Administration of Justice.

• 9. Thus far I have considered the operation of the new Act as capable of being made instrumental for the purpose of reviving or creating among the Native population a sense of the substantial benefits to be derived from their connection with us. I have been looking chiefly to present difficulties, and the prospect of escaping out of them into a better state of things. But in all our operations it is necessary to look beyond this, and-even from the beginning so to direct and shape our proceedings as may most facilitate the establishment of a permanent and legal order of things. Therefore, from the very beginning, we must form to ourselves some distinct conception of that which we desire to establish.

  It is quite true that there is no use in attempting to force institutions on people who do not desire them, or to push them on over-rapidly whilst a population is ill prepared for them; but it is exceedingly important to miss no opportunity of introducing them that may offer itself. For this end, then, it is necessary that we shall have considered the whole matter beforehand, and formed our plans for acting when the time comes.

  I think it will be admitted by all that our system ought to be something simple and intelligible in itself, and free from all complication and causes of unnecessary delay; moreover, that it should be so modified from our own system and so far adapted to the condition of the Native population as to remove prejudices and obstacles, and to make the transition from the one to the other as easy as possible; lastly, that it should be such as may be combined easily with the general system of the colony, and ultimately blended therein. If the procedure be tardy or costly, or clogged by a necessity of referring frequently to the seat of Government, and especially of references backward and forward from one Government office to another—from one person uninformed and uninterested to auother equally so, and back again—it will most surely fail in its object; it will never come to be valued or respected by either race, and it will never beget a peaceful and contented spirit in the population. To the Maoris resident in the Native districts the necessity of referring for a settlement of disputes to the seat of Government, or to the nearest English town where a Judge is to be found, is a very great grievance and evil. When parties come on such an errand, they often hang about the town with wives and children, either at the charge of the Government, in which case they linger on, becoming gradually pauperized; or, if at their own charge, incurring debts on a ruinous system of credit. Of course the leading practitioners, whose hands are already full, are not inclined to take business of such a kind. Even if such a man is moved to take it up, all must be done through interpreters, and therefore at an increased cost; and it may after all be found that the ultimate point in dispute is one which is excluded from the jurisdiction of our ordinary Courts. If we wish to commend to the Natives our ways of proceeding, we must clear them of the many difficulties which beset them now. In this respect the present state of things is more likely to create disaffection that to remove it. Instead of bringing the Natives to our Courts of justice, we must carry our Courts to them. How, then, is a speedy and efficient administration of justice between the two races, in matters criminal and civil alike, to be established and maintained?