WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8567, 15 May 1891, Page 5

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

[BY TELEGRAPH.— OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Thursday.

NATIVE LAND LAWS COMMISSIONERS.

.The Commissioners' report is practical!)' complete. lam informed that it is a most important and comprehensive State paper. It purports, according to my information, to give the history of the;. legislation of the colony upon : native affairs from the commencement to the present time. The Commissioners pointbiibtheriatureahd character of the various difficulties that have arisen in dealing with native lands.; > These difficulties are classified and scheduled. ' 'the I effective part of the report, I am told, is a recommendation that a Koyal Commission shall issue to remedy errors in the post and for the future to simplify the methods of; ascertaining title. :: It .recommends the 1 stoppage of all dealings with native lands, except in cases where the natives hold in: severalty. It will recommend also, 'I understand,; that a Board of Native Landsi shall bo constituted upon the lines of the Waste Lands Board, for the purpose of determining'! all questions of detail. The general effect of the new legislation proposed is stated to be to throw open K the whole of -i the ' riativa lands of the colony, after the Native Committees shall have established their reserves. > So far as I can gather* the Commission has , examined a great number of witnesses in all the native districts of the North j Island, ; and they have found remarkable unanimity among the natives in favour of the scheme recommended. ;:', - COURT OF APPEAL. ; ;' ■';■

•': The Court was occupied ;the whole of to-' ' day with the case of Te Moauroa v. Turner, 3 an appeal from an award made by arbi- * trators, by which a new lease was awarded f> to the defendant, who: had surrendered a C previous lease he held under the West Coast fc ; Settlement; Act.;: The Public Trustee was 0 made a party to the action, as he was the * person appointed under the several Acts X relating to such leases to receive the rents •; and act for the native lessors. .This is one ; of those cases which I; more than once re- :; ferred to at the close of the session 1890, : and upon which a joint committee of both X Houses of the legislature had been sitting i for nearly a month. The natives refused to i submit to the award they refused to accept , the service of the sittings of the Arbitration , Court; when served upon them \ they drove the bailiffs who served the notice out of a their settlement with sticks ; they denied : the legality of the powers exercised by the 1 arbitrators under, the Amended Acts of 1884 and 1887 ; they claimed the improve- ■ ments put upon the lands by the lessees. ''■ This _is regarded as a test case,'and the decision will govern s a whole lot of others. i There is a large bar. , Sir Robert Stout and '; Mr. P., Levi appear ; for the plaintiffs, Mr. : , Stafford appears for the' Public Trustee, •{ Messrs. H. 1). Bell and G. Hutchison for the defendant. The argument had not ■j concluded when the Court rose. THE NEW FINANCIAL PItOPOSALS. The Premier has decided the two main \ points of his Bill to alter the incidence of ; taxation. Progress has been made in drawing up the principal clauses, and preparing the schedules. The proposal is that instead of .a property tax, there is to -be a tax on unimproved land, with an exemption up to £500 of value ; and an income tax, with an exemption up to, £300. The rate of the j income tax is to be 6d in the pound. j QOViRNMKST IN3UKANCB RETUENOHMENT. Seven clerks, named Knowles, Ludbrook; Gurr, Broome, Malcolm, Dunn, and Ford-! ham, have received notice. The aggregate : of their salaries amounts to £1200.; The compensation will amount to £700. THIS UNEMPLOYED. ■'. T, understand that surveyors have been instructed to lay off blocks of land in the Wairarapa ; for special settlement. J The object of the Government is to induce suitable persons among the; unemployed to settle on* the land whenever occasion may arise. The areas are to be from 500 to 1000 acres. Already surveyors are engaged in laying- off similar blocks '% on the Catlin's river, in Otago. A good deal of interest is taken here in the interview which is to take place to-morrow between the Premier arid the unemployed of Wellington. ', . THE BANKRUPTCY LAW. The Wellington Chamber of Commerce, in ; reply to the circular' from the Justice, Department re the new Bankruptcy Act, makes recommendations in the shape of additional clauses to the following effect :— (1) That every bankrupt shall appear in court within six mouths after adjudication, or be adjudged in contempt'; {2) that a cash book; to record receipts and payments,; a daybook to record all dealings for date, a ledger containing an accurate record of all transactions, shall be kept by the bankrupt ; (3) failing to make out a proper balance-sheet within thirteen months of bankruptcy to be a misdemeanour ; (4) a resolution to grant his furniture to a ■ debtor, if exceeding £50 value, to be special. . ■■/■;; ■