EAST COAST NATIVE TRUST.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 15273, 22 July 1920, Page 5

EAST COAST NATIVE TRUST.

AN ATTACK AND RErrOßT.<v; WEkLI Ntmi^ . 'tius^ay . Advantage was UkVwi bv the member for Gisborne tluVing the . d&cvi&ron\:Bft the ilUus'e on the methods of taxatlbit-t-o repeat his" former criticism *ofs the' system uhder .which' native lands.cseape the burden*iflTposed on FuropeaiiTsett lenient. *He ""suggested that if native lands on tho., East Coast have a fair share of land! and income tax they would / .furn*ish enough revenue to provide a .good main road to -Oisbornc and all the East Coast railways required. He also argued that trust lands \v»s hot of much advantage to the natives-. There were ten stations in. *:He East Coast Native Trust wMcft, had never returned anything to their owners. Their devehSprntot was very slow, but he would •not say they, were badly managed, though their properties were locked up to The detriment of the whole* Dominion. Mr W. H. Field -. . Where does the rnt go? Mi: iA'nsar : It is muddled away in clearing off old liabilities, and in dej velopment. One estate, he continued, paid £10,000 a year in land and income tax while in European hands, but had gone back into* native control and produced no taxation. The Hon. A, % I\ Ngata rose a few minutes before the dinner, adjournment to rteply, pointing out that lie could only give a limited time to the member for Gisborne-. lie pointed out that owing to the state of tho law native** had been forced into their system of farming. Their only way was to herd together, and with insufficient finance to attempt to deal Willi their lands. They had flueceeded to some extent in making good on the East Coast. When thfe 'question of taxation came up three years ago he met representatives of the National Government, who agreed not to regard the natives as a company, but to fax them on individual profits from their farms. His critic conveyed the impression that there Was a huge trust with an annual ..surplus of ±5200,003 escaping taxation y but ■ this sain was not annual profit, but the difference between the amount of mortgage and their appreciation in value according to the district valuation rott^an- .lncrease only in accordance with the extent to which the East Coast Trust,, by good administration, had succeeded in paying off liabilities and improving the value of the security. Mr Lysnai\i What's the good when the natives are dying "for want of money? Mr Ngata: It would- require ail jllour to dispel all the false impressions Mr Lysnar ha* conveyed to the House. If the Native Minister has an opportunity he can produce a return showing what tho Commissioner of the Efast Coast Native Trust pays, not only in land tax but income tax. Mr Ngata finally, with an eye on the clock, said that his critic's figures were two years old. and he would take a later "opportunity to pUt him right.— Parliamentary Reporter.