The Maori Affairs Bill, 1952 KO TE PIRE MO NGA MEA TAKE MAORI, 1952 I tera putanga o Te Ao Hou ka whakamaramatia te aronga o nga ahuatanga hou e pa ana ki te iwi Maori me o ratou whenua kua whakakaupapatia ki Te Pire Mo Nga Take Maori, 1952, ka takoto ano i te Kawanatanga ki te aroaro o Te Paremata i tenei tau. Mo nga mokamoka whenua Maori, ka peheatia? Kei tenei tuhituhinga nga ata whakamarama. Ki ta Te Pire e kore ai e haere tonu te wawahi i runga i nga ture Kairiiwhi paanga whenua tupapaku. Ko ta Te Pire i whakarite ai inaianei ki te mate tetahi Maori kaore ana wira ka tuku ona whenua me ana taonga ki ana tamariki ki ona whanaunga tata ranei i a te Maori i ana tikanga. Penei na mehemea tokorima nga tamariki a taua tupapaku ka wawahia ona paanga whenua me ana taonga kia orite tonu ki aua tamariki. Ina ra mehemea kotahi ruuri ano te paanga whenua o taua tupapaku ka whakaratotia ki aua tamariki tokorima. He takitahi rawa atu nga Moari e hanga wira ana ka tuku i o ratou paanga whenua he tangata ke. Kei te marama te mutunga mai o enei ahuatanga. E hia nei mano nga paanga whenua Maori takitahi kua kore noaiho he wariu ara ia kei raro iho pea i te kotahi kapa. Ko etahi ano o aua paanga takitahi kei raro iho i te rima paati rau atu rau atu, a ko te rahi ano o etahi he uaua te ora o te tangata kotahi kei roto ano i nga rau tona nui. He mea hemanawa rawa atu tenei nga mokamoka whenua Maori, haunga ia ki te hunga no ratou aua whenua engari ki te hunga kei a ratou nga mahi whakahaere penei me Te Kooti me Te Tari Maori. He nui nga mahi he whakatikatika i nga taitara he whakarato i nga moni reti a he whakatikatika i nga riihi. Kaore he amuamu mo te nui o te mahi engari ia ko te kaha pakupaku o nga mokamoka whenua nei e pau ana te 5/- a Te Kawanatanga hei utu i nga raruraru mo te utu i te whakaratotanga i te 2/6 o nga reti, a ko etahi ano ma te 50 tau katahi ano ka eke ki te kotahi kapa te moni reti. Ko ianei ra nga ahuatanga a e tika ana kia hangaia he ture hei whakatikatika. Ki te kore hoki he raruraru tona mutunga. Kua puta nga korero mo nga rongoa hei whakatikatika i enei mate ara mo nga mahi whakatopu paanga, mo te whakawhaiti i nga In the last issue of Te Ao Hou a general sketch was given of the new laws affecting Maoris and Maori land proposed in the Maori Affairs Bill, which the Government intends to place before Parliament again this year. In this article, special detailed consideration is given to the question of the many very small interests in Maori land, and to the methods proposed by the Bill for dealing with those interests, and for preventing their further cutting up, or “fragmentation”. At present, when a Maori dies without a will, his interests in Maori land go according to Maori custom. If he has five children, each child gets a fifth of each interest of the deceased, and so on. If the deceased person has a share of, say, one rood in a block, then that rood will be split among his children. Very few Maoris leave wills devising their lands to persons other than those who would in any case inherit by Maori custom. The result is plain to see for anyone who has anything to do with Maori land. Thousands of land interests exist which are literally worth nothing—less than one penny. Many more interests would amount to areas of less than five perches. Small blocks of land, which at the best would support one person, have hundreds of owners. This means not only that owners find difficulties in the way of using the land, but that in some cases the trouble and expense of even leasing it to others are too great to make this course worthwhile. As well as these drawbacks, there is a tremendous strain thrown upon the Court and the Department organisation in keeping title records up to date, and in distributing rents among owners. The work involved in distributing rents is often out of all proportion to the actual money concerned. It is costing in some cases (in clerical wages, etc.) 5/- to distribute 2/6. Many owners have shares so small that they are entitled to rents of less than a penny a year; cases are known where it would take over 50 years before some very small shares would be entitled to a penny rent! This is the position, and it is no longer a question of whether any change should or can be made, but how soon something can be done to improve matters. As things are now, there is even a danger of the Maori Affairs administration collapsing with the rapidly growing number of interests. Various suggestions have been made for improving this position. Some people have pointed to the consolidation schemes as providing