"TAIHOA!" ALWAYS "TAIHOA!"

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 594, 24 August 1909, Page 5

"TAIHOA!" ALWAYS "TAIHOA!"

:" (By i'elejjraph—Special Correspondent.) .:;"';';•'.":; '"..'; '■ , , Auckland. August 23.''.- . , : .Tho' seripus extent tp.w|iicn the,develop-'. ment:bf vthe-nbfth.of-. Auckland..is' ! being retarded by. the '.'Taihba" policy; in ..regard to Native "lands was, /forcibly, illustrated ;\bysome remarks \ made to a '"Herald" repze-r scntativb on: Saturday ;by Mr. A. G.: Yar'bdrough,' of. Kohtikohu. v He spoke particularly. :.bf : the Hokianga' County, with which he is .best' acquainted, but; his'.-', observations apply with equal force to pU|er: parts of the northern peninsula. .• ■ .....'" '. ) ■K "Itiis monstrous,".."said Mr,: Yarborough;, :"t)iat the whole; • country-side >■;should bo '.locked 'lip- against spttjeinent; as- js/the ; ca->p. at'present.. ,Tlie area of Native land still in the- ohands, of the Maoris in. Hokiauga' is about 230,000 acres..-'Tina.'is in addition to soino' 240,000 aores of Crown lands which are looked up in reserves of one kind -.and-...'■ an-, other/ The' European'settlors have to; pay rates, make roads, -and keep down the nosi-. bus weeds on their: lands, whereas; the ,'Natiyes.'are quite free; from those; requirements, Jt being: impossible to. recpverlhe -: rates qu ; ■their land in tlm. majority of cases, too. 11m, Maoris a?o serious suflcrers -through this, state.of affairs,, the restrictions of'the Native land laws being: such as -to .make it. impossible for them'to-utilise or-disposb. of their lands, although they aro quite willing "and even desirous of leasing or selling thcm., ; Largo blocks of these lands He m many cases: between; settled portions ■of .the districts, and tho'result of. an absence of ready cpnimunicatipu thus, imposes-a further handi-: cap" upon, thp residents -of . these, scttlcniciits.''-.-- : ■■■>..■ --,':«.•'■ ■ :■: , . lloferenca was ,raado by Mr. Ynrborough to Lite oft-repeated assertion that if the-Na-tive land wero thrown open there would he a large number.of "land-grabbers" rushing' after it. ,; '..'■''",' ""■';-,' ./'.,- ',': ~ .'''"There, are," ho'said;, "no land-grabbers in the 7 north. ! Tlie ; people who w"ant,the-land, 1 and who have been waiting for the lost 20 years for.it to be opened, are the genuine 'settlers qf the country who.' wjth their sons, are'still hoping against hope. But the prospect of anything practical being dono b>' the Taihoa Administration seems - well nigh hopeless." The necessity for the throwing open of the Native land, as well as the re-' maihing portions of the Government reserves finderthe optional system,'-was, he said, imperative in-the interests of eettle'moat ia the Hoklaiga Couati... "'.'''■