MAORI LANDS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 11141, 3 December 1907, Page 2

MAORI LANDS.

■ m WHAT THE TAI-RAWHITI BOARD HAS DONE. 50,000 ACRES COMING INTO SETTLEMENT. But for a few rather unfavorable remarks m Parliament from the member for the Bay of Plenty, the public have not heard a great deal of the work of the Tai-Rawhiti Maori Land Board, the body which is entrusted with the settlement, where possible, of all the lands of the East Coast, stretching from East Cape to Wairoa. An interesting statement . concerning the affairs ol" the> Board, however, was furnished to the Native-Land Commission by the President, Colonel Porter, 0.8., yesterday afternoon. \ '. Prior to the appointment of the Board m October, 1906, practically little or nothing was done with the land which had been vested by the Natives m the Maori Land Council. Since that date, however, the following business had been transacted : ,

The President explained that the. 2329 acres was the area vested m the Board }p addition to the several hundred/thousand acres rested prior to the passing of tie Council. In- July last year- 30,000 acres liad been prepared for settlement, but upon the instructions ; of the Native Minister, which <he produced, the „ land was kept back, .pending thfe : passing during the session which has just concluded of further legislation respecting; the disposal of these lands and Native land m general, under public auction- or 'by lease to other Natives. The area which now came under this schedule amounted to 34 blocks of 42,565 acres. The 238 leases and approvals formed legal work quite apart from the other lands. jThe term of lease, Colonel Porter went on to> say, varied from seven years to 30 years, but inmost instances they were for 21 years -with right of renewal for another 21 years on Government valuation, which was generally not to exceed. £2 15s per acr© for improvements. They had had .applications for 50 year leases, but had' refused them. . - , . His Honor: I think that is very wia'e., Asked by His Honor who -, were,', the members of the Board, Colonel Porter replied it consisted of Messrs Alex. Keefer, Otene Pitau and himself. His Honor : I think you have done very good work. r Colonel Porter proceeded to point out. an. important point which had arisen: from, section 4 of the Maori Land Claims- and Laws Adjustment Aot of last year, which abolished tba former trustees nl incc^ porated blocks m favor of the Beards, and ralhet' than allow large sums of money, rents from incorporated lands to go, to irresponsible Natives/ the Board" had, m the absence of statutory regulation on the subject, assumed the position of receiver of the moneys, which fqrmierly went to the Public Trustee, and had carried on the disbursements, which in-volved-considerable work. This position affected 27 blocks, of an area of 34,172 acres. His Honor noted the facts as stated.. Asked what he thought was the better method of disposing of the lands, Colonel Porter replied he- thought public auction was preferable to private tender. His Honor inquired about the matter of advertising- the lands to 'be opened. Colonel Porter said the Board had, not done much, m this direction. He had. seen the charges involved by a southern Board, and if they had to entail that expense, 'it would be prohibitive. Asked why, Colonel Porter said it was the lengthy conditions. His Honor said it was, m. his opinion, absolutely unnecessary to advertise the conditions. A simple statement of the blocks, area, time, and place, etc., was sufficient, and should not cost very much. Colonel Porter replied he had to work under Departmental regulations. His Honor said the Board was under no Department m this respect. Mr Ngata; I thought everyone knew that. ; •' The President said be was glad *to hear it. .■■■■■ . • • Continuing, His Honor pointed out the advertising of lengthy schedules of conditions was not done by Europeans, and was unnecessary m Tespect of Maoris, on whom it only added additional burden. The Boards could aot independently m this matter, and could reply that they considered the advertising of these lengthy conditions quite unnecessary, and the Commission regarded it. as. a waste of money. ' Colonel Porter, continuing, announced that m addition to the above, the> Board had just a couple, of days ago completed arrangements m connection with the settlement of the Anaura 'block, over 8000 acres, near Tolaga, Bay. i The Natives had now settled all their difficulties, and had agreed to the terms and individual lessees. A surveyor was being sent out to mark out the lines, and the leases would then be issued by the Board. His Honor expressed his gratification on hearing this, and remarked that the Board should be a means of greatly assisting, the Natives. Colonel Porter replied it was certainly much better than having to force or drive the Natives. There were several blocks m the Wairoa district m a similar position. At this stage, Colonel Porter was examined at some length by Mr Ngata,, on the efficiency and working of the Board. He agreed it would be better if theß6a.rd could travel more and get m better touch with the Natives. With the heavy responsibilities now cast upon the Board, it was absolutely necessary that the Accounts of the various blocks vested m the Board should Ije kept apart, but' this was simply impossible with his present insufficient staff. He required an efficient accountant for «, receiver. Up to the present time he had not had sufficient clerical assistance, having onty had a relieving clerk from Wellington. Asked by Mr Ngata if he thought the Board enjoyed the confidence of the Natives, Colonel Porter replied he thought it had, Since its appointment they had never liad any disputes or complaints from the Natives, which m Native land matters was a pretty big thing ; nor had they liad any differences with the legal fraternity, who had not had occasion to differ from the decisions of the Board. With regard to the opening up. for set. tlement of the 42,565 acres reserved for the passing of the recent legislation, we understand' that the first portion. 30,000 acres, is practically ready for disposal, and the settlement of this and other lands for the future will be considerably simplified and facilitated by the recent measures placed on the statute, book. Regarding the Anaura block of over 8000 acres, this the Natives have decided to farm themselves, and have now apportioned out the areas to be held by their people, who propose to farm it under assistance from the Government, enacted this session. MANGATU 3 AND 4. Panapa Waihopi explained the history of the dealings with the Mangatu 3 and 4 blocks, and asked tliat the tnistees should be discharged, and the land be handed back to them — the owners— to b.e managed by committees. Under the trustees they got no further ahead, and! the mortgage kept increasing. This was the decision of thi-ee large meetings of the owners. His Honor pointed out that if the land was leased to Messrs Barren Bros, they could do nothing with, it. Panapa replied it was only No. 4 they wanted to deal with. Mr Rees said the statement regarding the decisions of the owners was news to him. He added that he was informel by the surveyors some of tlte best land m Motu was Mangatu 1 and 4. A WHANGARA OWNER. . Further statements were forthcoming from other Natives. A Whangara Native complained that since the appointment of Mr Jackson as receiver they had never made a clear statement of the 1 accounts. They had made applications to the Court, but had not received any. They had; been waiting for years, and did not know what these expenses were or why they had been expended. The •owners of Whangara had no other land which they were able to farm. The whole of the block had been leased, and only one of the owners had a piece out ont. which he Avas farming. Their desire was that as soon as the leases expir-

ed that sucli areas they could farm should be returned to them as owners. There were portions set aside" for Native settlement, 170 acres, and the owners desired to form the land' to make sufficient money tO pay off the mortgage. They did not desire the land leased to Europeans. His Honor" said if that was so it should! be stopped, if they only had 170 acres for themselves. ' The representative said they wanted to work the land. as one block. There were 28 owners m the 170 acres, being two families. They wished the land set aside as a papakiariga, not to be disposed of. The Native went on to refer to. Pouawa 3CD, 172 acres, another reserve; m a similar position ; they wished! this reserved similarly. Some of the owners of these reserves had no other land whatever.

MAORI GRIEVANCES. Another matter brought before the Commission by Hapi Kiniha was the compensation paid for Wai-o-hi-hajore block. Half the compensation had been 'paid to the owners by- the Receiver, Mi Jackson, but the balance was still fn Mr Jackson's hands. They "had been waiting v f or two years.— His Honor said it seemed a very funny thing, but Mi Jackson -might nave some reason .and they would enquire from him next morn ; ing. . : Another native > approached the Commission re a lease between himself and a European over which there was some trouble. It was agreed to lease 50 acres, but upon the survey it was fduhd there were only 23 acres.— His Honor said the native should not ' have signed the lease. It appeared jto be" signed after the survey lor 23 acres was specified. The^'apphcant must have been made aware, it was clear, that it was 23 and not 50 acres. The applicant also complained that the covenants of ..the lease regarding fencing were not being carried out, but -he was advised to' go to the Magistrate's Court about this. ■ Still another native came forward to complain that he was opposed to the application for a lease before the Board, because the natives had only signed the lease, thinking that it was only an applicatioj? for incorporation. The- native was advised to make representations to the Board on the matter. Puhinga No. 4 was the subject of further reference, a native stating that'Jie had made preparation last Slay to obtain a lease when a. European named Gibson came m and got the li^nd ahead of him. He had no money, but had explained to the owners that he would: go on the land arid give theni something out of the profits. < That was probably the reason why it was given to the Europeans. . He had cleared 30 acres on the land.— His Honor thought that jt should be pointed out- to the Board that if they did not give the lease, to the Native he should get compensation for his\ clear ing.— The Native was advised it was, a matter for the Board. ' After several other minor matters had been discussed the Commission adjourned until, to-day. \

Blocks Acres Vested m Board ... • 13 2329 Prepared for Settlement 34 42,565 Leases and approvals 238 .^ 75,000