OUR NATIVE LAND LAWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8468, 20 January 1891, Page 3

OUR NATIVE LAND LAWS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—Mr. Rees will have done a good work if he succeeds in directing attention to the very unsatisfactory position in which everything connected with native lands now stands. The natives are constantly crying out about the restrictions placed upon them in dealing with their lands; the delays and expense of the Native Lands Courts and the desire of the Europeans to tax their lands. On the other hand the Europeans complain of the large areas of native lands lying waste, on which neither local rates nor property tax is being paid, while the natives reap the same advantages from roads, railways, and other public works as Europeans. Those who have unfortunately had dealings in native lands complain of the constant changing and want of connection of the various laws affecting native lands, which have placed many titles in the position of Mahomet's coffin, and which require, as one legal gentleman has forcibly put it, " a law to make lawful what has already been lawfully done." To state fully all "the difficulties would be tedious, and would probably be unnoticed by the public generally, yet before a remedy can be applied with any hope of success both natives and Europeans require a lot of education, in order that they may undet3tand what really requires doing. The delays and expense which occur in determining the ownership in the Native Lands Courts are increased indefinitely by the obstinacy of the claimants and counter claimants, as well as by the unscrupulous claims which are often put forward. So much time and money is expended in determining the ownership of blocks of land, that the cost to the successful claimant is sometimes greater than the value of the land acquired. To the costs of Court, cost of survey, aud often re-surveys, have to be added. Then when a number of natives have been declared the owners of a block of land by the Court, and they want to dispose of it, the difficulties, delays, and cost attending the transfer of a block of native land are so great that only persons who understand what it means will nowadays attempt to make such a purchase. This consequently limits the number of purchasers, and many blocks of native land are now being offered which cannot find buyers unless at ridiculously low figures. Thus the effect of these restrictions which have been put upon dealings with native lands in the interests of the natives have the effect of lessening the amount which a native can get for his land as compared with what a European could obtain for his land, by limiting his market and greatly increasing the cost of transfer. These costs consist of native duty, interpreters' fees, inquiry by Trust Commissioner, and, afterwards, by Chief Judge. Each movement is attended by expenses, and these amount to from 25 to 75 per cent, of the value of the land. The buyer must take these into account in fixing the price to be paid to the native, who consequently only receives from 25 to 75 per cent, of the value of his land. The balance goes in expenses caused in great measure by restrictions made by law to protect the unfortunate native land owner. The great difficulty of the native land question is the multiplicity of owners in most of the blocks. The names of men, women, and children are included in certificates* of title. This complicates and renders expensive any dealings with such blocks, and, until it is removed, practically prevents the rating of such by local bodies. Many people suppose that to individualise the titles ana to give to each native a Crown grant for his own piece would get over this difficulty. And so it would ; but this brings another and probably greater difficulty. How to do it ? In a great many, if not a great majority, of instances this would be impossible unless at a great expense to the country, and it would cost more in surveys and Court expenses than the lands are worth. There are thousands of instances where the individual areas would be from five acres down to a small fraction of an acre, and this of land worth from 5s to £1 an acre. Numbers of the areas would not be worth the cost of preparing a Crown grant, to say nothing of the cost of survey, or the higgledy-piggledy way in which they must be laid off to suit native boundaries, and without means of ingress . and egress by roads. It is only in blocks of considerable area and with few owners that it will be profitable to individualise titles. It is, Mr. Editor, much easier to find fault with our native land laws than to provide a satisfactory remedy. I doubt if it will be possible to devise a scheme which will give satisfaction to the native owners, ana at the same time satisfy the European colonists. It is, however, incumbent upon our legislators to do something in the direction of simplifying native land laws, or matters will get into a state of muddle wholly inextricable.lam, etc., L. J. Bagnall. Turua, 14th January, 1891.