NATIVE LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12303, 22 June 1903, Page 6

NATIVE LANDS.

[translation.] Friend. Mr. Editor. Greeting. This i* ray -word to you from the Maori peopl«. We have seen your article in your newspaper, reporting the speech of the Hon. Jas. Carroll, and' youi wise leading article; but, friend, are you not, and your reader* also, perhaps, led astray by his "korero rupahu"— talk. We always (nought you pakehas were a clover race, and could see through the wiles and flattery of men and Ministers, but now we see you ar& only ordinary mortals, and perhaps you like to be flattered by idle words. Timi Kara (James Carroll) tells you. all that Mahuta has handed over or given 40,000 acres to the Council to manage. But that is not true. The land referred to is Moerangi, near Aotea, and the title has yet tc be investigated; therefore, if is not Mahuta's land to give, nor has he given it: all he has done is to ask the Land Council to decide who the land belongs to, so that all his people who are entitled will be put into the title. The result will !«• that over 1000 natives, who own the land, will get their title and have land to cultivate. You tall:, or the Native Minister do*!, about this land being opened for settlement for the pakeha; but how can the Council open it up for settlement? Each Maori must have by law fifty acres, for a papakainga on which to live and grow food before' he can alienate land, and. ; f land is transferred to the Council to deal with it must first set asido papakaingas far every Maori owner before offering any portion of the block for lease, so that with 1000 owners in 40,000 acres, we will each have only' about 40 acres, or not ~' -'' > '.' ; >'] for our papakaingas. Therefore let T:nn Kara cease to idly boast about this L-iock being opened for sefctleine?)!. Take also the blocks at Ngongotaba. near Rotorua, which are being handed to the Council. They are owned by very many people, whose shares vary from six or seven acres down to a very small fraction of an aero. How can the Council find land for papakaingas for the Maoris when the land is not there? and certainly none will be left to lease. Look at Waitakaruru, near Miranda; in the same way most of the natives hold from five acres down to half an acre. It is only fair quality land, and much ol it not fit to grow food upon, so how is the Council to open land for -settlement when it has not got the land? Then-fore, cease idle talk and boasting about Maori lands for settlement which do not exist. Sufficient, from Taumata ObokootaXih.