Hawke's Bay Herald FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1877.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3906, 4 May 1877, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1877.

In the course of the proceedings of the Waste Lands Board, yesterday, it came out that there was another hitch, real, or imaginary, in reference to the Bush Mills Small Farm Association block, besides the delay in the transmission of the rules from Wellington. The extinction of the native title of the Maharara block, of which the Bush Mills Special Settlement block is a part, it was found, was not complete. The Victoria Special Settlement block, we believe, is also situated on the Maharara block, and if so, is in the same position as the Bush Mills block. It was not, however, specifically alluded to at the board's meeting. The Heretaunga Special Settlement is also, we may mention, situated on the Maharara block. This being so, it is surely absurd to blame the late chief surveyor in connection with the matter. If there is any blame at all it lies with the late Superintendent, as it was under his regime that a commencement was made of settling the block. A flaw in the native title, however, may mean a great many things, from a trifling technicality to a matter of £17,000. There is a flaw, we believe, in the native title to the land on which many of the premises in Princes-street, Dunedin, are situated, and the Hon. Mr Tairoa brings in, ani nually, petitions requesting a few hundreds of thousands to set it to rights, but we do not think that the market value of individual sections there siiflers seriously on that account. It may be that it will be found, in. the same way, on examination, that the shares in the Heretaunga Settlement block are held by a tenure almost, if not quite as satisfactory, as that by which their owners have hitherto believed them to be held. We have made enquiries as to the facts with reference to the title to the Maharara block, and so far as we can learn they are as follows : — The block was purchased, five or six years ago, by Mr Locke along with the other Seventy-Mile Bush blocks. It contains 20,383 acres. There were nine grantees in it. All, with one exception, signed the deed of sale. The share of this person, a woman, is still under negotiation. The question then rises, this being so, should the block be opened up and settled ? Mr Ormond, rightly or wrongly, decided that it shoxild. A sale by the majority in value is, as our readers are well aware, under the Native Lands Acts, valid. All that the owner of the ninth unsold share could do would be to claim to have her piece cut off for her. To provide for this contingency, a block of 5000 acres, with frontage to the open land, and unexeptionable in every resj^ect, Avas set aside and not proposed to be dealt Avith. We cannot, at present, state the precise acreage of the special settlements blocks, actual and proposed, on the Maharara block, but Aye should say they amount altogether to about 6000 acres. There is therefore, still, more than 20,000 acres left, and surely enough can be found in that quantity to satisfy the claims of a single shareholder. We are not aAvare how the Victoria and Bush Mills special settlers will A r ieAv the matter. Perhaps they -will be grateful to the Waste Lands Board for opening their eyes to the terrible risk they Avere about to run in settling on a block, the native title to Avhich Avas still not absolutely complete, and Avill gladly aA-ail themseh-es of the chance of taking up land on the Paketoi Block, situated on the other side of the yet unbridged and frequently impassable ManaAvatu, far removed alike from roads and railway stations. Perhaps, hoAvever, on the other hand, they Avould be content to find themseh'es in the same position as their neighbors on the Heretaunga Special Settlement Block, on land in the immediate neighborhood of a proposed railway station, and the title to which is, at any rate, so good that the chances are seA'eral hundreds to one that neither they nor their heirs, executors, or assigns Avould ever be disturbed. The latter Avould haA'e been their fate, Aye believe, by i this time, had the management of the Seventy-Mile Bush Blocks been still in Mr Ormond's hands. What Avill be their fate iioav that the management of them is in the hands of the hoard, Avhich he Avas good enough to nominate, Aye are at a loss to conjecture.