FIJI NATIVE LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 253, 18 July 1908, Page 5

FIJI NATIVE LANDS.

LW INSTEAD OF SAM. ' HOME GOVERNMENT'S POLICY. PROCEEDS TO BE HELD IN TRUST. (ill TELEOEAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) (Reo. July 17, 11.12 p.m.) London, Ju'y 17In the House of Lords the Secretary for tho Colonies (Lord Crewo) was questioned as to tho position of native lands in Fiji, and tho proposals as to methods of dealing with them. Lord Crewo said that the tenure of unoccupied native lands in Fiji was communal, While rejecting tho planters' proposal, and while not being in complete agreement with tho alternative scheme, the Imperial Government was willing, with tho consent of the, Fiji Legislative Council and tho chiefs, that some land 'that was immediately required for occupation should be leased tb those willing to dovelop it; but that only rarely should native land be sold. Tho proceeds in eithen caso should be held in trust for the benefit of the existing community and their successors. . Lord Stanmoro (formerly Sir Arthur Gorj don, who was Governor of Fiji in the 'eighties, and who was afterwards Governor of Now Zealand), in thanking Lord Crewe for his statement, agreed with its general tenor. DECLINING POPULATION. It was just this time last year that Lord Stanmore questioned the Secretary for tho Colonies (then Lord Elgin) on this question. Lord Elgin stated that in 15105 an .nrdivrmr" was passed in Fiji which permitted sales of land to take place, but only under stringent ruinations, the Govornor being empowered to refuse his consent if the sale seemed improper, if tho land wi>re necessary • for the maintenance -of any native, or if the price to bo paid was inequitable. The Governor was bound to prevent a salo if lie considered it not in the in-, torests of the nativo population. At the eame time, in Fiji thore was aniplp room for the introduction ; of settlers. The.land acreage was 4,800,000, and it was. estimated that 41 millions of acres wore uncultivated. In addition to that, the population of Fiji had decreased from 140,080 at the time Lord Stanmore was Governor to SO,OOO now. There was thus a larw amount of land avaailable in Fiji, and the native population was not adequate to cultivate the whole of it. «. Lord Stanmoro's fear as expressed last year, was that, by amending ordinances, the door for the purchase—as apart from leasing—of native lands wo"!'' .he/ made liv»" «•'<!<>. H» native ownership of all lands in the Fijian Islands was communal, and it had formerly been settled that, .genurully speaking—except where land was taken bv the Government for nuh|ie purposes— no nativo land should be sold, but might be leased. ,