, and recommends the issue of a Crown grant, which then follows, as a matter of course. Now, Mr Cooper had been dealing with the Natives for three blocks of land, which Mr J. A. Wilson had before him purchased from the same Natives, on which the latter gentleman had made advances, and which he had surveyed at the public expense, in the ordinary course. The blocks were brought before the Court by Mr Cooper, while the Government representative, Mr Locke, was absent; and the Judge, in his evidence before the Commission, speaks on this point as follows:—"The first intimation I had from Cooper was from my interpreter, Mr Carroll. He told me privately that Cooper, by some means or other, Mr Wilson not having arrived, had, through Ferris (an interpreter), and before Campbell (the Resident Magistrate referred to in Mr Wilson's report to the Native Minister), paid money and got Natives to sign for these blocks. I went to call upon Mr Campbell. I saw an immense crowd of Natives. Ferris and Cooper were there, and Natives were signing. I asked Campbell what was going on, and he told me. On the evening of the 19th July, 1876, before the Court closed, Cooper came to me and informed me that he had purchased these three blocks and other land besides, and that the Natives would come into Court next morning and acknowledge to having signed deeds and to having taken money for these three blocks. My reply to Cooper was, "do you know what you are doing?" I know something of Natives mentioning to me having sold to Mr Wilson. I know perfectly well that the proclamation (prohibiting, I should here explain, all private persons from dealing with the Natives for these lands under the Immigration and Public Works Act) exists. Mr page 38 Locke (the District Officer) called my attention to the fact on a previous occasion, when I declined to proceed with the Waingaromia cases (the Waingaromia blocks, it should be observed, however, are not the same blocks that are now being referred to). Sir Donald McLean then telegraphed to the District Officer: "The Judge has nothing to do with the proclamation." If the District Officer makes an objection to a case proceeding, I should adjourn it. Cooper came next morning. Hone Pete, Carroll, and others were present. I told Cooper that I could not witness his deeds. An argument ensued. The result was "whatever legal question might arise between the Government and Cooper, he would take the responsibility." I had no responsibility. Cooper said; "I take all responsibility." It was on an understanding that Cooper should hold me indemnified in the event of a difference with the Government, and should make no claim upon me, that I agreed to do what he wished. I put my endorsement on the orders for memorial of ownership—not on the face of the deeds. After seven months, a different endorsement is made on the memorial of ownership. (The deeds were here presented for the information of the Commissioners.) On a deed being presented to the Judge, he assesses the duty. Mr Carlile—a private solicitor in Napier, it should be added, gave it as his opinion that I must assess these deeds. I asked Mr Locke to produce the telegram he received from the Native Minister, re proclamation under 42nd clause of the Act, but I have not received it. I told Cooper that I ignored all responsibility with respect to lands within the proclamation. Government can withhold memorial of ownership. Cooper did not know properly what he was about. I have nothing to do with issuing the memorial of ownership—which, it may be observed, is issued by the Chief Judge in Auckland. I merely give the order.

A good deal of other evidence was given by Judge Rogan, after the above, on the same day. It led ultimately up to the statements made by him against Mr J. A. Wilson in the advertisement which has been already sent to you. These statements were absolutely denied by Mr Wilson, and he desired to go into them before the Commission. The Judge replied, that he had already received a severe reprimand from the Government for having published that advertisement. He did not, it should be observed, withdraw the charges contained in it, but he requested the Commissioners to withdraw the matter altogether from their consideration, and to make his own reply to the Government. Upon this, Commissioner Giles (Commissioner Brown seems to have been nowhere throughout the investigation) came to the extraordinary decision that "Judge Rogan is not bound to enter into charges contained in that advertisement." page 39 Mr J. A. Wilson here protested. The charges were made against him by public advertisement, and be had a right to have them investigated. It was a mere matter between Judge Rogan and the Government. But Commissioner Giles was inexorable. He decided that Judge Rogan could withdraw the advertisement. Mr Wilson still expostulated. It was on the basis of this advertisement being gone into that he had withdrawn his first protest. The Hon. Dr Pollen had stated in the Legislative Council, that the matter would be inquired into. Mr W. Wilfrid Wilson here rose as the lawyer for the Judge, and said, "We admit the advertisement with regard to the charge of money paid by Mr Wilson on land for which the Government will see no title; we will merely take one or two cases." With the advertisement thus emasculated, the Commissioners then proceeded to deal, regardless of the palpable injustice done to Mr J. A. Wilson, in depriving him of an opportunity of showing the operations of those whose opposition to him in the performance of his duty, he had felt himself compelled to report.

The breach of all law, and custom, in these judicial dealings between the Judge of the Native Lands Court and Cooper—dealings so dangerous, that the Judge felt himself obliged to obtain an indemnity from the suitor in whose favour he was deciding—is too striking to need comment. It is more extraordinary, when further inquiry shows, that among the persons entitled to these blocks of land were minors, who had no power to sell to Cooper, and whose existence and rights were officially known to the Court, which had actually appointed certain Natives as trustees to act for them, till they came of age. Despite all this, the leaning of the Commissioners towards Judge Rogan and his side, appears from the evidence before me to have been as marked, as the reverse was shown in their treatment of Mr Wilson. They allow the one to withdraw charges publicly made at pleasure; they expunge the evidence of the other after taking it down. They accept evidence calculated to throw doubt on Mr Wilson's statements; they refuse to receive a confirmatory letter by which that doubt was effectually dispelled. They refused three other letters from three several persons when they were tendered in evidence by Wilson, and they did so on the ground that "the writers being absent, the circumstances under which the letters were written could not be ascertained." On another occasion, they refused to receive a letter for the very opposite reason, "that the writer was present, and would speak for himself." They refused evidence wholesale, and at their good pleasure, declining to call the witnesses Mr Wilson had brought to the Court, and declining to summon other witnesses whom Mr Wilson desired to examine. One cannot but feel astonished at the whole course and conduct of the so-called "investigation," and at a loss to see what its object could be. It certainly was not page 40 the "searching investigation" into the statements made in Mr Wilson's report, which Ministers made an excuse for not presenting it to the Assembly. It ceased to bear that character, when the Commissioners refused to take cognisance of the advertisement of Judge Rogan, and other of what they called "irrelevant matters." Nor was it an inquiry into the mode of conducting these land purchases generally. Had it been so, the Commissioners could not fail to have been struck with this unprecedented "indemnity," given by a suitor to a Judge, against the consequences of the Court's decision in his favour. Nor could it have overlooked the mode in which the rights of the minors, who were part owners of the blocks thus irregularly transferred to Cooper by the Court, were ignored. Practices of this kind have made the East Coast notorious. They laid the foundation for the bitter lawsuits and deep Native discontent still agitating the Province of Hawke's Bay. They array on the side of injustice and wrong, influences so powerful, that few private individuals, and no Government officers—till Mr J. A. Wilson felt himself bound to undertake the onerous duty—dared to raise their voices in this Island against them. These influences are still all-powerful in the North, and it will be for us in the South to see, that the honour of the Government, and the peace of the colony, are not perilled at the pleasure of a few rich, greedy, and unscrupulous land sharks, whose desires increase with their wealth, and are insatiable.