NATIVE TOWNSHIPS. SOME DIFFICULTIES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 77, 28 September 1908, Page 7

NATIVE TOWNSHIPS. SOME DIFFICULTIES.

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER. A deputation consisting of representatives of the Waitomo County Council, and the^native townships of Taumarunui, Otorohanga, and Te Kuiti, accompanied by Mr. Jennings, M.P., and several other members of the Legislature, waited on the Native Minister to-day to ventilate certain grievances. The chief requests were that greater facilities should be afforded for the disposal of the freehold of sections in such townships where the native owner was willing to sell — provided, of course, that the interests of the natives were conserved — that the area of the townships should be increased, and that they should be placed on a footing which would enable a proper system of local government to be carried out. The Hon. J. Carroll, in replying, agreed that the time had arrived when changes in the system of native townships were necessary, and the Government intended to , bring all such townships under one Act, and thus do away with the variations that now exist. All of them would be brought under the provisions of the Native Land Laws Amendment Act. All leases would be for 21 years, with right of renewal and valuation for improvements. Greater facilities would also be provided for the sale of the freehold.