WHY THE DELAY ?

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8412, 11 January 1899, Page 2

WHY THE DELAY ?

What can be the reason for the delay in openiug up lands for settlement in this district ? As the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce pointed out, not one acre of locked-up territory had been thrown open during 1898, and thousands and hundreds of thousands of acres are lying idle and unprofitable. The year 1899 has now well commenced and still nothing seems to be done. What are the Government doing, and what is being done in the Validation Court to which was entrusted the management of huge Native estates? It is two years since decrees were made in this Court authorising the throwing open for settlement of large areas of these lands, yet nothing is done, and interest charges, Court costs, and lawyers' fees go piling up against the properties. Who is responsible for the delay — the Court, the trustees, the lawyers, or who? We understand that there are 300,000 acres to which complete titles have been granted, which havo been ratified by Parliament. Why then is this

land — the settlement of which would give a great impetus to the prosperity of the district and would bring in a revenue that would at any rate meet the interest charges, if it would not give something for the Nativu owners — allowed to lie idle ? A great wrong is being done to t lie district, and it is rime that the people interested themselves in the matter and compelled somebody to do something.