NATIVE LAND PURCHASE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12754, 4 May 1912, Page 5

NATIVE LAND PURCHASE.

TAKAPUTAHI BI^OCK. ACQUIRED BY THE CROWN. The Takaputalii block qf Native land, situated iri the Opotiki County, on the western side of the Motu river, has been acquired by the Government. A meeting Of the* Native owriers was held last month, when the Maoris decided to sell this block of land to the Crown. The block comprises an area of 32,857 acres, and the. purchase price amounts to nearly £36,000. Mr Collis, of the Waiariki Maori Land Board, has been m Opotiki dqring the last day or two (states the Guardian), and has paid to the Opotiki Maoris who are interested irivthe block 'their share of the purchase v money ? which amounts to £15,000. The remaining £21,000 is to be'paid- to Gisborne natives and others cbnoerned. . ' The Takaputahi block ' consists chiefly of broken bush country, but there .are two valleys v m which there is a total area of about 800 acres of level countryv About 10,000 acres will probably have to be cut out of the block and created bush reserves, as this area of country is so steep that it will probably be useless for settlement. Tlie irehiaining y 22,000 acres could be converted into fairly good sheep country, similar to; thai at upper Waibeka arid would carry two sftieep to the acre. . .. . At the present . .time there is no properly formed access to the block. In order to reach the land it is necessary to r travel along the beach from Opotiki to Opape, branching off there and following the 'Motu road for a distance of about seven miles, and proceeding over the re- , mairiihg nine miles along a rough unformed bush track to the nearest part of the block. No tracks,- even of the hiost primitive description, .have been cut m any portion of the block itself; The if ar end of the block is about . 30 , miles from Opotiki.,. Before the 'Gbveri*!ttierit*can open this land) for settlement it will be necessary to form a aix-foot track to the block I from the turn-off at the Motu road. TM length of track .to be constructed is about nine miles, and the cost of construction ' will be approximately £4000.