NATIVE LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 585, 13 August 1909, Page 6

NATIVE LANDS.

POSITION IN THE WAIRARAPA. INTERESTING OFFICIAL STATEMENT. Inquiries were niado from. the Actingl'rimo Minister (Hon. J. Carroll) by a Dominion roportor yestorday, as to the position of Nativo lands in the Wairarnpa district. Mr. Carroll, in roply, said that. the Wairarapa district comprised Mnstorton, Eeatherston, Wairarapa .South,. Pahiatua, Eketahuna, and Castlcpoint counties, 'i'lio Nativo land in the district was mado up as follows:— . ' , Acrcs. Sold , ... ... 110,835 Leased or under negotiation for „ lp ?sc ' ... ... ... ... 72,280 vested in tho Maori Land Board £or sale (Waitutuma blocks) 22,800 Recommended for lcaso to Maoris 569 Unalienated or in occupation, of , Native owners ..... ... . 66,530 Total .... : ... m ... ... 236,023 Of tho. area unalienated, or in possession of Native owners, . continued Mr, Carroll,, 18,126 acres was said to be held, under informal or unregistered leases. to Europeans, ihe balance was. held- iu 382 defined -holdings of,'on au average; 100 acres apiece, consisting, for tho most part, of papakiangos and Native reserves in tho possession of tho Natives. - The 1906. census - gave the Maori population, of ■ tho counties named at oight hundred and. fourteen, so.it would be seen that tho averago holding for-each head of Native po|>ulation was sKty-nino acres. . With regard to the: Ikaroa Maori:. Land Board,- whose scopo included. Hawkc's Bay, as well as the Wairarapa district, Mr. Carroll stated that. in. the Hawko's Bay district, Rakautalahi, containing 6958 acres, had been brought under, its operatious. The. regulations under tho Act were now being revised, j and, as soon as thoy. wero passed, it Would, bo put on 1 the market for selection. He | mentioned also that the necessary surveys- to enable that to be done, had'been completed, and the. plans werc jiow in tho hands of'tho' Survey Department.'. Of this .block, 3046 acres had, , on • the representations,, of. tho Native Laud Coiiiraission, to be reserved for 1 Maori occupation under -part 2 of the Act, whilst 3553 afcr.es would, bo dealt, with for general settlement, purposes, under part' ono. of _the Act. Of tno. last-mentioneKl '■ area, 1953' acres would lje offered .'for sale, and 1600 acres for lease, in several subdivisions. In- the Wairarapa district portions (12,722 acres) of the Waitutuma Block had to be vested in the Ikaroa Maori Land Board, and it was intended, as soon as the necessary surveys had been completed, to place tho whole on-tho market-'for sale. -

,-Since, its.inception in 1900, within the districts named- tho board had, Mr. Carroll continued, given its approval to-116'leases, comprising a total area of' 134,041; acres, \vhile it hau noW: before it at" its present sittings applications for approval of leases for.a further aggregate-area 0f'35,851-acres; Those areas were,, of course, included'in the general total of leased . land before-mentioned. Th« board, had inquired into the • terms' of the ■leases, and satisfied- itself as'to their equity and compliance with - the . statutes, ' thereby ensuring that the leases had. been'taken up for bona fid? settlement and not by - land monopolists. •-