HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Feilding Star, Volume II, Issue 351, 23 August 1907, Page 3

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House met at 2.30 p.m. LOCAL BILLS. Tbe Petone Water Supply Cons_vation Bill was committed and pass. l through Committee with tome technical amendments . The Waitara Harb.ur District and Empowering Bill was committed. Mr Okey opposed the* Bill on behalt of the New Plymouth Harbour Board, Mr Jennings, tbe member in charge of the Bill, said tho New Plymoutn Harbour Board proposed Jo.™ 1 * 6 * new loan of £150,000. Waitara desired to be eicluded from the consequent rating. Mr Massey said the question was whether Taranaki was to have a harbour or not, and whether Waitara pr New Plymouth was the best for the province. He considered New Plymouth was the best. It was the nearest port to Sydney, and he ooraidered there were great possibuties of directtrade between Sydney and New VI fmouth being developed. EVENING SITTING. The House resumed at 7.30. The Waitara Harbour Bill was further considered in Committee. At Clause 5, which provides that the right of the New Plymouth Harbour Board shall not be prejudiced in its right to continue to levy rates over the area comprised in the Waitara Harbour district for the purpose of providing for payment of inj terest and sinking fund on exist: ing loan of £200,000, an amendment was moved to make the amount £350,---000 so as to include the additional £150,000 the New Plymouth Harbour Board proposes to raise by loan. On a division the amendment was negatived by 42 to 13, and the claudpassed without alteration. The Bill was put through all Committee The Gore Streets Bill was committed. The Bill, with amendments, was put through its committee stages. __ The Wellington City Empowering Bill was put through its committee stages without amendment. BEE BILL. The Apiaries Bill was put through its final stages and passed. MAORI LANDS. The amendments to the Maori Lands Settlement Act Amendment Bill, made in committee, were reported and agreed to. Mr A. L. Fraser said that as Maori lands were limited for sale to the Crown, the market value of the land, being without competition, was what the Crown made it. Consequently, he argued, the natives were not receiving the full value of tiie land. He read from a departmental report to show that land which was worth, for timber alone, £15 per acre, Government was giv- ; ing only 7s per acre to tho natives. He urged that in future the Crown should not purchase any more native lands, but that where a native had land for sale or lease they should be put up at public auction. | Mr Ngata said Government should realise that the system of Crown purchase of native lands from 1892 to 1899 had been the cause of the present deadlock. He urged that the system of purchasing from bodies of natives should be adopted, instead of from individual natives, who were often influenced where they were weakest, viz., near a public house. He added that where purchases were made in the manner he suggested a portion of the purchase money should be held in trust for the benefit of ' natives. He asserted that in the King Country thA native land purchase officer had had to go to adjoining territory outside the prohibition area to purchase native land,. The result had been, in many cases, that natives came from the prohibited area and. having sold their lands, sDent the whole of the money in the publichouse.. This must be out a stop to. He had not the value of the land in view, but the degradation of the Native race, and this must cease. Mr Herries agreed with Mr Fraser, but he asserted that in . the past Europeans had had to pay ihe natives more for the land than it was worth. They looked to Government to put

a stop to the drunkenness and debauchery which arose through the practice of paying money near pub lichouses. He complained that none* of the land purchased from natives had been settled by Europeans, and he wanted to know why. Mr Heke urged that the Crown should purchase no more Native lands as that was the only way in which' the balance of^the Native lands could be preservfß to the Native race. He did not blame the Europeans for desiring to purchase Native lands, but they had been benefitted at the expense of the Native race. He urged that as the Natives had not acquired their land* by the sweat of their brow they had no right to sell. The lands were derived from generations of ancestors, and the present Native holders had no right to dispose of the lands, but should preserve them for posterity. Mr Carroll aaid the Bill before the House only dealt with financial matters arising out of the Maori Lands Settlement Act of 1905, and was for the purpose of validating purchases from individual Natives. He was not there to defend the past, but Government had carried out their duties in regard to the purchase of Native lands in accordance with the policy of the day. He disclaimed all responsibility for Natives who were without homes and were receiving old age pensions. At one time a wave seemed to come over the Natives, and they appeared to desire to get rid of their lands and anything they had got at any price. Since the 1905 Act instruction had been issued to the Native Land Purchase officers to arrive at a fair valuation of Native lands, and give the Natives a fair prioe, and he contended that in the purchases made they had not been far behind the full value of the lands. He pointed out that there was always a wide margin in various people's valuation of any piece of land and referring to timber lands he said it was wonderful that with timber syndicates searching the country for milling timber none of the syndicates had hit on the Native bush lands for the purpose. It had been proved that much of the Native bush land was not suitably timbered for milling purposes. Under the Act of 1905, 02,119 acres had been purchased from the Natives at an average cost of £1 per acre. The purchases had only been completed some two months, and before the surveyors could be* put on Government would have to consider some scheme for cutting up. and settlement. Surveyors could not be put on during the winter, but would be put on in summer. He agreed with the member for Napier that the time had arrived when they should absolutely shut down on all private dealings with Natives, and that only one avenue should be open to acquire lands from Natives, and that either by public auction or public tender. He urged that a strenuous effort should be made to nut Maoris as farmers on their own lands. Then the money they received for the purchase of lands would go far to assist them in developing and cultivating those lands. , . The Bill was read a third time. POLICE OFFENCES. The Police Offences Act Amendment Bill was committed. It provides that no boxing contest shall be held except in pursuance of <a police permit, and its conduct by a club on whose application the permit for the contest waß granted. Power is given to a constable to arrest without warrant where a boxing contest is being held in breach of the Act. The Bill was passed through Committee with amendments, which included the giving of power to the Governor to prescribe regulations to give full effect to the Act. HUTT PARK. An amendment of the Hutt Park Bill, now before the Local Bills Committee, was introduced by Governor s message. The amendment gives power to the Government to occupy the Hutt Park for defence purposes for a period not exceeding twentyeight days a year, compensation to be paid by the Crown for any damage done during occupancy. The House rose at 12.40 a.m.