HISTORY AND THE UREWERA

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 46, 23 August 1923, Page 6

HISTORY AND THE UREWERA

In a straight-forward, matter-of-fact report, the Urewera Lands Commission yesterday supplied to Parliament a record of its labours in consolidating Native titles, and apportioning holdings in this area. The-.report merely mentions some of the difficulties encountered, and persons unacquainted with the work to be done may not understand how much patience and care have been necessary to overcome those difficulties. The regrouping oh tribal ownerships according to family affinities is", in itself, a task calling for wide knowledge of Native custom. Interests are widely scattered, and all must be investigated. Each claim to land must be. judged, genealogies which support titles must be examined, and in the end it may be found that the claimant's interest is worth only a few pence. Yet that interest must be allowed and compensation in some other block of land arranged. The first stage of Urewera consolidation is really an investigation of Native history. The second stage will be the application of European methods to the land released for settlement. When this second stage is entered upon we trust that, the white man's history will not be repeated. jmkl that the ax& and the nwtch-box,, leadius tp blackened,

ruined land, will not figure too prominently in the account of events. Ample warning has been given of the necessity for preserving the forested watersheds if the lower lands and valleys are not to become flood-swept and worthless. These warnings must be heeded when settlement is being planned.