AN ABORTIVE COMAIISSION.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13227, 22 September 1908, Page 8

AN ABORTIVE COMAIISSION.

"THE LABOURS OF SISYPHUS."

(SPXC-AI. TO "TOT r«MS.") WELLINGTON, September 21. Settlers in the North Island are now beginning to realise that, after all, tho labours of the Royal Commission on Native Lands are not resulting in much practical benefit. To-day I sought the opinion.on the subject of Air W. H. Herries, AI.P., who for years had made a special study of nativo affairs. Air Herrie3 went into the matter with his usual thoroughness, and his romarks, which aro interesting, will no doubt be widely read. "It seems to mc." he said, "that the whole work of the Commission is an absolute waste of time and money. We aro voting this year £3000 for the expenses of Uio Commission, and that apparently is only a preliminary. Wnnout in any way wishing to detract trom the painstaking ana earnest work of tho Commission, anyone intimate with native affairs would know that all the miormauon wi.u regard to too dlocks available, their area, etc., snouia cavo been obtained by a cler_ in the -Native _.and Omco, «_u_>_jlei_enu._ by reports ironi Crovvn lana rangers. Witti regard to the opinion expressed by tho C/oimnissioners in reierouu. to the use tne various blocks aro to bo put to, the labours of tho Commissioners may be compared to the labours ot -isypuus; they metaphorically roll tho stone oi their opiuions with great labour to the top of tho hill, and then bump up against legislative enactments and tho Nativo Department; aud down goes the stone to the bottom, where it started from. And besides, there is, iv my opinion, waste of money. Lock at the constitution of the Commission. The Chief Justice of Now Zealand is taken away from that work in which his high attainments would materially assist tho Dominion; tho principles of Constitutional law aro broken by giving extra payment to one of his Alajesty's judges; the Disqualification Act is broken by giving extra monetary allowance to two members of Parliament —ono a member of the Commission, and the other retained to look after the interests of the nativo tho transaction had to be specially validated. I am not at all questioning the ability of the gentlemen I refer to, nor questioning the thoroughness with which they have done their work, nor tho whole-souled earnestness which characterises their reports; though one may differ with some of tlie opinions they express. But I do ask, is tho Dominion getting value for the money spent, and tho w*itha_rawa. of tho Commissioners from their proper spheres of business? What is, in effect, the substance of their report after eighteen months of travelling round the North Island? They report on 3,135,186 acres of land, and find tliat of that acreage, 915,970 acres havo been already leased, and are under negotiation; 1,295,268 acres are recommended for Alaori' and general settlement; 500,365 acres are vested' in Boards and trustees under previous legislation; and 423,582 acres aro Papatupu land, not clothed with a title, and cannot be dealt with. Tho fact that 915,970 acres have been leased to Europeans under previous legislation, and that land is still being .eased under the provisions of clauso 16 of the Act of 1905, which clause was inserted in that Act by tho Native Affairs Committee—not by tbe Minister —and; fully protects the interests of tho native, shows conclusively that the nativo land! question would 1 be settled without the introduction of tho Commission. With regard to the land recommended for settlement, 6-13,574 acres are recommended for Alaori settlement .only under the provisions of clauses introduced into list year's Act, not by' the Government, but by Mr Ngata, which met ; with general approval; 177,854 acres aro to be incorporated with a view to Aiaoris farming the blocks under the provisions of section 23 of the Maori washing-up Bill of 1906; leaving only 473,839 acres for settlement by Europeans, of which only 64,192 acres are recommended for salo. Thus, after eighteen months' hard labour, loss, than a quarter of a million acres out of over three million acres, ar© recommended for settlement by Europeans. I would guarantee that all the land, and' more, would have been settled by mutual agreement between the_ Aiaoris and pakehas tinder the provisions of clause 16, above mentioned, without tho costly Commission travelling round th© country. It must ,bo remembered that this report covers tho whole of the available Maori land in the colony that, is likely to come on the market, ©~oept the rugged' Urewora country. This 473,839 acres of land thus recommended becomes sub-ject-to last year's Act, when the Governor issues an Order-in-Cbunoil proclaiming it. Then the Alaori Land Board' has to subdivide it into . two halves—ono half to be leased, tho other to bo a lot of costly mechanical work, such as surveying and reading has to bo undertaken before tho land is available for settlement. And when ono knows the deliberate way in which, the' Nativo Department moves, ono can anticipate that it will bo some considerable time before a European settler puts his foot on this 47,389 acres. Then, again, tho Commissioners point out what was pointed out timo and again by those who knew anything about native matters, on the second and third readings of last year's Act, that th© Act is utterly unworkable, and it is understood that legislation will be brought down this session to make it workable. However, this is the usual condition of Alaori legislation, and makes thos© who have an earnest desire, both to benefit the MaV>ri and open up tho land for Europeans, despair of anything beneficial being don© to either race, unless an absolutely radical change is made both in legislation and in th© administration of native affairs."