TAURANGA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5372, 4 February 1879, Page 2

TAURANGA.

The progress which lias been made with the acquisition of native lands in the district, by Mr. J. C. Young, Land Purchase Commissioner, aud his coadjutor, Mr. Warbrick, enables me to conclude that the negotiations have so far advanced that they will be able to dispose of their business in connection with the several blocks in time for tho Court next month, so that all their cases may be set down for hearing, when memorials of ownership will issue, which will enabls the Government to hand over an extensive territory of valuable country to the Waste Lands Board at Auckland. From visiting a Urge portion of the district, I can safely assert that the Purchase Officer and his assistant must have had to contend against powerful influences and money-bags, and it must bo a matter of satisfaction to the Native Minister that the delicate negotiations have been brought to a satisfactory termination through good management, tact, aud perseverance, by the constant exertions and patience of the two gentlemen named. In every instance the prices paid for the different interests have given satisfaction to the native owners, and it is roughly estimated that, at least, 700,000 acres have been acquired, nearly the whole of which will be Crown granted to tho colony at the conclusion of the sittings of the March Native Lands Court at Tauranga. The negotiations for the inland lands are also in a very advanced stage, and Mr. Mitchell, the agent for this part, is doing his best to make the purchases complete. My own candid opinion is that when Parliament assembles, about the middle of the year, the Ministry will be in. a position to prove beyoud doubt that during the financial year of 187S-9 more native land was acquired than for any similar period, save and except the memorable year when the New Zealand Settlements Act was passed, and the issue of the Gazette containing the confiscation of native lands took place. The future benefits to Tauranga and other inland districts in the' acquisition of these lands by the Government cannot be over-estimated, as their purchase means the cheap construction of roads a&d bridges, and, with an advanced price of land as settlement progresses, will go a long way towards finding ample means for commencing and carrying a-head railroads to connect different centres of population, the cost of such undertakings coming, as in the case of the Te Aroha lands, from the revenues derived from lands sold, as circumstances warrant, along tho projected lines.—[Correspondent.] °