NATIVE LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 290, 1 September 1908, Page 8

NATIVE LANDS.

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER. THE WORK OF. THE COMMISSION. ' The. members of the Auckland and East Coast; railway deputation waited upon tho Native Minister"( Hon.. J. Carroll) this afternoon .'for lithe'.', purpose "of representing tho importance of the greatest possible expedition being observed in regard to the settlement' of Native lands in tho North. There wore present: Messrs. E. Harding, Jack, J. D. M'Kenzie, Andrew Bell, Joseph Carroll, and the Hon. Capt. Tucker. Mr. Kidd, introduced the deputation, and there were also present Messrs. Baume, Poole, Alison, Jennings,-;Ngata;-Heko, and Parata. Mr._ Harding said that the country was suffering very severely from the inability to bring the largo unused areas of Native lands into profitable cultivation. Tho Natives were deriving no benefit, tho country was getting nothing, and the neighbouring owners were also suffering from tho fact that these unused lands were j'ielding no'rates to!assist in roading and other works. Settlement and progress were being greatly handicapped, and the question had occupied the attention at tho ■ conference of settlers recentlj' Jield at Whangarei. It was thero suggbsted,that,, some,.inodified system of the Jands'for.ftottlement,policy might bo adopted 'in, regard .to the Native ,lands. The proposal wa's that !!tho : laridsi should bo thrown open for "Settlement without waiting for the titles to be' ascertained, and that the proceeds should be : paid into a trust fund,' and apportioned to* thoso entitled to them after tho titles had been ascertained. In the event of anything of this lfind being done it should apply to the land already 'held under lease from the M»oris at an adequate rental. Such leases should be resumed and thrown upon tho '. market- so as to enable tho owners < to receive a fair recompense. \ Messrs. M'Kenzie and Jack spoke to a similar' effect, and the 1 former referred particu-, larly to tho 'time- and money now lost by Natives inattending tho sittings of tlie Native Land Courts. . ..

Mr. Ngata said that.,it seomed that tho remarks; of -Mr.- Harding applied particularly to the Native lands.north of Auckland. As a'membor of !.tho Native Lands Commission he wpuld like to, say :that the Commission had gone further than mere "record taking." It had dealt with about three-quarters, of a million acres of Nativo lands in the north of Auckland, and to these tho titles had been ascertained. There were also about 150,000 acres the titles ,of , which had not yet, been ascertained. About one-half of tho three-quarter million, aores would bo available, for'settlement'-by;,..sajo ,or leaso.. Tho position .was that they., could not adopt a policy with tho Natives-if there was any compulsion behind it.' The Commission had taken a middle course.!! The Natives wero influenced by, tho fooling of the pressure of public opinion that their lands should bo utilised. The Commissioners had asked tliem Whaf'-portionkof • their lands they; were willing to'throw open,\and their reply was to tho effect that -they;-would' part with one-half of thei.'area.-as,.mentioned.. , Tho prospect of ,'Na.tivo' landis^ttlempntilin,tho, north of Auck-land'was-now much .brighter than it had been"- for the past twenty- or thirty years.

<: ''■■■' . Statement by the Minister. ••;The Minister of''the difficulties that surrounded all attempts. to deal with the Native, land' question—difficulties which, he 'saidy"wero due 'more to the old methods, of dealing with these l lands than' to anything connected >with. the present broad policy that was being 'adopted. ' - Formerly they had to depend . upon' what the' Government could 'purchase from; the' Natives by contract, or what Europeans could get from Natives by private transactions.' :'-,The results had''riot' been . altogether satisfactory. Vested. and private interests had proved a great obstacle ■in dealing with the question, but the road, was now .getting'pretty: well clear, and they were, now to that stago when the settlement l of Native : lands would be able to go 'forward on-fixed and clear, lines. Since the Commission' was appointed it had dealt with lands aggregating about three million acres, and some j211,171 acres had been operated for the purposes of settlements The Commission had done.-a tremendous amount of work, and it would.finish its labours about. January next. The great difficulty. of obtaining surveyors was one drawback, ;but efforts were being made to overcomo this' .difficulty. Since the present policy was inaugurated the Native, lands leased aild sold under various methods had totalled some 1;404;543 acres, the avorago sizo of the holdings -'beina about 500 acres. If they could get a-proper staff of surveyors they would ;be ■ able' next ' year to throw open about a million and a half acres -ot Maori lands. Ho intended- to propose amendments', in the law with tho object of lessening as far ,as possible the procedure in regard to appea.ls, but tho important point to be remembered was that there must be no compulsion -in the matter. They had now got to the stage when the difficulties would bo reduced to such a minimum as to be hardly perceptible in tho vast volume of work to be done. They were going, he said, to pay x special attention to the north of ■Auckland, and in this connection he mentioned that, one block of Native land, tho Otakanini; block, near Helensville, would bo thrown open ',for . 'lease,' _on September 25. This block, \ho said, consisted of 7154 acres, and was situated about fivo miles to tho west of Helensville.lt would bo offered for leaso for 25 years, with a right of renewal; for ft- further term of 25 years. In the case of a . number of the sections preferences would i be given in the first instance to , application's froin the Maori. owners of the -land. •'