MATAKAOA BLOCK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19375, 13 July 1937, Page 4

MATAKAOA BLOCK

PURCHASE BY STATE RETURNING TO NATIVES 400 ACRES INVOLVED (Special to the Herald.) TE ARAROA, this day. Arising out of the recent visit of the Hon. F. Langstone to the Coast, in his capacity of Minister of Lands, a decision has been reached by the Government to transfer back to native ownership a portion of the Matakaoa block which for 10 or 12 years has been vested in the Lands Department. The proposal is that the land be sold back to the natives -for the amount expended by the Government in purchasing the interests Represented by an area of 400 acres.

The Matakaoa block was one of a large number in which Government purchasing agents had picked up, from time to time, the interests of individual owners, whose approximate shares in the block had been fixed by the Native Land Court. The shares were not represented by actual land, but they entitled the individual owners to dispose of their proportionate interests in the block. The Government having made some progress with its purchases, the consolidation of the interests transferred to the Crown was undertaken, and after lengthy negotiations, a particular area of 400 acres was designated and officially vested in the State.

It was intended that this land should be used for the purposes of a Maori township and settlement, but it was never so used, and when the Hon. F. Langstone visited the East Coast a few weeks ago he was requested to facilitate the return of the property to the block, to assist in the general development of Matakaoa native lands. This he agreed to do, and Mr. Langstone has now arranged that the 400 acres will be re-trans-ferred on payment of the amount laid out by the State in the first instance.

. The sum is approximately £I3OO, and this will be found by the Tairawhiti Maori Land Board and loaded upon the land in the process of settlement. The Native Department will take over the land for development on behalf of the Maori owners.