THE PARIHAKA BLOCK.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 62, 13 November 1880, Page 2

THE PARIHAKA BLOCK.

The news received last week, that the Government intended to throw open for settlement the land to the seaward of Parihaka, has given a great deal of satisfaction. Many gentlemen who have long been associated with native matters, and a largj number of settlers along this coast, have often expressed the opinion that the only true solution of what has been not inaptly termed the " Te Whiti problem," would be the settlement of a large number of European settlers between Opunake and Stoney river. When the Royal Commissioners were found to have taken the same view, it was felt that some practical scheme for the settlement of the native question was near at hand. There is still another problem to be §olYed.\ anh £iiab is — "Sow S&&K t(\Q feißKi fcft settled ?" As the Minister for Lands has not been entrusted with any discretionary powers, further than those given by the Land Act, he will be compelled to sell the land for cash, or allow it to ha taken up on deferred payments. If the land be sold for cash, residence cannot be enforced. Therefore, the principal object cannot be attained. If the land is thrown open for settlement on deferred payment, at a moderate price — say £2 or i' 3 per acre — there can be no doubt that settlement would be insured. There is a considerable difference of opinion amongst " old coasters " as to the quality of the land, and as to its grazing capabilities. The general opinion is, that it is inferior to the block sold recently, or to the one to be placed in the market next month. One hundred acres, on the average, will be quite little enough to allow a selector. A less uniform system, of survey would be preferable to that which has been adopted. We are not aware of any sound objection to the proposal so often made in favor of having a few small sections offered at the same time as the larger ones. Let the small holdings be placed near the large, because occupation will probably be found for the surplus labor of the twenty-five acre man on the neighboring 150 or 200 acre favm. If the Governmeafc will do this in the neighborhood of Parihaka, they will soon be able to laugh at Te Whiti's utterances — whether spiritual or temporal — und will be able, in a few years, to disband the present force, or at all events, a large portion of it. The poorest man in the community, who, by his frugality, has managed to save as much as will enable him to live and pay his rent for the first two or three years, ought to have an opportunity of selecting a small farm of a few acres, if he feels that he has not the capital to farm 50 to 100 acres. In order to avoid competition among applicants for deferred payment land as much as possible, it would he as well to require all applicants to state on the envelope enclosing their formal application the number of each section for which they had applied. The Land Officer would then be able to inform would-be applicants where they would have a chance of obtaining a section unopposed.