VICISSITUDES 387 



of fire as the assembled natives almost seemed to anticipate, proceeded 

 in a cloud of dust on its way to Wairoa. 



In dealing with the exceptional affairs of individual citizens, the 

 State is always able to drive a hard bargain. Nevertheless, though the 

 decision ultimately reached was good business from the point of view 

 of the Commission, the tenant also was treated fairly. The Commission, 

 if at all a beast in its terms, was, like our famous Rugby headmaster, 

 a just beast. Political conditions, in fact, against all likelihood, made 

 it possible that the matter should be treated with impartiality. Seddon 

 was in the zenith of his power, a leader whom not his bitterest enemies 

 could accuse of neglect of the interests of the masses. None but a 

 Labour Government such as his could have would have dared to give 

 fair play to a squatter. 1 Then, again, I was happy in the members 

 of the Commission. Sir Robert Stout, amongst the innumerable 

 activities of his great career, had played a prominent part during 

 the 'eighties in the initiation of agrarian reform. He knew land at 

 first hand from actual experience as he knew law. Mr Ngata, one 

 of the four native members of Parliament, was an east coast sheep- 

 farmer who had done excellent work in the organisation of native 

 holdings in the Waiapu. 



Well, making a long story short, and avoiding technical language, 

 the recommendations of the Commission were that 18,000 acres should 

 be leased to H. G.-S. for thirty years at a quadrupled rent, that 

 certain lands should revert to the native owners, and that the rights 

 of flax-cutting should be shared by tenant and landlords. 



Much water was to flow beneath the Waikoau bridge before these 

 recommendations were ratified. In the meantime, however, the satisfied 

 tenant went home, possessed himself of shootings and fishings, and with 

 thanks to an all-wise Providence who had ordained that he should 

 remain on Tutira, heard by cable that in Section 45 of a certain Act 

 of Parliament " the Board of the Ikaroa Maori Land District was hereby 

 authorised to act for and on behalf of the native owners of the lands in 

 the Hawke's Bay Provincial District, known as Tutira Block, and to give 

 effect to certain recommendations of the Commissioners appointed by 



1 After the great snowstorm, which many years ago in the mountains of Canterbury 

 destroyed whole flocks over a wide area, the Government of New Zealand reduced rents to its 

 squatter tenants, extended their leases, and, when necessary, arranged that mortgages should 

 be written off to reasonable amounts actions not only wise in themselves, but proof that no 

 class, however politically defenceless, was to be exempted from help when deserving of help. 



