THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JULY 29, 1907. THE NATIVE LAND REPORTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13502, 29 July 1907, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JULY 29, 1907. THE NATIVE LAND REPORTS.

Further reports of the Native Land t Commissioners, dealing generally c with the entire question and particu- I laxly with lands in the anganui and t King Country districts, are now be- f fore Parliament. An immense amount of painstaking care has evi- J dehtly been applied to the wvestiga- - tion by the Commissioners. Whatever the result ■ of the inquiry, whether Parliament accepts their recommendations or decides to pursue another policy, it is evident that the confusion which has surrounded and complicated this most momentous . problem is being steadily cleared away, and that it will soon be possible to deal with it in the light ot full and definite knowledge. That there is still a great battle to be. fought over the Native Land question cannot, however, be ignored. We have only to make a summary of the work of the Commissioners, and of their practical recommendations to show that their scheme docs not in itself solve tluwproblcm, for their proposals can hardly be accepted unanimously. The areas now dealt with are approximately as follows :— Acres* Hawke's Bay - 92.000 Waneanui ••• 142,000 Kin/ Country 290^000 ' Total 524,000 This is a very considerable area, but when we come to analyse its proposed disposition it may very easily be said that the claims of European settlers have been very harshly treated. For the basis of the proposed distribution of the land is evidently that only such an amount shall be allowed to go out of Native ownership and control as will yield by auction sales sufficient funds to develope the balance. All the remainder which is not required for the actual use and occupancy of the Native owners is to be leased by Native Land Boards on short-term leases, thus setting up Maori Landlordry upon a permanent scale and to an extent which ike Country I Party may well regard as totally in- ! defensible. The following is the proposed disposition of the 524,000 acres already dealt with :— ~'.--, Acres. Maori occupation ... ... 217,000 Leasing ... 271,000. , Sale ... - 36,000 Those who anticipated that the Native Lands Commission would finally i dispose of the much-debated question will probably say that the mountain has been in labour and has brought forth a mouse. If this 36,000 acres is to be the whole of the 524,000 acres in question which is to become true settlement country it does not make very much difference how it is to be disposed of, whether by auction sale, by tender, or by ballot. Nor is the amount available lor settlement likely to be greatly increased in the further reports and recommendations of the Commission, for we are told that of the 650,000 acres in Wanganui and the King . Country still to be dealt with it is estimated that only 150,000 acres will be' offered to Europeans for purchase. That is to say, of 1,174,000 acres which will, then have passed under the Commission only 186,000 acres will come under complete European occupation, if the recommendations of the Commission : " are accepted by Parliament. Of the million or so acres remaining, approximately one-half will be for Maori farming and occupation ; half a. million acres will be perpetually farmed by European tenants, without even permanent occupation rights, and 5- the rents will be paid to Maori landlords. This is surely " leaseholding/' with a vengeance.

But there is an alternative which is at least worth the consideration of Parliament and which ought to be acceptable to both the Freehold and the Leasehold Parties, which is that the Government should take over all the lands which the Maori owners are prepared to lease or sell and should treat them as Crown Lands, excepting that the proceeds should be held in trust for the'..' Maori owners. It is difficult to understand how there can be any objection to this method unless we are to take it for granted that an organised Maori

Lancllordry, instituted ;by law and entailed upon the country for ever.; is a desirable thing. It is perfectly, true that the Maoris are not sufficiently advanced to be generally treated as Europeans in land transactions. But it is one thing to protect the Maori and to encourage him to find that salvation from extermination which the entire colony would have for him, and quite another thing to saddle the country with a pernicious and objectionable system, which is only theoretically to his advantage. That he should be paid the full value of his lands we have always contended, and that the -surplus Native Lands should be used for bona-fide settlement and not to enrich shrewd speculators is a contention never denied. The idea that a parly exists which has for its object the plundering of the Maori on vbchalf of rich speculators is mere moonshine, wilfully invented in the attempt to discredit that earnest and honest Counry Party, which sits on both sides of the House and is strenuously working for the removal of every unnecessary impediment to that full use of the land upon *uich the whole prosperity of the colony depends, If the Maori has land which he does not and cannot use it is altogether within the legitimate scope of legislation that this land should be opened upon mutually fair terms to the Pakeha settler. And what can be fairer than to open it upon the same terms as those upon which the Crown Lands of the colony are opened? For the Maori shares in every benefit which the State yields to the European. He enjoys Old Age Pension ; he, has public schools; his own land, if he cultiivates it, will have the full advantage \given by roads, railways, and harbours. There is, therefore, no apparent reason why he should be constituted into a specially-privileged class, with privileges over and above those obviously necessary to prevent him from suffering by contact with European settlement. If all surplus Native Lands were opened for settlement as Crown Lands he would have the benefit of the cash or the rent paid for them under the proposed optional system, these payments being carefully held in trust for him by the Government. As for the Europeans, such a solution would be'similarly advantageous. The settler on Native Lands would deal with the ordinary Land Boards, not with a Maori Land Board, and we all know what dealings with Maori Boards mean ; and he would be on exactly the same footing as the settler who took up Crown Lands. As for the country at large, it would avoid another complication in the already much too complicated land tenures of the colony. These considerations should have weight in the making of legislation, for while the wishes of the Maori owners ought to have weight, we all know how easily the Maori can be influenced and we ought to know that the European settler and the future well-being of the State are equally entitled to be,taken into account.