LAND SETTLEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 736, 8 April 1910, Page 8

LAND SETTLEMENT.

VISIT TO THE BAY OF PLENTY. REMARKS BY MR. E. NEWMAN. M.P. THE, APATHY OF THE GOVERNMENT. IBt Teleeraph.-SDcclal CorreroondenU Auckland, April 7. Thirty years ago, Mr. Edward Newman, M.P. for' Manawatii, came out to New Zealand, and settled for a while in the Katikati district, in the Bay of Plenty. He has now concluded a trip through that part of the country, and also the Rotorua district, and, speaking to a "Herald"' representative last night upon his'impressions of the country, he said that what appealed to ™ m ° st strongly was the deplorable fact that the land was lying unproductive _at a time when good settlers were leaving our shores because they- could not get Crown land to settle on. During his trip to the Bay of Plenty, Mr. Newman visited'his old district of Katikati, and he believes that no other part of New Zealand has suffered so much from the apathy of the Government in regard settlement of Native lands. _"One can travel for miles between rauranga and Rotorua," he said, seeing either cattle or sheep, ana it ,g not worthless country. Most wolf IS i l ? f ht , laJld ' J bnt i 4 «F» clover «wt , M nd < lf oleaned and laid down with Mutable grasses would carry stock, especially store cattle. If after reserving for .the Native owners tS tarn, this land were surveyed into suitable areas and placed on the market on a r kasew.th the-right of purchase ten? would become a hive of industry, but no tenure without a right of purchase ment of much of the second-class coun-

that r- ;n NeWman was P leas6d to observe tartJ 0m6 * % rt - S , the tad started to get their land into araw triZ h > e > • ¥ aon •, in .. the countr y. d>swill«; + .' are >" niany cases mJM ™r C -, ,f v the ' Government W rt Mly md r idual,se their titles* so that .they, can know their own land. If the. progress that has been made during, the past thirty.years;is to be, taken as an indication of what the Government can do in this direction it is a Poor look-out for the future. Perhaps atter the railways, which are now be- ? f * hhugr ° u g h > are fairly located, and the land thus increased in value, the Government will proceed to acquire VT 8 '- w or ' Euro P ea n settlement." Mr; Newman' thinks -that the Native Jands, after" making the" necessary reserves for the Natives, should be settled nrst, B ad the proceeds paid into the hands of the Public Trustee for the benefit of the owners,, until the ques™n of individual, titles is determined. Mr. Newman, like, many others, be'ieves.,tnat the only 1 salvation'of the Maori, race is to be found in work. •. If they have to 'work for their living on their, land, as their pakeha brother has to," he said, "they will be saved from the greatest danger that can attach to their race.' "The other great obstacle that hinders advancement of the Bay of Plenty district," continued Mr. Newman, "is the want of railway communication. It looks as if this will be remedied before long, and it is to bo hoped that no delay that can be avoided will take place-in the prosecution of this great work." Mr. Newman, who is: a farmer, was greatly pleased,with the fields of maize and. other crops which,were to,be seen in many of the settled,"parts' of tie district,, which,, to his mind, is well adapted for fruit-growing. It was to be hoped," concluded ">Mr. Newman, since the passing, of the.Bill of last session, authorising the Government to annually spend. £500,000 for the- acquisition of Native lands, that they would adopt a more active policy in regard to, the acquisition of such, property in_ the districts mentioned, and would in all cases'. give the new settlers the. right of purchase without which the country would never be fully improved. ■'•'■..

Mr. Newman,"who is accompanied by his wife and daughter, ■ returns to hJB home at Marton by to-night's express.