SATURDAY, MAT 25, 1895. BANKRUPT BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9999, 25 May 1895, Page 2

SATURDAY, MAT 25, 1895. BANKRUPT BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT.

The bankruptcy of two prominent Maoris, both with ample posaessions in land, will call attention to the utter injustice of the Native Lsndti Aoc of last year. Wi Pare Is a member of Parliament, and Karaittana is the son of one who nerved his people right well in a similar capoolty. Had they been Euro* peans they oonld have paid their debts with ease, bat, being Maoris, they come under special laws which prevent them dealing; with their own property, and though anxious to pay twenty shillings in the ponnd they are compelled to go into 'he Bankrnptoy Court. The main featnrea of the law of Ibbl session may be thns Bummarieed :— (1.) No European has the right to purchase or lease native land, nor oan he advance money on mortgage o f native landa. (8.) No Maoii can lease, sell, or mortgage his land to another Maori. (3. ) The Crown has the sole right of purchasing or leasing native land, and oan fix whab price it likes upon it, and if the native does not care to sell at that price he oannob sell at all. (4.) In the i oaae of native land mortgaged to any person previous to the Aob coming Into j force, there is no power of renewal, and an unfortunate native In this position Is ' bound to lose his land, for tha mortgagee at the expiration of the term mast pat the land up for sale, and the native eannob save it by borrowing it from anyone else, Maori or European, on the seen, rity of the land. Karaitiana la caught in ona meah of this neb, WI Pete In another The firab owes money, but owns Interests in land far in excess of his debts. The law, however, will nob leb him either sell or mortgage bis interests, except that he may sell to the Government for whatever the Government ohooses to offer, if only one tenth of the real volue. Wi Pere had a mortgage on some land which fell due. It is stated that the seoutity was go good that he could easily have obtained money on favorable terms to pay off the encumbrance, bub the law stepped in and prevented him. The mortgagee could not renew, and had no option but to take proceedings bo have Wi Pere declared a bankrupt, so that the mortgnged property may be sold through the Official Assignee, probably at great loss to the unfortunate Wi Pere. Now no one oan deny that thab is absolutely nnjnst to tho native?, who nnder the Treaty of Woltangl ore guaranteed the same rights as Europeans and the full possession of their land*. The law is also bad from a Snropean point of view. It looks np a large area of good land from settlement. Anyone who is even cursorily acquainted with the wcys of Government— we aro not referring specially to tha present) Ministry— knows that no discrimination is shown in pur- ! ohasing. It is a fact that the natives i call bad land Government laud and good j coantry pakeha land. As a rale the , Government offers irom two to five sliil- ' lings an acre. For land that five shillings an aero Is offered private purchasers are often ready to give irom four to six I times as much. Consequently tho natives will not stell it. Much of tho biid j land Is nob even worth tho smaller sum, no private purchasers will look at it, and so the natives soil to the Government. Not long ago the Promlor boasted thnb a large area hod been acquired on tha Eaat Coast. This statement was perfectly accurate, Hftlf-n-crnwn an acre was glvon for It. Tho block Is Inland, to tbe north of Wnlptro. Only surveyors have aver been on that country. It conalsts of razor-backed ridge« and steep giilHe*, covered with tha very poorest of soil. We have the authority of one of the snrvev parby for saying thab on tho whole block |

It would be difficult to find enough level land for a homestead. It would, in fact, be dear ab a gift ; it is nob worth what it cosb to snrveyi Nearer the ooaat there aie extensive plantations and undulating hills, tbe quality of which is attested by the crops of maize and komaras dotted here and there ab native pahs. Bat the Government) will nob offer a third of its value, so, save for the patches of Maori cultivation, it lies waste, a breeding ground for wild pigs.- And waste it will lie as loDg as the present system prevails, while fifth-rate country is acquired by tens of thousands of acres, utterly unfit for occupation in raoderate-slZed blocks. That land will still lie as unproductive as when the Maoris had itj for no one bnb a born fool would go to settle on it. The law and its administration might have been specially deßlred to stop settlement. It is unjust to the Maoris and opposed to the interests of the Europeans.