NATIVE LANDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 56, 15 June 1910, Page 2

NATIVE LANDS.

CONFERENCE OF NATIVES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Yesterday. The Native Conference at Waalii was resumed to-day, when Mr. lienare Kailiau, M.P., addressed those present. The partition of their lands, said Mr. Kaihau, had been agreed upon among themselves and confirmed as between Mahuta and the Native Minister, the Hon. James Carroll. Of the 000,000 acres under consideration it had been decided to sell 150,000 acres, to lease a similar amount, to reserve for their own occupation, and to sell for the purpose known as the mana of Mahuta the remainder, some 300,000 acres. The time for a taihoa policy was past, and land settlement could not longer be staved oil'. He strongly advised the natives to prove their bona fides by occupying the portions set aside for farms, and to set to work to cultivate them in a scientific and up-to-date manner. With regard to the portion to be .leased, their, hands were tied until the Government gave them information as to the value at which the land had be-en assessed. The natives were as much alive to the current value of land as were the ;pakehas, and the difference of a shilling or two on nearly 400,000 acres meant a considerable sum. The valuation might or might not be satisfactory to the native owners. If it were, well and good, 'but if not it should he thrown open for public selection, or let or sold to the highest bidder. Provision had now been made for survey, roading, etc., and the completion of these would be considerably accelerated if the management were vested in the hands of the local committee, leaving to the land boards only the legalisation of the various transactions. Leaving these matters to the land boards simply meant hanging them up for another ten years, and perpetuating that ■policy of taihoa with which both natives and' Europeans had 'been nauseated ever since deals in native, lands had been commenced. It was well known to them all that the block (some 1300 acres in extent) now known as the Hopuhopu mission station, .was -one of great historical interest. That landshould be handed over to the natives at once. The speaker strongly urged the natives to forge the last link in t-ne chain of native councils by appointing one for the Waikato district. fle. concluded by exhorting his audience to decide quickly : on the various matter's placed before them, and adjured them, for the sake of their race, to be temperate, obedient and loyal. VARIOUS RESOLUTIONS. Auckland, Yesterday: "' The conference carried a •' "resolution for the immediate constitution of a district Maori council, which should supersede- all land boards and .largely overcome 'the delay in the settlement of land. It was also resolved that the Maori Council be instructed, to draw up stringent rules for the suppression of the drink traffic. Speakers bemoaned the intemperance of the rising generation, and urged that nothing but total prohibition of liquor from the •' Maids, villages and pas occupied by Maoris would be acceptable. .

It was resolved that the lands known as Hopuhopu. (mission station be i acquired, arid a native town established there, with colleges' giving boys and girls a first-class secondary education, for the church. ■' •