MAORIS AND THEIR LAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 78, 31 March 1908, Page 7

MAORIS AND THEIR LAND.

gBOGEESS OF THE BIG MEETING.

Upon arrival at Nar<iruawahia shortly gfter 2 o'clock yesterday from Rotorua, the Hon- J- Carroll, Native -Jinister, fonnd that matters had not progressed as rapidij as was ex P ected - T}lis was > however, due to the fact that at Ngaruathe meeting was not only dealing -jift. lands in that, county, but also the _oier counties. Tho process was therefore necessarily a, slow one, as enormous areas .of land were being handled. In the King Country alone fully 250,000 'acres of native land are being dealt with, and _tlr. Henare Kaihau. M.P., is busily en <Tacred on this business. At the meetings, which are now being held at Wahajoa and Ugarrnawahia (ajwt from the ]jj_g Country) _,">O.OOO ...res, native lands in the Mairukau. Raglan, Waipa, .West Tanpo, Waikato. Piako, Ohinemuri, and a small portion of Coromandel county are under consideration. In the Raglan County alone there is about 100,000 acres of native lands to be dealt with, jn<__ding*the area already leased, in the yfest Tanpo 120,000 acres, Piako about StLOOO acres, and the smaller areas in ■the other counties tot up to close on another 100,000 acres, making a total area of about 620,000 acres, to which may he added that 756,000 acres in Tuhoeland which, owing to the negotiations cf the _«ative Minister at the meetings held in Ruatoki last week, will also be dealt with under the Act passed last session. It will thus be seen w-hat an important bearing these meetings may have on the future of the northern portion of Jfe. Zealand, where progress has so long been blocked owing to millions of acres pf native land lying unproductive.

__r. Carroll had a short conference until ___r. Henare Kaihau yesterday, and Ending that things were not suificienth advanced for him to do anything at pre sent, came on to town by a later train which reached Auckland about 7-3 C o'clock. So far about 200,000 acres oJ the land in the King Country have beer dealt with at the -Jganiawahia meeting bat particulars are not to hand regard inn- the result of the meeting also being ___ at Wahaxoa. As to the q_est_on of iadrridualising Batrre titles of land, the d____nltie_ tc he faced are almost i____f_rable. In the first place the Court has to decide on the title of a particular ancestor to a Hock of land, then the divisio-L of that Jjlock has to be made into tribes tracing descent from the ancestor to whom the Hock is awarded. Next in order came the diTisions into sub tribes, then into families, and by the time the individual is reached, a number of them will have died, and the subdivision amongst their descendants would require to be gone on lirith. Then, too, there is the difficulty as to how the land can be fairly divided where the flats are rich, and the hills at the back poor. Each native naturally wants some of the best land, and ii ■ihe block was subdivided to give every one a share of the frontage of a block, they would in many cases have sections _hich would be good shooting; ranges for long distance modern guns. Another feoabie is that in some instances there are a large number of natives entitled to a share in a small area of good land, End to subdivide it for individual hold-

iag would be absolutely useless, while ia other instances one owner may have c share in several blocks of land, which yonld be equally difficult to individualise. It will be seen, therefore, that to mdi E__a___e native titles in the majority cf instances -would be a costly and most tedious process, and not give satisfactory results. That the natives recognise this is shown by the fact that the machinery s___u_y e__s_s in the Native Lands Court by means of which a native may get his individual title, but that machinery is seldom in demand.

Ngaiuassahia presents a very pictur<esq_e appearance at the present time, as t_e Maoris axe still assembled there in large numbers, mostly camped under the trees along the banks of the river. Crowds of Maoris were seen yesterday ■walking about the streets or lying under the trees sunning themselves, while the children were having a glorious time playing about in various paddocks. One storekeeper has fenced off a portion of ihe footpath under a verandah in front of the shop, for the sake of having a epedal place from which to vend lollies and biscuits to the children, the "sweet stalT* being under the care of a native. __iere is no doubt that roaring business las been done at Ngaruawahia during this big Maori meeting, and if the result oi these gatherings is to cause over half a million acres of Maori land to be made productive, the benefits to Auckland pro-1 _m_e should be great in the future.