MAORI LAND LEASES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 31 October 1925, Page 7

MAORI LAND LEASES.

QUESTION OF COMPENSATION. CONFERENCE IN A FEIVV DAYS. The question between the Native Trustee and the holders of the ten years’ leases, a. test case concerning which was recently before the Supreme Court, and in which the matter of the amount to be paid was left to be debated between lessors and lessees, has been advanced a stage, and the conference has been fixed to take place in the course of a few days. Mr, John Morgan, of Lower Hutt, Wellington, advocate and adviser for the Maoris, is now in Hawera, waiting to attend the conference on their behalf. Air. Morgan, who is, by the way, a candidate for Parliamentary honours in opposition to Hon. A. T. Ngata has given close study to the position of the lessors, and his maim with them is very high. The round table conference on the question was expected to be fixed somewhat earlier and has been delayed to suit the convenience of counsel on both sides.

The case is probably one of the most important in the history of the occupation of Maori lands on this coast and ivill be very far reaching in its effects. When it is realised that, although the particular case dealt with by the court was under two hundred acres, and that even in that case the amount involved nan into a considerable sum, the magnitude of the question will be realised when it is known that no less an area than eighteen thousand acres is involved in the decision to be reached. It is understood that counsel will debate the matter thoroughly and, if no agreemnt can be reached, it will go to the arbitration, each side appointing one member and a referee in case of disagreement. The matter is one that is naturally exercising the minds of all the Maoris who have a communal right and title in the land. The position appears to be that at the expiry of the leases ten years ago, had the natives been in a position to pay for the improvements, the lands would in the ordinary course have' reverted to them and the Present position would not have arisen. n lieu of this, the Native Trustee decided to grant an extension of lease for ten years, expecting to be able to retain sufficient from the rents to meet these claims. That, however, has not been the case, but meantime, as the claims for improvement fell due, arrangements were made by-the Trustee to pay the full amounts. The question was then raised as to whether the lands had been allowed to deteriorate and, as was proved to be the case, it will be seen that the conditions of the lease had apparently not been observed. _ In consequence claims were made against lessees, and one case was taken to the Supreme Court as a test, with the result that as already known judgment was given in favour of the Trustee for the Natives, leaving the amount to be decided by conference between the parties. Hence the arrangements for the meeting to be held in a few days.