Evening Post. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1908. LAND SETTLEMENT AND ROADS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 34, 10 February 1908, Page 6

Evening Post. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1908. LAND SETTLEMENT AND ROADS.

It was inevitable »that in his speech at Auckland the Premier should have a good deal to say upon tho land question, but about tlto greater part of it thero was nothing particularly novel or interesting. With regard to native land, however, ho made an announcement which is good news for everybody, and was naturally hailed with special satisfaction in Iho Northern city. The Native Land Commission is evidently doterminod to maintain its reputation for despatch, and a now 'report,, affecting about 580,000 . acres of land in Waipa County, is already iii the hands of the Government, while other largo areas in Cook County and ths Rotorua district will bo reported on noxt month. It 18 eminently gratifying to find' that the commission continues to make such rapid progress and to set aside such largo areas loc European settlement. In round numbers three-quarters of a million of acres had been finally dealt with /by tho commissioners, and of these over 300,000 acres were recommonded for salo or lease to Europeans. As thore aro, according to the Premier's figures, from four to flvo million acres of workable native land to be dealt with altogether', thero should bo closo on two million acres thrown open for European settlement as the result ,of the commission's labours. This will t supply a. splendid stimulus indeed to the development of the North Island, where the area of Crown lands available for settlement has for come time boen rapidly diminishing. With regard to' tho ordinary land administration, the Premier made one statement of gr-sat. importance. At> Oh»kune, the Minister of Lands, in acceding to the request of the settlers that the Crown lands in that district should be leased and not sold, was warmly applauded for adding that they would be properly roaded first. A vast amount of cruel suffering would have been avoided if this policy had been followed in the past, and the Premier's announcement looks to the rectification of the blunders already made rather than to the prevontaon of their repetition in the future. He recognises that certain portions of tho country require more attention in the way of roading than others— which is a mild way of Baying that in some parts of the country the so-called roads with winch the Government has provided the settlors effectually cut them off' from civilisation during several months of the year, instead of giving them access to it. Td( remedy the evil the Government proposes that in addition to the sums to be devoted to what the Aremier describes as ordinary loading purposes, o, special grant of £200,000 a year should be made for the benefit of districts m special need. The provision ls to be limited, for the present to nve years, and a map, is to be prepared showing the proposed allocation of the mv?m u?f y 'r and apparently covering the wnble five years by a single allocation. It seems also to be implied by the Premiers statement that the money is to come out of the Public Works Fund wrthout any charge against the districts to be benefited, and in view of the heartbreaking hardships to which the men who are to bs helped by tho oxpandilure have been put, we do not suppose than any member or taxpayer will grudge a penny of it. The proposal will cortamly go some way, though we have no means oi estimating how far, towards redressing a great wrong, and tho Government is to be congratulated accordingly. But wo should havo been better pleased if tho Premier had also announced that the Government had determined so to mend its ways as to make any such makeshift measures unnecessary with regard to future settlement. That adequate roading should precede leasing, and should be charged upon the lands that pro/it by it, is a principle which should be established as fundamental and unalterable. The Minister of Lands is evidently of this opinion, and it is time that he or tho Premier made some authoritative declaration on the subject.

During the visit of H.M.S. Prometheus at Greymouth Commander Bentinck said that the Admiralty woic storing considerable quantities of coal at various points in tho South Pacific. | Most of those supplies, he said, would takflji frwa the .Wffisfc Csa§i*