A Great Land Claim

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 92, 23 August 1923, Page 3

A Great Land Claim

THREE MILLION ACRES INVOLVED. THE HEART 6f THE WAIKATO.

Considerable stir lias been created in Maori political circles by the gradual matoiiialisation of a- movement which has beonS** a nebulous form for many year's. It will bo remembered that after the Wailcato ami Taranaki wars large areas of native land were confiscated by the Government both in the Auckland and Taranaki provinces and it is for the recovery of this lost territory that the Maoris are now formulating definite action. Legal proceedings are to bo instituted, first in the Supremo Court of New Zealand, and subsequently (if necessary) the case is to be taken before the Privy Council. A fund to cover the cost of such action is to be established by means of a per capita levy of £1 for seniors and 10s for juniors, which is expected to realise £IO,OOO, and the natives are confident that the Sum will bo easily raised (states the Waipa Post). The importance of the land involved may lie gathered from the fact that the wlieuua ruapati (confiscated area) complies practically the. whole of the Waikato basin north 'bf the aukati (frontier lino) which ruirls from the Aotea harbour via Waitetuna and tbeii eastward to Klibikihi, embracing the Raglan., Waipa, and Waipa counties, with certain About 100,000 acres (known as the To Akau block) was returned to the Maoris who had never participated in the war, and a further area on its boundary (“rebel sections”) was awarded to landless fighters. Altogether, about 2,000,000 acres of what is now the'most thickly populated portion of tho Waikato and 1,000,000 acres of Taranaki land are included in tho claim. Most of the land was originally cut up into small sections and awarded 1 to Maori war veterans at the conclusion of hostilities, but has since passed to other hands.