THE MAORI LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1210, 19 August 1911, Page 9

THE MAORI LANDS.

« . A WASTED OPPORTUNITY. MILLIONS OF ACRES STILL LYING IDLE. SETTLEMENT BLOCKED. Two outstanding facts have to bo borno in mind in considering the Native lands question. They are:— 1. That in less than sis years the supply of Crown land available for setrlement will have been exhausted. (Dr. Findlay, Legislative Council, July 13, 1910.)' "■ 2. That of tho 7,400,000 acres owned by the Maoris, an area: of -somethiug like " 5 000,000 acres—nearly one-fifth ■ or tho whole surface of the North Islandis lying absolutely idle and unproductive. - "' Statement .No. 2 requires some explanation. It was only arrived at after a diligent search through the latest Government reports aud statistics at preseut available. The total area of Native land in the Doiuininu oil March 31; 1910, was as under (vide "Statistics of the Dominion of New Zealand for the year 1909," page 359):- ; . ■ . Acres. . Auckland 4.000,771. Hawke's Bay 1,-tn3,33G Tiiranaki 312.0 m ■ Wellington •• •■- l,s!W.s:ifi Nelson '■■■■ JW» Total • 7,-H7,9SS The latest official return as to tho area of Native land leased is apparently that contained in the table as to the occupation of land published on Page 30.') of the "Statistics" for 1900. This- gives a total of 1.900,968 acres of Native land held under lease. A note at the foot of the table says that it is a repetition of that published in 1908, no later figures being available. Taking these figures, a sum in subtraction gives the following result:— Acres. Total area of Native land 7.-H7.956 ' Area leased 1,906,868 Area in Native hands ... 5,511,018 The Maori as a Farmer. The point now arises, What is I he Maori doing with lliis 5S million acres? 'Ihe only figures that throw any real light on the question aro those published in the Maori census returns collected once in every five years. The figures year's census are not yet available. Those for the census of I'JOIi, aro to lie found in'the official census report, Appendix B, p. iii:— Sheep 252.101 head Cattle. .-it.!)!!!) head Vis;i '. 12.173 head ; Area under crop Hl.GOS!acres ' On a liberal estimate of one sheep to the acre and one head of cattle | to ten

acres, tins stock could be comfortably carried on 300,000 acres of grass land. If the area under crop is' added, it gives a total of -340,000 acres as under effective Maori occupation. No figures are published showing tho number of horses owned by tbs Maoris. To. allow for the grazing of these, and for the espansion that has taken place since 190G, it would be a liberal tiling to add, say, 50 per cent, to area, as above, thus making in round figures 500,000 acres in use for'- carrying : Maori live stock and crops. The final position is, therefore, that given in statement No. 2 above:— Total Maori lands ; 7,417,9'50 L«SS -I Area leased 1,90G,9CS Area carrying crops and live stock 500,000 2,406,96S Native lands standing idle 5,011,018 These figures aro not thoso given by Ministers of the-Crown in their references to the Native lands question. The figures in Ministerial speeches-that cannot be verified by reference to the official public records hove been ignored. Sir John (then Dr.) rindlay, in tho .Legislative Council last year, for instance, said that 3,000,000 acres of' Native land were' leased by the Maoris. No trace of this is to be found in any official'document so -far available to the public. Sir .fames Carroll at Jnvorcorgill on June 30 said ("Otago Daily Times," July "On March 31 last, the area owned by thfi .Maoris in . thn North Island was G,015,371 acre-:. Of this 3,91(i,3!2 acres wa3 in profitable occupation, leaving a balance- of 2.102.029 acres of unoccupied Native lands. Of this balance 869.112 acres was vested in the Public Trustee and other trustees, and 27i),1)02 acres ivas incorporated for settlement." . When tlicsr; figures appear in the Parliamentary papers it will be lime to uso them. Meanwhile, .it is sufficient to note that in the absence of explanation of whit Sir Jurors Carroll mesiis by "profitable occupation" they aro utterly valueless. A Quixotic Policy. One interesting fact in the Year Book for 11)10, p. 713, is that in the year ending on March 31. 1910. the Government spent the magnificent sum of 4.-31,801 in acquiring 13,588 acres of Native land to be thrown open for public settlement. Since the inauguration of the Land for Settlements policy in IMI, about which time the purchase of cshtes by the Crown begun, the liovcrnment , , up to March 31, 1910, has (sco Year Hook. 1910, pp. 578-7) ■spent n sum of «ti5,107,702 in acquiring for subdivision 107 estates, with a total area of 1,238,000 acres. Duriiis (In. same period tile Crown hns spent Jtti7(i,2lj in acquiring 2,171.167 acres of Native land. This fact is not directly, disclosed in any ollicial publication. The Year Jiook, however, shows each year the -area of Native hind jmri-hased by the Crown siiuv IS7O and the total sum paid for il. Tin , figures in the Year Hooks (p. 7i:i> iif 19!U' and 1891 (p. 207) arc respectively:— Area acquired. Cn-t. Acres. X 18711-1910 r'March 31) 8,(101.8.11 2,072,:122 1870-IS'JI (.Milrch 31.1 \&\M I 1.'.1!11i,[)77 Operations IS'.M-MIO 2.171/IS7 1i71i,215 Tlia privalp e-lalas resumed were all in liioro or less profitable occupation, but. the Native laud was lyiug absolutely idle.

. Yet- for every £1 spent in buying Nativo land for settlement during the last 17 years, the Government has spent £9 in acquiring private estates. If the' figures had been the other way round, it stands to reason that the production of the colony would have fen enormously increased. ■ Values Piling Up. ' ■ Another point to be borne in mind is that the longer the purchase of the Native lands is deferred, tho greater will be the price to be paid for them. . Tho Year Book of 1895, p. 157, states that the nrea . of Native land "in the hands of the Natives" was then between !) and 10 million acres. , It proceeds: "In 1858 the Native lands wore valued at .£3,000,000 sterling. The present value is probably not so much; somo laud has been sold, but on the other hand some of that retained may have increased in value." Now him to tho corresponding figures ia the Xear Book of 1010, p. 612. The value of the Native lands and improve-, ments exclusive of lessee's interests, you are told was on March 31, I'JOS, •£11,113,545, the aiea then being about 7J million Jieres. . ' Thus, although the area has decreased by about 25 per cont., the value of the Nativo lands increased by sterling, or nearly 300 per cent in 13 years. Millions for Nothing. The Maori pay* practically nothing in rates and taxes," and becomes wealthy by merely squatting , on the. ground and letting noxious weeds grow over some of the be.st laud in the North Island. Ho need not worry about to-morrotr, for tho extension of railways and roads, and tho solid hard work ot the white settler is steadily piling up millions of pounds in laud .values for him to enjoy. 'L'li? public has not yet realised what the profitable occupation of the Native lands would mean to New Zealand. Tho ii{ million acres of land on which the Maoris run their quarter of a million sheep, taken by and large, is fair average- North , Island country. If ihcru an: poor blocks, there are al'o exceptionally feitilo blocks. Room for 2,700,000 More Sheep. The North Island has an nrea. of 28,•1.1M.K0 acres , , and the a! million acres which, as show.i above, to in the hands of a comparatively small group of Maoris, represent just abnut'one-fifth of the total. Tiie l>lll , Book for 1910, p. 500, shows- lh.it I here are 12,133,211 sheep in the North T»land. Tho only fiijuros as to Maori sheep give the Native flocks as they were in ll>o6. when they totalled 252,000 sheep. Since that date I ho number of Europoanowned shosp in th ,. North Island has iu-u-c.'i-ccl by oire-IH'tli, so, for tho purpose, of making ;i rough comparison, wo will mpnose nn equal increase in tho Maori flocks, bringing their total up to 300,000. Tli3 position flion works out that on the European : - om--lillhs of the North Wand .acfnver l2,flC(l,'ool)sheei>;lt fdloiws-flssiini-. ing the soil lo be the same mixture of good, biul. and indifferent in ench liftli of the island—that wilh nvfrnsi' Kuropcan farniinc there would lie !i,Oofl,oofl sheep to each fifth. ' Maori flock? cf 300.000.sheep, therefore, mean thai onc-tcnth of the Native land is stocked, and nine-tenths is empty.' The profitable occupation of the Native lands would give an onormoim impetus to die li-iido and commercial prosperity of the whole of tho Dominion. It is far and away the most important problem that

confronts New Zealand statesmanship at the present day. What Might Be. The four-fifths of the North Island Hint is occupied by settlers lias, according to the last. Year J3ook, a total overseas trade of .£21,550,!!26. On this basis the occupation of the- remaining lift.li of the island would mean an increase, pro rata, of .-£5,300,000 in the Dominion's trade. This is nearly three-quarters of the. whole overseas trade passing through "Wellington, and it. is greater than tho whole of the import and export trade of Lyttolton, the principal port of one of the most prosperous provinces of Now Zealand. As the figures in this article may be challenged by (he advocates of the "faihoa" policy in Native lands, the authority for them lias been given in every instance. How little concerned the Government is to provide (ho public ■ with information regarding tho Native lands may be gathered from .the fact that,in tho latest volume of Government statistics, in an index of (WO entries, there is not ono solitary reference to Native lands'. Tho reports of Sir James Carroll s own Department, moreover, givo no comprehensive statement of the position in any form. There are a few scrappy .papers relating to the transactions of tins board and that, but of Native lands ns a whole the public is told nothing whatever. , Not for the Poor Man. Tho Native lands arc not for the poor man to settle on uudor the present "Liberal" Administration. Before Native land can be purchased under present conditions endless expensive legal proceedings are necessary. The wealthy speculator can afford this, but it is quite out of tho question for tho working settler who is looking for a holding to take in hand. ■ What is wanted- in connection with tho Native land problem is to send out surveyors to mark out tho land that (lie Maoris are actually using to carry stack on, etc. All the idle land could bo resumed by the Crown at a reasonable, valuation, and on such a basis not to infringe tho rights guaranteed to the Natives. The Maori claims equal rights with the' European under tho Treaty of Wnitangi'. but lie has never sought to bear tho liabilities that go with those rights. If the Maori landowner, for instance, had to pay up what he owes in 'arrears of rates on his land ho simply could not hold it. After the Crown , ' had resumed the land it could bo cut and treated as ordinary Crown laud available for 'settlement. Tho net revenue -from it, however, should bo paid into a trust fund for the benefit of the Maori owners, whose, titles conld be investigated in the Native Land Courts at auy time during the next'fifty or hundred years without; in any way blocking the progress of New Zealand. To ascertain the title'first, .and. then , open the. land for lease or purchase afterwards is to waste years needlessly. An Extraordinary Record. Sir James Carroll has been in the Ministry nineteen years, and has been.Nativo Minister for over-ten-years. He is still talking of what he is'going to do to-inor-row. His record for yesterday is probably the most extraordinary in tho history of New Zealand. Liko the House of Lords in the ballad, he has done nothing, and done it. very well indeed. , The thing for the public to remember is that keeping tho Government in power means in practice:— 1. A stagnation in land settlement by the blocking of access to idle Maori'land. ■ - - ' 2. The production of enormous, crops Gf noxious-weeds on- vast areas of the North Island. ■ ' 3. An ultimate huge expenditure in buying the Maori land at an enhanced value entirely due to European industry. From the figures given above it- would appear that during the thirteen years from 18H5 to 190S tho Native lauds have increased in value by 8J millions 'sterling. What Sir J. Carroli Costs. Thus while Sir OamesiCarroll sits'down/ in his oifice chair .and' waits for "to-nloW row, a tremendous bill is piling up that someone will ultimately havo to pay. Under this ono head nlono Sir James Carroll, besides his-salary, allowances, otc, has been costing: .£053,000 a year. •C.H.000 a. month. £12,500 a week. oEISOO a day. £75 an hour. 255. a minute. Nest .time you hear the 'Native Minister delivering one of those-..orations in'which he tells you what fino fellows ho and. his colleagues- are, ■ you can amuse yourself bv reflecting that the bill is piling merrily up, and that between tho beginning and eud of a two-hour speech' .£l5O has Remember, all that has been said In this article is only one instance of ■ .the reckless waste and indifference of the Government to the real interests of New Zealand.