HOKIANGA. (FROM OUR CROSS CORRESPONDENT.) May 6.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3057, 14 May 1867, Page 6

HOKIANGA. (FROM OUR CROSS CORRESPONDENT.) May 6.

The waste lands in the 'district of Hokianga belonging to the Government} are not open for selection and sale. Several Canadians and others, who contract with Messrs. Webster and Co. for felling and squaring timber, often express their surprise at th 9 extraordinary action of the authorities, who appear to have a Bpecial disinclination to encourage those who may be residing in the proyince, and are by 1 occupation, inclination, and means, the very beit men adapted for settlers in a> thickly wooded country. Man of this character prefer, as the site of a homer .stead, timber or heavy bush land, which abounds in """this district, and has caused the appropriate designa- ,' tion Hokianga — a dense forest. It is probable, that "'it anumber of tailors, shoemakers, shopmen, or clerks va the United Kingdom applied "through Messrs. Ridgway and Son, for lands in this part of the '. country, the greatest possible amount of interest and , 'exertion would be : made by the authorities to bring them to the town of Auckland, where, it they had money for settlement, it ,must*oon be considerably reduced ; anil should they nave eonrage ,to bear the i expense add ' trouble requisite, to examine a section of r^'jkhe dep'se forest in, this district they would be almost ' ' certain, to feel discouraged and dismayed at th&labotir ' xeduire'd' on ifc^for , which Jiheir previous habitp and occupation's'diso^ualified them— and, in .all probability, would return to Auckland to exhaust any r remaining funds they might posse* » V/ for the benefit of those who 1 uphold' a system that has caused thousands of [acres, In thii province ,to' be held by non-residents, who, ' caving forfeited the, conditions, have not had their sections escheated by, the authorities. i Notwithstanding the impediments and difficulties ' by which misgovernment has retarded our progress, we are apparently on the eye of prosperity. Thanks t6the invaluable exertions of F, E. .Maning, Esq., Judge of the Native Lands Court, large blocks of land, for which Crown grants are being issued, are confirmed to native "owners, who are subdividing, exchanging, and purchasing from one another, so as to form homesteads 'for their families. To suit their requirements, some are building weather-boarded houses and are fencing select portions ; and as a large surplus exists which they cannot use, they are willing to sell from 50 to 200-acre sections to pakehat desirous of occupying the same. Although for a time the .confidence of the natives in Crown grants was diminishing, owing to that mischievous and dangerous Land Aot, 1866, the explanations on this subject, as conveyed by the master mind of the Jutfge, that any injustice or error regarding native titles and lights would be removed at the next litting of the General Assembly, has been accepted satisfactorily ; as they say " he has never deceived u«i and we believe his assertions." Thus from the native*, who hold more than three-fourths of the land and by far the best in quality, we. expect to derive onr only permanent basis of prosperity in the reclamation and occupation of waste lands by a stalwart and indditri6us population. This they will be able to obtain' by the purchase of land' from the natives, through a Court holding its sittings frequently near where the 'lands, are situated ; ana all the concomitant train of labour, trouble, and expense of the provincial system of disposing of waste lands, will be avoided by intending settlers in the district of Hokianga. '