EVENING SITTING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1891, 12 July 1888, Page 3

EVENING SITTING.

The House resumed at 7 30 p.m. Mr Ballance oontended that tne Bill did not oolnolde with the views which Mr Mltchelspn had enunciated duriog \Me reeelfl, and he (Mr Ballance) had expected tome explantafon of thia change. It was •creed the land-sharking lately had not beeri' successful, bat It waa begauee they bought top dearly and pould not get roads thrpogh their la^ds to open them op. He. denied that this measure ooold properly be called freetrade m native land. It had long been anderatood that the prlnolple was » fallare. Because the Natives refused to deal with their lands under the existing law tte Government ■aid it was a failure, and they mast have •11 land.B thrown open without distinction. fie refhinded the House that the present Government bad beeii clamorous when m opposition for the abolition of Native lands, and has insisted on monsv b«ln» let apart for the purpose. Be "insisted : hat they coold not now overlook the guea|on of settling the land at present locked up n Native hand&, yet'the Blirwould enable arge £raots to be bought and turned Into sheep rani to the exclusion of settlement. He defended the policy of his yovernment, and asiet^ed that 1$ had the qnanlr gjpup approval of all the Maori members, a thing qnlte unprecedented. He urged that tome restriction should be Inserted m the Bill to prevent monopoly. The srea to be purchased by any one buyer ihonld be limited. He quoted an instance of a transaction In which ex-Governor Fergawon was said to be poncerped, to give point to his argument. r As to the rating-proposals it would be impossible to oollect rates until the title was Individualised. The proposal was quite unworkable* Besides, the Natives already paid •peoial fees on the sale or^leaas of their land. Another difficulty which he foresaw was that their work so enormously Increased (hat they would never get through it. On the whole he thought that the expense and trouble of these Nativea Bills would be more than the good they would effect. The consequence would be the abandonment of the Northern Trunk B%lliray# He objected strongly to hwndfng over the Bill .to a Joint Committee. The debate which followed waa taken part m by a number of members, and the second reading Was carried on the voices. s On the rnotlon to rftfer |t to jib© OommltVee, Mr !paipaa moved an arden<iment to refer it to tha Native Afiilrs Committee. Lost by 28 to 2?. The House adjourned at 12,50 a.m.