Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE PUBLISHED Tuesday and Friday. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19. 1909.

Western Star, 19 November 1909, Page 2

Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE PUBLISHED Tuesday and Friday. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19. 1909.

IN the North Island there are a-total oi acres of native land. Of this area 3,400.000 are reported to top profitably occupied, leaving approximate balance of 3,994,727 acres. The actual area available for aetrtleumA is acres, so'that ike area unprofitably held, is reduced to 1,706,487 acres, of which 490,752 acre> have not been investigated. ' The area of native land now available fox general settlement is 1,629,144 aC res For years 'there has been a cry for the settlement of this land, and a very isnn portafit measure has been introduced into Parliament, dealing with the whole fciuesitibn. The Bid, one of a com solidating nature, repeals all other statutes, and its bulk may be gathered from the fact that it containes 424 clauses. Utoder the Bill alienation m a y be elecced in four different ways—Private alienation by the owners themselves ; alienation by a Maori Land agent -of the owner ; alienation by thtf Boaid as the statutory trustee or

committee 0 f management of the incorporated owner ; and alienation ia pursuance of a resolution of a majority of the owners assembled im amedttjn@T colled for that purpose by a board No one may acquire any native . land; which will biiife. his .total holding yond the limit of three thousand across, except byway of will or intestate ■uccession. Provision is made for the opening up for European settlement areas of native land recommended for that purpose by the native land coxamission. All lands set apart for sale must be sold by public auction ojc Pulb» lie tender, and the same to

leases. A Native Land Purchase Ipard is to be constituted with power o purchase (native land for settlement nirposes. Jt is provided by the Bill,

to aave complication, that all miarri- | agios between natives must be celebrat ed hi the same manner as a marriage between Europeans, or in the presence of an officiating minister under the Marriage Act, but without the other conditions , a rmd formalities required by tfi-at Act. Adoption by native custom, which led'to great confusion when cs'fates were being partitioned! is abolished, acifd adoption by order of tine Native Land Court is 'substituted. The rural south of the United States is in tlie d'ai'k acpcs of hygiene. investigation has revealed 'the" fact that the necatoi' Aniericuiius, or hook worm, is ravaging the. population, the hookworm" Was brought origiaiully from Xew Guinea by .negro slaves and the nfgro is still the groat reservoir of this malignant,' though microscopic scourge. For a century abnormal poo|)1« known a* "the dirt-eators" 'thousands of poverty-stricken, shiftless, ignorant men, women and children, bad presented a perplexing eonuntlrum to the. American nation. 'ln th? region soi.Uh of the Potomac-in Carolina, j Florida, au'i Alaj •oi*-tfvad ■

a population wlhioh seemed incurably lazy and anaemic. They were the subject of jocular comment, and .whod it waA annpunced by a medical man at the Pan-American Sanitary Cjongres's that these people were sick and uuat be had discovered the cause ol their decadence, he was looktd upon as a joker. "The lazy germ" the joke of the season. But invjestigatioil, to forward which Mr Rockefeller gave a million' dollars, soon turned laughter into sadness, and one of the greatest medical crusades of our time commenced. It is being carried h6ut in the interest of two million people who are infected with this dreadful parasite. The havoc this parasite causes, particulars of its life history and tlh© researches of medical investigators are outlined in a *n interesting article by Marion Garter in the October number of McClure's Magazine, to which those interested on social problems may refer with profit...

As the result of the legislation °i 1907, estates have been placed upon the market, and the work of closer 'Settlement has bjeen goinjg on without intervention of the Land for Settlements Act, which has, entailed pretty heavy borrowing. Since the date mentioned over seventy estates of a value of twenty thousand pounds 1 and ov,er have come into the market. The area of land thus closely seMed runs into many thousands of acres, and the owners have had no cause for complaint at the result of their sales). They have all done well, an|d is immensely benefitted. As the Act has only lwen in operation for two years this result is regarded us satisfactory. There was a considerable grad uated land tax previously, but the rates were Mow enough to warrant htfve owners holding ort. They wer. also" assisted in this by the low valuations placed on their holdings, but aVlhe values rose to something nearer Jheir fair selling value, it became imPosible to retain these lnrge estates.

Hallways area necessity in a country thai depends mainly an. agncultSo- They are required in order to make country lying idle wealth producing. New Zealand has nearly thir?v J lion rounds invested in. radvLs and still the cry is for more. S Goimment- this year have received requests for lines, which, J a* oriseel would require the «««<**? million pounds to complete Mamfestly the Stale cannot meet-anything like these demands. All it can borrow in any on e year for such purposeo i* a million, and it must be borne in miafd that on ,th© capital already sunk in railways, owing to the low fares and freights, Buffcic-nt isi not earned Hy way of profit to provide 'the interest on the total capital, not to mention a sinikin-' fund. Those who clamour for railways never think of these things. A Government, Which is, of course tha State, fcjave their financial limitations At the same time, the work of railway construction must go on. In the Budget it is distinctly laid down thai the Government do not intend to construct any more lines that -will not return 3 per cent upon the sum invested. This is sound policy. Bud this been the accented principle twenty o!r twenty-five years ago, that abortion", the Otago Central, would never have been constructed, it only returns .«ix shillings per cent., and notwiithsltanlding'that the members for Wlakatipii and Bruce are to-day agitating for its further extension. Parochial politiciarfs first, and New fSlealand legislators afterwards is a description that may it-nyiy applx; %o. litem. A»otber \abortion that should never ha\lq been commetnioed is, the Lawrence-Roxburgh. A study of the division list shows that the Southland members voted against this waste, while the two Otago members mentioned, who are forever cosa> demning extravagance, voted for it. All these absurd lines must stop, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the pronouncement in the Budget, will be rigidly adhered to.