NATIVE AFFAIRS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19698, 2 August 1938, Page 5

NATIVE AFFAIRS

TAIRAWHITI DISTRICT

RECORD COURT YEAR

RATING COMPROMISES

ALIENATION TO MAORIS

(Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day

A record/business year for the Native Land Court and Maori Land Board in the Tairawhiti district is disclosed in the-annual report of the Native Department, which has been laid <xi the table of the House of Representatives. Of outstanding interest are the references to rating compromises, the issue of charging orders and applications for receiverships in respect of lands on which unpaid rates have accumulated, and the increase in alienations to Maori farmers, rather than to Europeans.

References of general interest concerning the administration of the Tairawhiti district, include the statement that succession orders granted during the year totalled 1718, an increase of 47 per cent. This increase has caused a corresponding increase in the work of the court office, as in about 60 per cent of the cases there is involved the distribution of rents and farm profits held to the credit of deceased persons, the assessment and payment of native succession duty. and this retention of sums sufficient to pay outstanding accounts against the estates.

Orders Securing Rates

"Orders made securing rates to local authorities totalled 917, a decrease compared with previous years, indicating an effort toy the natives to meet their rating responsibilities. This in part is a reflection on the improved farming methods arising out ot the native land development policy, states the report.

"There were 292 applications before the court for the appointment of a receiver for enforcement of charges for rates, affecting in most cases areas from J acre to 5 acres, and being land situated in the more closely settled areas. During the year a case was stated by the Native Appellate Court for the opinion of the Supreme Court, arising from a decision of the lower court, which refused to grant orders under sections 108 and 109 of the Rating Act, 1925. The judgment of the Supreme Court is an important one with far-reaching effects. Intermediary in Negotiations

"The office has acted in an intermediary capacity between natives and local rating authorities in arranging settlements and/or compromises of rates due which, in many cases, had been contracted toy earlier occupiers and had become a hardship on the owners themselves. Assistance has also been given to the local bodies on the revaluation of land by holding meetings in various localities to determine the occupiers and place on the roll those owners who are willing to assume the responsibility for the payment- of future rates and for the purpose of the correction of the rolls generally.

"Partitions of land are not as numerous as in former years and, in the main, such partitions have only been made for the purpose of subdividing land into suitable holdings for farming purposes to secure sites for the erection of houses under the native housing scheme, and to set apart land for maraes and other public and communal purposes. A record number of exchange orders were made, in almost every case the underlying object being the more effective consolidation of the interests of the parties, and the increase of their individual holdings for the furtherance of farming operations. ' Access to Maori-Owned Lands

"Orders of a miscellaneous nature totalled 1629. With the advancement 1 of the main-highway system in this district a number of orders have been made legalising roads, which have been in use for many years, closing roads no longer required, and assessing compensation for land taken for railways, roads, bridges, and other public" purposes. A greater number of-Maori farmers have now obtained leg'aV. access to their holdings, which enables the formation and metalling of roads to be undertaken. The effects of the loss through the 1931 earthquake of titles in the land transfer office, Napier, has occasioned a considerable amount of additional work in the collection and compilation of data for the reconstructibn of such titles not only of native land, but also in cases where land has been acquired by Europeans. The loss of Survey Office records and plans has also occasioned a considerable amount of inconvenience to the court. Land for Farming Purposes

"It is pleasing to record that with the furtherance of development there is a growing tendency on the part of the natives to acquire land for farming purposes, and that approximately 50 per cent of the alienations confirmed during the year have been in favour of native alienees. In the case of sales, the provisions of section 281 of the Nativo Land Act, 1931, have been availed of and a considerable amount of purchase-money retained by the board for the purpose of assisting the vendors in the furtherance of their farming operations on their other lands and for the erection and renovation of houses.

"During the year extensive welfare work has been carried out amongst Maori communities in the Tairawhiti district, in the direction of constructing and extending Maori meeting-houses and dining-halls at different maraes. The Tairawhiti board has attended to the financial arrangements in this direction. In certain maraes the board has made donations of funds, and in others it has granted loans secured by assignments of future rents.

"In carrying out the above projects surplus unemployed labour was used for the unskilled part of the construction work under the supervision of officers of the department. The absence of skilled workers amongst all classes of the Maori race has been severely felt in the various building works which have been undertaken. An attempt to overcome this handicap has been made by ensuring that, in all building enterprises, a good proportion of Maori learners are allotted to each contract.