MAORIS FEAR LOSS OF LAND

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30783, 22 June 1965, Page 3

MAORIS FEAR LOSS OF LAND

(New Zealand Press Association)

INVERCARGILL, June 21.

There was a growing fear in the minds of Maori people that if they did not utilise vast areas of idle land, the Government would take it over, the chairman of the Murihiku Maori executive committee, Mr Robert A. Whaitiri, of Bluff, said today.

Mr Whaitiri said it was vital to the country’s economy that this land, which amounted to hundreds of thousands of acres in both islands, should be brought into use. It could not be left idle indefinitely.

In Southland alone, there were about 100,000 acres lying idle. The Murihiku committee had called a meeting of all owners to discuss the use of this land, and a big attendance was expected.

Mr Whaitiri said the executive would put proposals to the meeting to see if owners of Maori land would incorporate to farm their lands. Maori land owners in some parts of both the North and South Island had incorporated with considerable success, and there was no reason why it could not be done in Southland.

Groups of Maori owners formed into companies could farm the land efficiently, Mr Whaitiri said.

The committee would put a further proposal to the meeting which if approved could have wide effects.

It would be asked to petition the Government to set up a scheme of development for Maori land, similar to the schemes of the Lands and Survey Department.