MAORI LANDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 71, 7 November 1911, Page 6

MAORI LANDS.

SIR JAMES CARROLI EXPLAINS

(Per Press Association.) Levin, November 6. Sir James Carroll addressed a crowded meeting at Levin to-night. He dealt largely with native affairs, and defended his departmental administration. In 1891, when his Party took office, Maori lands aggregated 10,829,486 acres. To-day it was down to 7,137,205 acres, and only 190,792 acres were without a title, though in 1892 there were two and a half millions untitled. In all, the Maori had parted with the freeholdof four million acres, had leased three million, and had about three million remaining. This included a lot of useless mountain tops and lake areas, and there were forty thousand Maoris to use it. He favoured transference to Europeans of the poorer native lands, and he admitted Europeans could work these better than the natives could. He believed the time was now at hand when the natives could enter the race at “weight for ago,” though in the past lie had needed protection.

In a lengthy summary of the position regarding the Mohan, lie said the position to-day was that the native owners (who used to get £2OO pciannum for the leases) now had £25,000 purchase money, which was equal to £I2OO per annum. As the leaseholds would have run for thirty years more the reversions would have been worth nothing to the present owners. He was sure they all would see that the company which hold the land to-day was bound to throw it open for settleihont within three years, and the Government had escaped a treble set of lawsuits, which it would have been liable to had it dealt directly with the block. A vote of thanks to the speaker and confidence in the Government was carried without dissent.