大象传媒

Bha Sir Iain MacCoinnich na Mhinistear airson an Fhearainn ann an Sealan Nuadh. Bha sin anns an deichead mu dheireadh dhen naoidh-eamh linn deug. Bha e ag iarraidh fearann a bhith aig tuathanaich bheaga, seach uachdarain mh貌ra. Ach, anns an Eilean mu Thuath, bha t貌rr dhen fhearann leis na Maori.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Cheannaich an Riaghaltas fear-ann m貌r bho na Maori. Chaill na Maori tr矛 millean acaire. Reic an Riaghaltas am fearann do thuathanaich bheaga.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Chunnaic Iain MacCoinnich buaidh nam fuadaichean ann an Alba. Ach, a dh鈥檃indeoin sin, thug e fearann air falbh bho na Maori. Bha e a鈥� smaoineachadh gun robh na daoine geala na b鈥� fhe脿rr mar thuathanaich.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Bha MacCoinnich radaigeach air ceist an fhearainn. Ach bha e caomhnach ann an d貌ighean eile. Bha e an aghaidh boireannaich a bhith a鈥� bh貌tadh. Bha e onarach. Ach bha e connsachail. Nuair a bha e feargach anns a鈥� ph脿rlamaid, bha e a鈥� bruidhinn G脿idhlig. Cha robh fios aig muinntir Hansard d猫 bha e ag r脿dh!

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Chaidh am Pr矛omhaire a Lunnainn. Bha MacCoinnich an uair sin os cionn an Riaghaltais. Ach cha robh e a鈥� cumail gu math. Chaidh e fh猫in a Lunnainn ann an ochd ceud deug, naochad 鈥檚 a naoi (1899). Chaidh e fo lannsa. 脌s d猫idh sin, thill e don 聽聽聽聽t-seann dachaigh aige ann am Baile an D霉in. Thachair e ri c脿irdean an sin.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Thill e a Shealan Nuadh ach bha e a鈥� fulang le aillse. Leig e dheth a dhreuchd mar bhall p脿rlamaid ann an naoi ceud deug (1900). Bliadhna 脿s d猫idh sin, bha Di霉c na C霉irn is Iorc ann an Sealan Nuadh. Stad an tr猫ana aige faisg air dachaigh MhicCoinnich. Rinn an Di霉c ridire de MhacCoinnich. Chaochail 鈥淪ir Iain鈥� beagan seachd-ainean 脿s d猫idh sin.

Sir John McKenzie was the Minister for Land[s] in New Zealand. That was in the final decade of the nineteenth century. He was wanting small farmers, rather than big landlords, to have land. But, on the NorthIsland, much of the land was owned by the Maori.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Government bought a lot of land from the Maori. The Maori lost three million acres. The Government sold the land to small farmers.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 John McKenzie saw the effect of the clearances in Scotland. But, despite that, he took land away from the Maori. He was thinking that the white people were better as farmers.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 McKenzie was radical on the land question. But he was conservative in other ways. He was against women voting. He was honest. But he was argum-entative. When he was angry in [the] parliament, he was speak-ing Gaelic. The Hansard folk [parliamentary recorders] didn鈥檛 know what he was saying!

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The Prime Minister went to London. McKenzie was at that time in charge of the Govern-ment. But he wasn鈥檛 keeping well. He himself went to London in 1899. He had an operation [went under a scalpel]. After that, he returned to his old home in Baldoon. He met relations there.

聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He returned to New Zealand but he was suffering from cancer. He resigned as a member of parliament in 1900. A year later, the Duke of Cornwall and York was in New Zealand. The train stopped near McKenzie鈥檚 home. The Duke knighted McKenzie. 鈥淪ir John鈥� died a few weeks after that.