NOTES ON NATIVE AFFAIRS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume III, Issue 213, 22 February 1882, Page 2

NOTES ON NATIVE AFFAIRS.

(from our travelling correspondent.)

It is rumoured among the natives of the Plains that it is the intention of the Government to survey andeell land lying uorth of the timber reserve at Ngutuo-te-Mauu, being the 5000 acres re-confiscated as an indemnity for money expended in subduing the embryo Parihaka rebellion, or rather that part of th-; indemnity to be taken from the Plains n atives. The natives attribute the source of information to Mr. Bryoo, who is said to have visited the land in question during his visit last week. It is not all improbable that the land to be sold will be taken in this directiou, as it is adjoining the piece lately sold, and will thus increase the number of European settlers in the very centre of the so-called Continuous Reserve. The question of the justice of this re-eoniiscation is sure to be debated during the ensuing session of Parlhr.eut, when it will be timo enough to comment on it. At presont no such question will be allowed to in- j terfore with what is thought expedient by tho Government in the interests of the colony for the final eradication of the native difficulty by the settlement of the land at present lying idle. It is true that such settlement might be brought about through the operations of the West Coast HosGi-ves Settlement Act, but it is thought necessary that a salutary lesson should be taught the natives by letting them see that every movement in opposition to the Government of the colony will be followed by a direct loss to themselves.

Simultaneous with this rumour come 8 the better substantiated report that the various native reserves along vie coast are to be immediately dealt with under the Act above referred to. Whilst in the case first mentioned the natives will be direct losers of the land, taken from them as a punishment, in tho latter they will be immense gainers by the utilizatiou of lands at present lying waste, the rental of which will be paid to them. Certain portions of the reserves will be set aside for the cultivations necessary for the wants of the various hapu'a, and the remainder will be surveyed for settlement. This will doubtless have to be done without the assistance of the natives, who will give no consent to any measures not originating at Parihaka; but the Act gives full powers to the Government to deal with the land, and the natives will benefit in spite of themselves. It will doubtless enter into the plans of the Government to set aside certain portions of land as reserves for those natives who have remained loyal, not only during the Parihaka agitation, but also in the previous troublesome times, of armed warfare; in faot, they have established a precedent by the awards already made to Hone Pihama. and others.

It is probable that the first reserve to be dealt with will be that given to Wiremu Kingi and bis people. Properly speaking, this is not a reserve, but land exempt from confiscation. It is some 43,000 acres in extent, and the tribal owners are insignificant in numbers for the occupation of so large an area. One hundred and fifty souls is probably about a correct estimate of the people of the hapus claiming on this block. It would appear to be absolutely necessary to open up land around Opunake, in order to find employ* ment for the number of settlers already located there, and this is the only land available is this particular block. It is said that the land between Oeo and Taungatara will also be shortly sold. It was estimated by the Royal Commission that most of this land would be wanted for the satisfaction of the compensation awards made to natives in previous years, and the Commission consequently recommended the Governor that " whatever is left in Oeo blook after the reserve for Pihama's people, be kept in the hands of Government until the liability of the Crown under the compensation awards has been defined" (see interim report). We know that Pihama and his people — the first especially — have been provided for, but it has not transpired that any compensation awards have been settled by the allocation of land on the block spoken of, or in fact in any other block. The natives who have been awarded land are, however, not particularly troublesome about the matter, and doubtless land will be tound for them in situations not so urgently needed for settlement.