NATIVE LANDS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 112, 13 May 1910, Page 4

NATIVE LANDS.

PROGRESS OF SETTLEMENT. BAY OF PLENTY. The progress of settlement in regard to native lands has been the subject of further investigation by a Post representative. Latest particulars regarding the position of affairs in the Bay of Plenty are as follow: — Two large areas are subject to special Acts — namely, the Thermal Springs District Act and the Urewera. Native .Beservff Act. The former! Act was passed, in 1881, when it was deemed necessary, in the interests of the colony, to prevent private dealing with the valuable thermal springs apd places of scenic interest. This policy* was- continued by successive Governments down to the time that the Native Land Commission Wats- set up. The Government in the meantime acquired by purchase- from the native owners almost half of the area included in the original proclamation defining the prohibited area. The State has acquired the most valuable springs ,and the chief places of interest to touriats. A few yet remain in native possession. The commission made recommendations for opening up the balance of the lands to general settlement, arid as 'a consequence over 40,000 acres in the neighbourhood of Eotorua, in fact, all tho lands between Ngongotaha on the north-west and Tikitere , on the south of 'Lake Rotorua (rfith the " exception ot a narrow ,fringe between the lake and the main road that skirts the lake) were •vested in the Maori Land Board for administration. The board' at once took steps to 'open up the areas so vested in it. Its operations up to the end of March last are as follows : — Fifty-seven sections of a total area of 2X82 acres have been leased at an aggregate rental of £274 2s per annum. A further area of nearly 5000 acres has been cut up into suitable allotments near Itotorua, and will be open for selection on the 18th inst. Survey parties are at work on other areas round the lake, and it is expected that these will be ready for selection next spring. Already there is a proposal to establish a dairy factory north of Kotorua. The pumice lands have been tested and have beeli found capable of growing excellent pastures 'for cattle. f Bound about Kotoiti, Eotoehu. and Rotoma are lands owned by the Ngatipilciao tribe. That tribe, in its representations to the Native Land Commission, expr«.sed a preference for incorporation. Mo?t/of their large blocks have arcordjngly been incorporated. The total area incorporated on application of the Native Minister, in compliance with recommendations of the commission, is 30,820 acres. Incorporation is si method of consolidating the control of communal lands in elective committees, empowered by statute to administer or alienate the lands, and overcomes the many serious drawbacks of communal ownership, while retaining the right of the community to advise as to the mode of alienation or administration, desired. U'REWERA COUNTRY. The Urewera Country came under the "mana" of the laws of the country in, 1896, when a special Act was passed authorising the survey of the Urewera. lands (650,000 acres of difficult, mountainous country) into convenient blocks, and the investigation of title by, v a special tribunal. The surveys accupied nearly foitr years. The investigation of title occupied up to the year 1907, but it required special legislative provision last- session to bring the titles into line with the native land titles in other parts of the. North Island. This vast territory extends behind the small coastal settlements of the J3ay of Plenty, Matata, Whakatane, Opouriao, Waimana, and Opotiki, lies north athwart Wairoa County, almost touches Gisborne and the Motu on the east, and j merges on the west into the poor lands i of East Taupo. This is on& of the last reserves of the Maori Tace, and is attracting increasing attention, for settlement is pushing towards it from all quarters, and the projected TaurangaOpotiki and Gisborne-Opotiki railways — the East Coast Main Trunk line — have made its occupation a matter ot prime importance. The Government has already authorised prospecting for gold in the Urewera territory, but so far no payable prospects have been discovered 100,000 ACRES. The Government is now negotiating for the purchase of 100,000 acres on the north-eastern part of the territory, in the neighbourhood of Ruatoki and Waimana. Some difficulty is experienced owing to factions in the tribe, one under the famous Rua, while another faction has recently made common cause with' the chief Taingakawa in an endeavour to resuscitate the Treaty of Waitangi. It may be found necessary to repeal tn& special Act affecting the IJrewera Country, in order to bring it under the provisions of the Native Larul Act of last year. ANOTHER RESERVE. Another reserve of the Maori people, jmil the la*t to be reached by the surveyor — the pioneer of law and civilisation — lies to the north-east of Opotiki. between Opape and Capo Runaway. The Raukumuia Range divides the fertile lands of the East Coast- from tho mountainous area that, skirts this poition of the Bay of Plenty, and, as in parts of the Urowoia. Country, the sur*

vey parties find their york difficult. Settlement has during the last four years touched the*noivthern and southern, ends of this territory. At the north end three large blocks *of-* the total area, of 44,118 allies have been leased to Europeans j and at the sowth end four blocks, of the total area- of > 42J342 .acres, have been leased. The land between is (.ustomai'y land that has not been investigated' by the Native Land CourL, comprising an area of neariy 140,000 acres. Two survey parties have' been surveying blocks for the Native Land Court during the last two years, and three blocks wul be ready for the court in July next.

The total area of land vested in the Maori Land Board in the Bay of plenty is 34,259 acres. The area administered by it in the Thermal Springs District is 42,970 acres. The area of land that has been leased by the native owners, with the approval of the board, is 134,604 acres in 194 separate leases. The total area that has been reserved for Maori occupation by Order-in-Council, upon the recommendations of the N-ativo Land Commission, is 86,604 acres. Applications for incorporation of lands near Whakatane, of the total area of 80,750 acres, are pending. In the Thermal Springs district an area o£ 30,820 acres has been incorporated,, while applications for a further 21,000* acres are pending. A large amount of surveying remains.^ to be done before other areas are sufS--ciently advanced for settlement pur-., poses.