A moderate number of store cattle was yarded. The demand was slow and prices easier. Very forward steers sold at £8 2s 6d. About 30 dairy cattle were yarded. Competition was fairly brisk, best cows realising up to £12 and aged sorts from £4 to £5 a head.
Ngai Tahu still waiting
The claim of South Island Maoris against the Government in respect of land for settlement in Canterbury about 75 years ago was mentioned again in the House of Representatives yesterday. The government of the day bought the land at an exceeding low price, and promised that certain provision would be made for the Natives.
The promise was not kept, and two years ago a Royal Commission, after investigating the claim, recommended that a sum of £354,000 should be paid to the Maoris in settlement. Mr W. Uru (Southern Maori) asked if the Government intended to take action in accordance with the recommendations of the commission. The Minister of Native Affairs (the Hon. J. G. Coates) replied that he was unable at present to indicate what action the Government would take. The matter was still under consideration, and some important phases of it required to he determined. Mr Uru said the reply was very indefinite. He realised that the times were hard and that the amount of money involved was large, but the Maoris were enlitled to a settlement of their long-standing claim. It was the habit of his people to keep fighting until they got their rights.
A vast area of land had been taken from the Maoris in the early days of European settlement at from d to 1d per acre. A sum of £2000 was paid in four instalments, and the Maoris were promised that they would receive also schools, hospitals, and sufficient land to maintain themselves. They had got the schools and the hospitals, and were quite satisfied in that respect, but they had not received the land which should belong to them and their children after them. Mr G. Witty (Riccarton) said the Maoris had been waiting 74 years for what was due to them. The present Government had referred the claim to a commission, which had made a definite recommendation; but still nothing had been done. He would be sorry to see the Maoris receive so large a sum of money in cash but he thought that at least the Government should pay interest to them.
The Government should either pay on the basis of the report, or make an arrangement that would be satisfactory to the Natives. Mr W.D. Lysnar (Gisborne) suggested that the claim was barred by the Statute of Limitations. Mr G.E. Statham (Dunedin Central) replied that the Government could not decently take advantage of the Statute of Limitations, even if it applied. The Maoris were not pressing a legal claim, they were asking for justice. — ODT, 12.10.1922
