WELLINGTON NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 33, 7 February 1894, Page 2

WELLINGTON NOTES.

THE NEW STATE FARM,

MAORI CLAIMS CONSIDERED.

(bt telegraph—own correspondent.)

Wellington, this day. Mr Macky, of the Labour Bureau, has re* turned from the newly-acquired State farm 1 tbe purchase of which haa created Buch a flutter among the Maori'occupants, and reported progress as to the future of this State experimenb. I can procure no information as to the system on which it is to be Worked, and think ib probable that though many have been formulated none has been adopted. Meanwhile, for the development necessary to occupation, some sixteen of the* unemployed have been taken on, and are employed at the.usual bush felling and splitting of fencing stuff. Married men with families ; are given preference, and are provided with tents. For wages, each man is paid according to the work he can perform, it being a condition precedent that the scale of wages shall not be equal to the current) rate. The work is for the necessitous, and the Department will not compete with the ordinary employer. Eighty acres will have been cleared during the next forbnight, and Mr Macky expects to have twenty acres under the plough in a month s time. Then will come the tesb of the capacity of the Minister for Labour to successfully deal in his experiment with one of the most difficult aspects of the social question of the day—to convert the man who baa no visible means of subsistence into a self-sustaining and self-respecting worker. How to do it may be expected to tax the resources of even bis capacity. THE HOROWHENUA BLOCK. Of the Maori claims to the occupation of this knd that they have hitherto considered their own, you already know. The dispute has been advanced another stage by an inspection by Mr Kennedy McDonald for the Government of 3000 acres allotted to the discontented natives .by Hunia, who sold to the Government. Mr McDonald did his work on Friday last, and has, I believe, sent in his report, though I have been unable to ascertain its nature. He waa accompanied over the ground by come forty Maoris, men and women, who were naturally deeply interested in his mission. The whole business grows more tangled and involved from day to day, and it seems certain that great hardship must fall upon many native homes whatever the -merits of the matter as to the sale of Hunia bo tho Government. There are many stories afloat about the transaction that if nob soon ventilated will certainly provoke animated discussion in the coming Parliament. Daylight is slowly illuming the transactions associated with the Horowhenua block, though, if I mistake not, the most important and interesting facts have yet to be disclosed, ■ but probably nothing short of a Parliamentary Committee will discover these. Meanwhile, Mr T. K. McDonald has inspected the land by direction of the Premier to discover the merits of the case as', bebween Hunia, tho vendor to the Government, and the tribesmen who allege they have been dispossessed. This is the substance of Mr McDonald's report. The 3.000 acres set apart *• for thetriboare worth £3,853, and the portion reserved by Hunia for himself is worth £4,150. The land near the lake adjoining the State farm is bush and swamp, gradually running into sandhills, covered wicb fern and manuka and self-sown grasses, and ending in the bare sandhills of the coast. This description covers both lobs of land. The portion comprised in tbe sandy hills and embracing some half to two-thirds of the whole, which it is proposed to seb apart, is only suitable for leasing as a separate sheep run. In addition to the land now retained by Hunja, he desires to retain 100 odd acres occupied by Hector McDonald's family and 7G acres occupied by a native named John Rush. Mr Macdonald rode over the land affected by his report in company with Mr Donald Fraser and Mr Wilson Hunia, as representing W arena Hunia, Mr John R. McDonald, as representing the Muaupoko tribe, and some 35 of the tribesmen. THE EDUCATION CONFERENCE. The representatives of the national Bchools, now in conference here upon many questidns largely affecting the progress of the great department which is their care, • are hard at work from day to day, and havo already formulated many proposals in the direction of expansion and reform. The Minister of Education attends daily, but >' does not take any part in the proceedings. He is, I believe, favourably impressed with the results already achieved, many of which, it may be safely said, he will adopb, so that it is already apparent thab the school representatives will accomplish some practical wOrk thai will leave its mark upon the Department. NATIVE LAND PURCHASE AND ACQUISITION ACT. The more this statute of last session is examined the more apparent does it become that its provisions will prove inadequate to supply the increasing demand for land for settlement in the North Island. The wanb of necessary purchasing power by the Government of the day, whose spending powers on the purchase of native lands are limited to £50,000 in any one year, is one cause of inadequacy, bub this, as I have previously said, the Premier proposes to remedy next session by legislation. A greater weakness of the measure is the inability of the Governmenb to take the land when required for sebblemenb unless wibh the consent of the Maori owners. It appears from the Act that, no matter how urgent it may be for the public welfare to resume native land for cultivation and occupation by those who desire to use and occupy it, though ready to pay a fair value, the Governmenb muso be bound by the desire of the owners. They are for all practical and business purposes in the same position as European owners, with the difference that they are not so amenable, to business. The Land for Settlement Bill of last session was designed to give the Government power to resume the estates of Europeans as they were required for close occupation upon an equitable apprisement of values, with some modifications, probably the addition of an important principle of conditional purchase. Tbe same,meaßure will be pub in bh9 forefront of the business of the new Parliament. Now, bo long as the Maori land owners are kept on the same plan as the Europeans as to the taking of their lands, bhey will the more readily acquiesce in new legislation, and I think ib will be found thab the Govornmenb will next session ask Parliament to apply the resumption provisions of the Lands for Settlement Bill alike to all large areas, whether possessed by Europeans or Maoris. RESUMPTION OF PRIVATE ESTATES. I think that the Government are considering a new form of purchase of private estates of the Cheviot class. It is apparent that the purchase for cash of such properties as Cheviot, and their disposal under perpetual lease at a rental equal to 5 per cenb. of the value, cannot be persevered in without some new and hitherto unformulated syatem of a continuous supply of cheapmohey for such purpose is developed. The Cheviot purchase can hardly be repeated on the same lines, yeb the Government will be impelled to give access to the land. Moreover, for reasons with which the bankers of the colony are familiar, numerous estates, some oi greab value, are now being pressed upon the Government. The now departure that is to admit of these properties being acquired is, I understand,

to be acquisition by lease, and nob purchase of the freehold, the State sub-dividing the land and sub-letting it at a rental that will provide interest to the owner and cover the cosb of sub-division and administration.for the purpose of satisfying any immediate demand for land now. Much mighb be said upon the side of such a method, bub the democracy will recognise that under such a system the unearned increment will still fall to the large landowner, and the Conservative Party in the community will rightly oppose the aspect of tbe system that gives the Governmenb of bbc day extraordinary, influence over a constantly increasing body of tenants. The men who fail, and they will be many, will naturally bring pressure to bear to procure extended time for payment, and later, as elsewhere, for remission of rent. The complications and possibilities of corruption need not be described, for the danger is obvious, and to guard against ib a system, would have to be devised under which the tenant musb be made to feel thab unless be can fulfil his contract on strict business lines, he musb surrender the land. This would mean thab bhe Governmenb would divest itself _of great powers, and all Governments like power, not excepting even that of Mr Seddon. THE MINISTER FOR LABOUR. A movemenb has been afloat among bhe labour parby of Ausbralia for Some time past to induce the Hon Mr Reeves to visit the continenb and deliver a series of platform addresses on the interest of the democracy. It was particularly desired that before the near general election in New South Wales be should there describe the nature of the effect of recent legislation in New Zealand and the character of the enactments contemplated affecting land and labour. Had the visib been arranged, I have the besb reason bo; believe bhat he would have received a very enthusiastic reception, but I regret to have to add that he found ib impracticable, and has been constrained to decline the flattering overtures made to him. NEW ZEALAND BUTTER AND APPLES IN LONDON. Mr Low, the latest expert, sends two long reports from London on the butter and apples of this colony, in which there iB a great deal that is true and nothing that is strikingly new. Growers are advißed to send along the best of apples forthwith, and if they are of the best quality and properly packed, and arrive in good condition, they will find a ready and profitable market. The reason is that American, Canadian, and Continental supplies have at present tailed. The causes of failure are uob stated, nor is there any evidence thab bhey will rise again nexb season or never. Growers are told the fruit should be graded, packed in bushel packages and nob compressed in packing, which are, I fancy, among the things bhey withoub excepbion know already. He also says thab no soft kind of apples should be sent. When he wrote (29th December) apples wore dearer than for the past ten years. Thus, American varieties selling lasb year for 10s per barrel were realising 18s," and the finest kinds, as Newtown pippins, 40s and 425. Of our butter, he tells us that the bottom has been knocked oub of bhe Butber Committee, cf which he recently wrote so exultantly, and which was to sustain prices. It appears thab some consignees saved themselves in a falling market at the expense of their brobher committeemen. Mr Henry Reynolds, of this country, himself a large vendor, who acted as Secretary, has resigned in consequence, declaring that though members of the Committee had Bold down to 100s, be had not placed any under 120s. The Butter Committee has evidently gone to pieces, and the sooner producers here combine to pay a first-class man to watch their interesta in the Old Country the' better.