The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning. Thursday, November 24, 1887. OUR LAND TITLES.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 71, 24 November 1887, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday Morning.

Thursday, November 24, 1887. OUR LAND TITLES.

Be just and fear not; Let al! the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God's, and truth’s.

The Government having given us an assurance that the native land policy o the Stout-Vogel Ministry will be so al tered as to meet the wishes of the Maori themselves—their desire being to b< placed on the same footing as the European in regard to the selling of their lands - it only remains now to be seen what policy the Government will propose in lieu of that which has been so mischievous to the best interests of this district. Perhaps throughout the whole colony the East Coast is the most important district in regard to native lands, and the bane under which we have hitherto been placed through the passing of Mr Ballance’s Native Land Administration Bill has had a most disastrous effect upon the welfare of the place. Everyone now looks forward with hope to a better state of things—a state of things which will carry with it prosperity. Even in the event of such a desired reform there is not much to be hoped for unless some provision is made for facilitating the business of the Native Land Court, through which a title to any purchased land can only be obtained. No one can but have noticed the enormous disadvantages we have suffered from through the laxity of the Native Department in appointing a sufficient number of judges—or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, competent judges—to perform the duties necessary to complete titles. Our appeals for a sitting of the Native Land Court have too often been met by the Chief Judge with the set off, “ There are no Judges,” and consequently large tracts of land have of necessity been allowed to remain utterly useless to the purchaser. What we require, and what we have often advocated, is the appointment of a permanent Judge for this district, and until this is done we will always suffer injustice. Should the policy of the Atkinson Ministry be “free trade tn native lands,” which there is every reason to believe it will be, there must be sittings of the Native Land Court to carry into effect the subdivisions of the vast blocks which are now only awaiting the sane ion of the Government to be disposed of to the settlers who are ready and willing to purchase. At first sight it may appear that the appointment of a permanent,

Native* Land Judge would not be in accordance with the drastic retrenchment policy which the Ministry seem desirous of carrying out, but wheri the proposal is considered it will be readily seen that such an appointment will mean an actual saving to the colony At the present time a judge, or say two judges, will pay us periodical visits, bringing with them a staff of officers. Their visit here is limited to a very short duration—at least such has hitherto been the case—-and they depart without having conferred upon us the benefits which otherwise would have been the case had they been allowed to remain for a sufficient time to enable them to investigate the titles of the blocks brought before them. This visit has cost the colony a large sum without any advantages being derived. The loss to ihe Crown by the non-completion of these investigations has been enormous, for Government have been unable to obtain the stamp duty—io per cent, on the value ot the land--until it has passed the Court. So therefore the sub-division of the land not alone carries great advantages with it to the seller and purchaser, but-also to the Government, which obtains the stamp duty of ten per cent, on the value of the property. As has "been before pointed out, there have been advances made on the land by the Government amounting to thousands of pounds, wh.ch can only be claimed when it passes from the Native to the European. How the late G ivernment could have shr.t their eyes to these things by passing the Administration Act brought forward by the ex-Native Minister, Mr Ballance, is hard to conceive, but the presence of men in the new House has been the means of at last showing Major Atkinson and h:s colleagues the irretrievable blunder which h-8 bren allowed to exist. The appointment we have advocated would certainly prove of immense good to us> and would put thousands into the coffers of the Crown—a most desirable thing in the present financial state of the colony. The work which is necessary to be done, and which is always increasing, would occupy the whole attention of a judge, and the injustice under which we are suffering at the present time would be a thing of the past should the Ministry grant the application. It appears to us that there ueed be very little extra immediate expense—expense which would be outbalanced in the immediate future—in bringing about so desirable a state of things, Who is better able than Mr Booth to undertake the duties of a Judge .’ His intimate knowledge of the Maori language, Maori customs, &a., makes him eminently fitted for the office Again who is more fitted to undertake his present duties as Resident Magistrate than Mr G. L. Greenwood, Registrar of the Supreme Court ? The lecisions he has given during the term of his office at once proves that he would na'e an able Magistrate,—better, we venture to think, than many. With i little extra assistance we should think that Mr Greenwood would be able to rerform his many duties without any inconvenience to the public, and with satisfaction to himself. There is one thing certain, that the East Coast w’ll lever prosper without we have the neans by which our titles can be perfected, and those means it is the duty of the Government to provide us with.