Gr.—9.

NATIVE LAND COURT. A statistical return of the activities of the Native Land and Appellate Courts during the year is appended in Table A. The volume of business shows a slight decrease as compared with that of the preceding year. PROMOTION OF EMPLOYMENT AMONGST MAORIS. During the year the number of Native workers employed by the Department dropped from four thousand to approximately two thousand five hundred. The total expenditure on wages was £408,730, of which £326,173 was in respect of Native land development schemes and the balance applied towards the improvement of privately owned Native land and the erection of dwellings financed from the Special Housing Fund. On land-development schemes subsidies ranged from 50 per cent, to 100 per cent. With a few exceptions all works were undertaken on a contract basis. EXPENDITURE FROM CONSOLIDATED FUND. For the year ended 31st March, 1941, the gross expenditure from Consolidated Fund vote " Native " was £437,303, and the recoveries totalled £24,400. Brief particulars of the net expenditure covering general costs of administration and grants for Native purposes are as follows :• —- General administration — Salaries and staff expenses (including £ £ £ travelling) .. .. .. 118,745 Office expenses (rent, stationery, postages, &c.) .. .. .. .. 13,523 132,268 Less recoveries from the Native Trustee, Maori Land Boards, and Miscellaneous 24,091 108,177 Purchase of eqjiipment (motor-vehicles, office building, and furniture) .. . . . . . . 314 108,491 Grants for Native purposes — Ahuwhenua Trophy . . . . . . .. 27 Maori employment promotion .. .. .. 291,669 Maori participation, Centennial Exhibition .. .. 1,192 Maori Purposes Fund .. .. .. .. 375 Behabilitation, Hawke's Bay flood areas .. .. 36 Water-supplies .. . . . . .. .. 50 Sundries .. . . . . .. .. 31 293,380 Protection of Native land — Destruction of rabbits .. .. . . . . 1,032 Clearing of noxious weeds .. .. .. 5,000 6,032 Taranaki lands compensation (paid to Taranaki Trust Board) .. 5,000 £412,903 Although the total cost of administration amounted to £132,582, the net cost to the State, after deducting sums of £24,091 (recovered from the Native Trustee and the Maori Land Boards) and £4,738 (fees of the Native Land Courts and the Maori Land Boards collected in stamps and credited to the Consolidated Fund), was £103,753. The item £1,192 for Maori participation in the Centennial Exhibition represents sundry closing expenditure, less recoveries by way of proceeds of entertainments and sales £309. The expenditure on destruction of rabbits and noxious weeds on Native land is actually made by the Department of Agriculture, and, in accordance with a standing arrangement, that Department is recouped from vote " Native." An annual amount of £7,000 is provided for Native purposes from the Consolidated Fund under Part Vof the Civil List Act, 1920. Of this sum, £3,600 is administered by the Department of Health and applied towards the cost of medical and nursing services for Maoris. The balance is disbursed at the discretion of the Native Minister for purposes having for their object the general welfare of the people. The amount expended during the year was £4,036, which is considerably lower than previous years, due in no small measure to the operation of the social-security legislation, which has practically eliminated allowances in necessaries from the Civil List funds to meet cases of indigence. Sums of £6,000 were paid to the Arawa Trust Board, £5,000 to the Taranaki Trust Board, and £3,000 to the Tuwharetoa, Trust Board representing grants authorized by statute or appropriated by Parliament for the general benefit of the tribes concerned.

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