FORTUNATE MAORIS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 455, 13 March 1909, Page 5

FORTUNATE MAORIS.

; INCOME FROM TIMBER. ; THE GOVERNMENT THREATENED. • (US TEI.EGIIAI'II—PRESS iSSOCIATION.) : . Auckland, March 12. An interesting description of the conditions at present affecting Native land, and especially the timbcr-clad blocks in the middle of the North Island, has been obtained from Mr. A. H. Yile, a member of the Wellington Education Board, who has just reached Auckland after a tour through the Island, a number of facts having been 1 given him in conversation with the well- ' known Maori chief To Heuhcu Tukino, at ' Tokaanu. "Sawmilling operations are," said Mr. ■ Vile, "being conducted vigorously in the country extending on both sides of the ; Main Trunk line, although the slump in the • timber trade has resulted in ono or two ' mills closing down. Thoso belonging to the " larger companies are turning out from • 15,000 to 40,000 feet of timber a day. The Natives appear to bo doing very well out ' of the land itself, as they aro getting £10 5 an acre as royalty on the bush. Ono family alone has 00,000 acres bearing totara, » matai, rimu, and kahikatea, andoneNativo in the North Island is said to bo netting 1 £3000 a year in royalties on timber. They ' aro paid 2s. per 100 superficial feet of to- ' tarn, lOd. for matai, Bd. for rimu, and 6d. for tho kahikatea. It is expected that a company with very extensive capital will bo floated shortly, to take up a large block of land, it being understood that a considerable portion of tho capital will ,be subs'. sdribed in tho Old Country. 5 "To Heuhcu is very emphatic," Mr. Vile continued, "about the Natives receiving the i same rights as Europeans. 'We are going,' n he said to me, 'to make an emphatic de- • inn ml in April, and if the Government does ' I not give us what we ask, we will shoot I them.' "