LANDLESS MAORIS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 804, 26 October 1929, Page 16

LANDLESS MAORIS

AKARANA ASSOCIATION’S STAND

FINANCIAL HELP URGED Are Maoris to be Included j n the benefits of any Governmentassisted land settlement scheme in the future? \ QUESTION of principle has been raised by the advice from the Minister of Lands, the Hon G \v i Forbes, that no funds are available tn assist natives to settle on the Koheroa ; Block, near Mercer. ° a i Mr. Forbes’s advice is considered by : the Akarana Maori Association to b e disappointing. Resides being I garded as an unsatisfactory- in&ication j of the future treatment pf landless Maoris, the Koheroa decision is con i sidered to be unfair, because the land ; was originally set aside for wholly I Maori occupation. In a discussion on Mr. Forbes’s | letter on Thursday, members of the association expressed their concern at ; the Government’s attitude. The Min- ! ister’s letter said: “With reference to j the suggestion that Koheroa Block : and other blocks of Crown land should be set apart for landless natives in the [ North Island, I have to advise that I have conferred with Sir Apirana Ngata, Minister of Native Affairs, and I am advised there are no funds available to assist Maoris to settle the block. Reservation of this or other land for natives, without provision for finance for effective farming, is not desirable in the interests of settle* ment.” Members of the association were disappointed because the Minister apparently had not appreciated tha viewpoint of landless Maoris. A great number of young Maori men, it was stated, had reached a blind alley in life, and were eager to take up farming. There was no opportunity. The young men had not the means to make homes, and this con. dition was contributory to the drift to the cities, especially of young women. The association takes the Minister’s refusal to mean that iu land set. tlement and advances to settlers, no provision is considered necessary for Maori settlers. In a previous letter, the Minister informed the association that Maoris would be eligible as land applicants at Koheroa. In view of handicaps to Maori applicants, the association asked for the provision of a special scheme. The association believes that, once nothing is left of the few remaining native reservations, the Government will not be prepared to buy land for native settlement. The Government informed the association that there were large areas in the North of unoccupied native land. The land, the association states, belongs to specified people who have delayed occupation pending the result of the consolidation proposal. Landless Maoris are not included in coa solidation.