THE PARIHAKA LAND.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 90, 23 February 1881, Page 2

THE PARIHAKA LAND.

There were five thousand acres of open land of fair quality offered for sale near Parihaka last week, but not a single acre was sold. Our correspondent attributed the failure of the sale to the high price put upon the luntl, and to the close jn-oxi-mity to Te Whiti's residence. We pointed out before the sale that as there were only ten small deferred payment sections, it was quite on the cards that the demand would not prove great. Numbers always give confidence, and ten settlers would not be able to offer any effectual resistance to Te Whiti's crowd, if they should make up their minds to evict the intruders. Whereas, if the whole of the block had boon thrown open to settlers on whom residence would have been compulsory, especially if the sections had been made a little larger, there would hare been a certainty, in the event Of laud beiuff sold, of a sufficient nnuiber of white settlers to offer some show of resistance in case of an outbreak. In the Pahiatua block, in the Seventy-mile bush, all the deferred payment land sold, but only two sections of the cash land. In that case, after the deferred payment owners have settled on and fulfilled their improvement conditions, the cash land is sure to sell readily, and in many instances, no doubt, the deferred payment land owners will bocome the purchasers. At Parihaka, however, it appears that the inducements offered to settlers were not sufficient to counterbalance the disadvantages ; even the deferred payment land,

although not far from a redoubt, would not sell. The recent failure of the Government to dispose of, or induce settlers to reside upon, the Parihaka land shows that Mr. Bryce eorrecLly estimated the difficulty there would be in solving the question without ri sorting to force. Except that the white people are now prepared to advance their outposts a little further, under military protection on the Plains, the position remains much the same as it was six months njro, when the West Coast Commission, in their third report, wrote as follows :—" No one would pretend thnt Te Whiti may on his side keep the whole country-side in turmoil and clanger as long as he likes, anil that the Government on their side must be ready to redeem their promises whenever he chooses. Later on your Excellency will see, when we come to speak of the legislation we advise, that our proposals are to-day, as they were in March, limited by the condition that if the native people are to have the promises fulfilled, the English settlers must have some guarantee that they too shall have done with this long suspense, and may live on their land in s. curity and peace." Te Whiti is a very disagreeable sort of n ighbor ; and out of all the numerous persons seeking land on this coast, there was not one who was inclined to make the experiment of settling on Parihaka land, although we hear that a land ring attempted to secure the whole block. In addition to this drawback, many of the older settlers on this coast assert that the younger Maoris at Parihaka are the most shameless thieves ever known ; aud the chance of obtaining a conviction, if a settler lost horses or cattle, would be a smull one. So far as matters have gone as yet, the only loss sustained has been the cost of a little fruitless advertising. The public having been offered, and having declined the chance, if the authorities really desire to have the land settled at once, extra inducements might be held out to a number of bona fide settlers, by offering the whole block in 100 or 200-acre sections on deferred payments, at a lower price.