SETTLING THE UREWERA

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 205, 28 August 1918, Page 4

SETTLING THE UREWERA

The C!over_l__nt' B negotiations for the purchase ol" largo blocks of land in the T'rewera Coventry, of which the Native Minister gave particulars a few days ago, an- interesting historically mid senti_ental_y, iir well as from the point of view of. land settlement. The Irewcra Count_y is the last stronghold or the Maot/i, the last of his territories standing up like a rock amid the advancing tide of w_ite settlement. Until recent years it wus to white people almost an unknown land, nnd even now there is probably no inlial.it.il district in the Dominion that is visited by so few travellers. Historically il is rich in interest. Its range upon rang.' of mountains, with narrow valleys and- steep hills, made it an admirable retreating place for defeated or outnuinber.il Maoris, and everybody interested in New Zealand history knows how Te Kooti and his followers eluded

I lor so long in these mountain fastnesses I their white and Maori pursuers. Hut the bills and valleys of the I'rewera .Country may hold secrets more romantic than tin- memories of Te Kooti's extraordinary achievements. Did some forgotten race centuries earlier retire to this stronghold before the Maori, and make a lust stand there'; There is a j theory that some of the Urewcra types I to-day show signs of descent from a ICaucasian race that is believed to have | lived iv New Zealand before the Maoris I came, but of which all other traces have I been obliterated. The I'rewera Country was the last (territory in New Zealand invaded by the I Kins's writ. The arrest of Itua two j years ago might lx- considered the .-nd of an era. and it is interesting to note I that Una is now helping the Governituent in the recruiting of natives. Kailway and road arc opening U|» tlie Urewera Country, and probably in a few years it will be no more isolated tliun the centre of the island, and numbers of tourists will go there to see the s.-enery and the Maori amid Che re_i_u_ of bis old life. I'.ut a mistaken idea of the value- or at any rate, the immediate value -of the I'rewera Country seems to lie prevalent. A great part "i tinregion i- one of the wildest and roughest districts iv New Zealand outside the high Alpine country. It is a tangle of steep bush bills and narrow valley,. A travellei who \i_ited it some years ago said the country was "good iv the valley., but the extent is not great, art | the country is so mountainous that the valley, are somewhat narrow. Tbe hillside? are too steep for cultivation, though they might be used lor grazing sheep; but at present they are covered with heavy birch bush, and" I doubt if it would pay to clear it. . . J inquired, and was told', that there were vall-.is miles in length, but all very narrow, and "«t more laud lit for cultivation than will be required for the maintenance of the Ureweru people.'' This applied to only part of the country, and the fact that the Government is negotiating for hundreds of thousands of acres shoirs tiiat tlu-re is a large area that will ultimately be lit for settlement, i'.ut for some time to conic pioneering in this country will be at least a.- difficult as it has been in any other part of New Zealand, and we hope the old mistake of putting settlers on unroaded blocks miles from the niarest sources of supply will not be repealed. The Government is acting rightly in preparing the way for settlement by lu-quiroig land from the natives at thisostage. With so many natives in t( rested iv the land, the negotiations must be clow, nnd It is better that there should be delay than that the intenv-ts of the natives should suffer. Hut while ultimate settlement is inevitable, it must, owing to the loeai condition., be slow, and we cannot regard the opening up of the Crew-era Country as so important

a.- settlement of land more accessible and more easily worked. It would lie a mistake to think immigrants or returned soldiers could coon he settled on this I'rewera land in large numbers. The Government's more immediate duty in the matter of land settlement lies in other districts, and the Government seems to realise this.