WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9713, 8 January 1895, Page 5

WELLINGTON NEWS NOTES.

[BY TELEGRAPH.— CORRESPONDENT.J

Wellington, Monday.

THE HOROWHENUA BLOCK. Sir Walter Buller appears to-day in the controversy relating to the above land. He considers that, the statement of the Minister of Lands must either have been misreported, or the Minister of Lands must have been under . a misapprehension when making it. Sir Walter says that Kemp and Hunia were representatives " of the '♦trustees" for the tribe after the pieces which fell to their share had been awarded. This he makes clear in the following terms as regards Major Kemp :— " The Horowhenua Block, as it passed the Native Land Court in 1873 with 143 registered owners, contained 52,000 acres. In 1886, at the instance of the Major, a subdivision of the land was undertaken by the Court, and orders were then made for certificates of titles to the owners in severalty fo.* certain defined • portions of the block. Among these were three separate awards to Major Kemp himself ; one for a parcel of land to be sold to the Crown, which afterwards became the site of the present township of Levin ; another of 800 acres to enable Major Kemp to pay off a liability of about £3000 to Mr. Sievewright (nominally Sievewright and Stout) for law costs incurred in Maori business at Wanganui and elsewhere ; and another of 1200 acres in his own right at the southern extremity of the block." Warena Hunia was not associated with Kemp in any of these orders. When the individual shares were made (to Hunia among the rest), the collective owners (143) decided to keep the remainder of the estate intact. This comprised 15,000 acres, and included "*' homes, cultivation," " fences," " fishing grounds," and '* burial places," of the Muaupoko tribe. Over the whole of this Kemp and Hunia were accepted by the tribe as representatives, or trustees. Unfortunately no declaration of trust was filed, but the certificates of title were issued to the two chiefs as if they were absolute owners of the land. The recent proceedings in the Supreme Court by Kemp were to remedy that omission, to have the trust declared in the face of the claim of ownership made by Hunia. The price of the land is £4 an acre. The Supreme Court ordered the certificates of title to be cancelled and the whole of the native owners (143' to be reinstated in the title. Sir Walter concludes his statement as follows: — Whether on the other hand it was wise, or even proper, under the circumstances, for the Government, with a full knowledge of all the facts, with notice of the action then pending in the Supreme Court, to pay £2000 of public money to Warena Hunia is a question with which I have at present no concern ; but there is no getting away from this fact, that to enable him to recoup this payment on account Warena Hunia will have to prove himself entitled in his own right to one thirtieth part of the entire estate as against the other 142 owners now admitted into the title."

TRIAL TIMBER SHIPMENT FOR

ENGLAND.

The Department of Industry has received twenty one benders for shipment from Westland, Hawke's Bay,- and Southland, but it is stated that some of the trees are not yet felled. It is said that the price of timber in the colony is so low that it does not pay to stock timber for a season, hence the difficulty mentioned in a recent telegram.

WEST COAST SETTLEMENT RE-

SERVES.

The administration of these reserves by the Public Trustee appears to give satisfaction to owners and lessees. This matter was a "burning question" for years, but the Public Trustee appears to have got at the "heart of the mystery," which at one time surrounded it. Ho has just received tenders for leasing forty-three sections in the.; neighbourhood of Hawera and Opunako. The area tendered for is 9000 acres. The inorease of income to the natives will be nearly £500. This will raise the gross natives' income to something like £18,000 a-year. The number of natives, including women and children, does not exceed 2000. -