Gr 1

42

could get sufficient applications from the pakeha, and naturally they did not care to deal with Native securities. The Native Trustee would, as far as possible, deal with Natives alone. At present, he said, the Natives were forced to go outside to borrow, at high rates of interest, and, although such transactions were subject to the approval of the Governor-General in Council, he thought it far better to have all these mortgages in the hands of the Government and the Native Trustee, so that he (the Native Trustee) should be practically the sole source from which money was advanced to Natives. The first and present Native Trustee appointed is a Judge of the Native Land Court with wide experience in Native affairs. On the Ist April, 1921, all Native reserves, and all Native trust funds, including those of the different Maori Land Boards, were transferred to his control. Since then his powers have been considerably widened by amending legislation, and to-day he is the statutory trustee for all Natives under disability, including minors, mental patients, and convicts ; while he also acts as executor or administrator for Native estates, and controls the Maori war funds. All available moneys are lent by him at very reasonable rates of interest to Natives upon the security of their lands. The New Zealand Company's reserved " tenths " are now on a satisfactory business footing. With the exception of the Motueka occupation lands, which now comprise an area of 138 acres, the reserves are all leased for terms of twenty-one years, with perpetual right of renewal. In 1924 the Nelson reserves were surveyed and the titles brought under the provisions of the Land Transfer Act. In the same year a movement was on foot in Nelson to give the leaseholders an opportunity of acquiring £he freehold on terms equitable to all parties ; but it was ascertained later that the majority of the beneficial owners were not in favour of the proposal, which was consequently dropped. According to the last Government valuations, which were made between 1916 and 1921, the Company's reserves in Wellington are worth to-day £105,000,? and in Nelson £101,750. The figures quoted are the unimproved values, as the improvements belong to the tenants. Buildings and other improvements put on the lands are valued in Wellington at £40,000, and in Nelson at nearly £120,000, so that the total capital value is nearly £367,000. A revaluation of Wellington which is now in progress will no doubt show a big increase in the figures for that city, and it must be remembered that the town sections remaining are all outside the business area. The wheel of time brings many changes. To-day only a small portion remains of that extensive area which the New Zealand Company, in establishing their settlements at Wellington and Nelson, proposed to set aside for the benefit of the " chiefs, their tribes, and heirs for ever." Had the Company been able to reserve and keep intact 11,110 acres and 20,100 acres in the Provinces of Wellington and Nelson respectively —the area which it was intended to retain under the Wakefield scheme of colonization —the value of the lands at the present time would not be far short of a million sterling. The founders of the Company were men of high ideals, who were sincere in their desire that the interests of the Native race should be safeguarded. The chief fault was the lack of proper inquiry into the validity of the titles supposed to be conveyed by the Native vendors, and in this the Company cannot be held wholly to blame. To Edward Gibbon Wakefield, more than to any other man, is due the credit of placing New Zealand on the map of the British Empire, and to Wakefield also must be given the credit of planning a system of Native reserves designed to prevent the Maori people from becoming landless through the colonization of their country by the pakeha. When the time comes — as it surely will—for a more becoming memorial to the founder of Wellington than the wooden effigy which at present surmounts the Albert Hotel in that city, it would be a graceful tribute if a small portion of the funds held by the Native Trustee on behalf of the beneficial owners of the " tenths " was devoted to so worthy an object. The centenary of the commencement of Wakefield's work in the colonization of New Zealand is approaching : it is proper that it should be fittingly recognized. REFERENCES. Official Publications. House of Commons : Papers relating to New Zealand, 1836 to 1845. House of Commons : Reports on New Zealand, 1840 and 1844. The great report of 1844 contains over one thousand pages of close print. Great Britain : Papers relating to New Zealand. These contain despatches from Governors and Secretaries of State for the Colonies. Ordinances and statutes of the New Zealand Government. Appendices to Journals of the House of Representatives. New Zealand Government Gazettes. New Munster Gazettes. Votes and Proceedings of the Provincial Councils for Wellington and Nelson. Parliamentary Debates (i.e., Hansard). Mackay's Compendium. Maori Deeds of Land-purchases, North Island of New Zealand (Turnbull Library). Official Records. Records of the Lands and Survey Department, the Deeds and Land Transfer Office, and the Native Trust Office. The latter include all records of the Public Trust Office dealing with Native Reserves. Minute-books and Orders of the Native Land Court.