2,000,000 ACRES IN QUESTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 April 1908, Page 1

2,000,000 ACRES IN QUESTION.

There have, of course, been exceptions, as to the comissiotiers have cheerfully noted from time to time ; but the "dog-in-the-manger" monopoly of which we- speak, has been the general rule with regard to the 2,000,000 acreß in question, and the owners have for the most part been as helpless to break it down as the European settlers. The Native Land Commision is now piloting both parties along a better way, and the country should insist upon the way being further followed during the coming session without any of the weakening on one or two vit^il points which the Government displayed last year. To the considerations already given from the standpoint of the country as a whok may be aded that the North Island is specially concerned with the work of the commission, since the whole, or practically the whole, of tho native land to bo investigated lies within this island. To measure the promise of the commission's policy for the North Island, the significance of the comparisons already made must be at least doubled, since the Land for Settlements policy has applied equally to both islands, but native land setelement is of vital concern to the North alone. The concurrence of tho completion of the Main Trunk railway with the opening up of 2,000,000 acres of native land is a double event which, should make the coming year one of the most memorable in our history, but instead of going to sleep the public should keep a watchful eye upon the Government, and insist that there shall be no slackening with either of these momentous enterprises .