"TAIHOA" IN THE NORTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14146, 23 August 1909, Page 6

"TAIHOA" IN THE NORTH.

HOKIANGA NATIVE LANDS.

HOW PROGRESS IS RETARDED.

The serious extent to which the development of the North of Auckland is being retarded by the "taihoa" policy in regard to native lands was forcibly illustrated by some remarks made to a Herald representative on Saturday by Mr. A. C. Yarborough, of Kohukohu. He spoke particularly of the Hokianga County, with which he is best acquainted, but his observations apply with equal force to other parts of the Northern peninsula.

" It is .monstrous," said Mr. Yarborough, "that the whole countryside should be locked up against settlement, as is the caso at present. The area- of native land still in the hands of the Maoris in Hokianga is about 230,000 acres. This is in addition to some 240,000 acres of Crown lands which are locked up in reserves of one kind and another. The European settlers have to pay rates, make roads, and keep down the noxious weeds on their lands, whereas the natives are quite free from these requirements, it being impossible to recover tho rates on their land. In the majority of cases, too, the Maoris are serious sufferers through this state of affairs, the restrictions of the native land laws being such a« to make it impossible for them to utilise or dispose of their lands, although they are quite willing and even desirous of leasing or selling them. Large blocks of these lands lie in many c;wcs between settled portions of the districts, and the result of an absence of ready communication thus imposes a further handicap upon the residents of these settlements."

Reference was made by Mr. Yarborough to the oft-repeated assertion that if the native land were thrown open there would be a large number of " land-grabbers" rushing after it. " There are," he said, "no land-grabbers in the North. _ The people who want the land, and who have been waiting for the last 20 years for it to bo opened, arc the genuine settlers of the country, who, with their sons, are still hoping against hope, but the prospect of anything practical being done by the Taihoa' Administration seems well-nigh hopeless." The necessity for the throwing open of the native land, as well as the remaining portions of the Government reserves, under the optional system, was, ho said, imperative in the interests of settlement in the Hokianga County. Some 20,000 acres of the' native lands, Mr. Yarborough continued, are about to bo opened, but the tenure was the unsatisfactory 25 years' lease. The tenant, at the end of the 25 years, would be allowed compensation for his improvements, with the right of renewal for a. further 25 years. At the end of the second period, however, there could be no further renewal, as the land reverted to the native owners, and there was no further allowance for improvements. The settlers, in order to obtain roads and other public works, would find it necessary to raise loans. These, in the ordinary way, would be paid off at the end of 42 years, or just before the end of the 50 years for which the land was held. Thus, after making the roads with their own money, the tenants would be obliged to hand the land back to the natives. Such conditions were most unfair and unsatisfactory, but settlers were so anxious for land that they would take it up even under these conditions when they could get nothing better.