NEARLY SEVEN MILLIONS IN ONE YEAR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1224, 5 September 1911, Page 4

NEARLY SEVEN MILLIONS IN ONE YEAR.

Sir,—ln tho debate on the Imprest Supply Bill a few days ago, Sir J. Ward, referred to what lie described as an extraordinarily absolutely marvellous statement mndo'by the Leader of. the Opposition, that the country had borrowed six and a half millions Inst year, adding that he had never heard grosser raispresentations in his life- Will it bo lieved that the statement was also ule by the Acting-Prime Minister, Sir ames Carroll, iu a speech delivered at Duneriin on July i last, and reported ns follows:—"3Ir. Massoy, in. one of his speeches, spoke of the huge borrowing of last year. lie said the present Government had borrowed six and a half millions in one year. He (Sir James Carroll) frankly admitted it," etc., and he proceeded to give the items—railway construction, Jci.GOO.OOO; additional rolling stock, .£700,000; land settlement and goldfields development, .£1,000,000; purchase of Native lands, ,£100,000; advances to settlors, ,£1,GT5,000; advances to workers, .£325,000; other public works, Dreadnought, jei,250,000; total, .£0,850,000. Will Sir J. Ward contradict his locum tenens, and say his figures arc all wronij, or what explanation will he offer? Loans totalling nearly seven millions in one twelvemonth" is a. record for'debt plunging, even! in this great loan land, but oven this was eclipsed by that crude,'■ ridiculous proposal for an.lmperial Council or Committee or Parliament of Defence (the author was apparently not at all clear as to tho form or constitution of what he was advocating), under which our wizard of finance proposed to borrow fifty millions to start the scheme. This small country is evidently ten r*«fTic'-<l for the talents of our great financier. Hβ is lost here.—l am, etc., CITIZEN. NATIVE LANDS ADMINISTRATION. Sir, —Whilst public attention is concentrated on the present system of Native land administration through tho Mokaii affair, it may be of interest to your readers to further enlighten them as to tho methods adopted by the Government in acquiring Native lands for closer settlement so that such settlement shall appear as a successful enterprise- on the part of the Government at the expense of tho Natives. Under the existing Native- land law tho Crown (amongst other powers), if they "contemplate" negotiating for tho purchase of Native land, may on tho recommendation of tho Native Land Purchase Board make an Order-in-Council prohibiting all alienations of that land other than alienations in favour of the Crown. Such Order is then gazetted and registered against the title to the'block about to bo attacked. Any person who (not being an'agent of the Crown) after such gazetting 'and during the --currency of the Order eaters into.negotiations with tjio Native owners for the'alienation of tno land- affected by tho Order is'guilty of an olfoiico'.and liable "to imprisonment or three mouths, or to a fine of two hundred pounds." Having thtis stifled all outsido competition, and having) a clear field to negotiate with tho. Natives for the purchase, of land, the Crown,-.through its agents, proceeds to dictate their own terms to the unfortunate-Native owners who have not even, the'advantage of the value being iixed by a Court, as in tho case of a European whose land'is taken under the , Lands for Settlement Act. What is tho result? Here's an -instance , vouched for by one of the Native owners of the 'block affected. The Crown desired to acquire a large block of land near Dnnnevirko. Accordingly, to smooth the way fpr negotiations, it issued and registered its Order-in-Council, then had-a valuation made by a Government servant, who assessed the valuu of the property at Xlfl 10s: psr acre. Tho agent of the Government, armed with this, met the Native owners at Dannevirke, with the object of opening negotiations. The Natives asked .£25 per acre; the Crown agent offered .£l9 10s. During t'e discussion which ensued, a Europeai- entered the room, and addressing .he Crown agent in a loud voice —ho da.o not, for fear of incurring the above-mentioned penalties, approach the Natives—informed the Crown agent that ho was willing at any moment to pay .£3O an acre cash to the Natives for their interest. The Crown agent was highly indignant at the proceedings being thus so unceremoniously disturbed, aud rebuked the offender. One Native owner stood up and sarcastically asked tho agent which figuro he thought tho Natives should accent— j£l9 10s. irom tho Government, or .£3O from this individual! After this the negotiations were for a timo futile, and therefore adjourned, apparently with tho object of starving the Natives into submission, and. at a subsequent meeting, the Crown did gain its point, aud purchased at .£lO 10s. If this is'the manner in which the Government, protects the interests of the •Native land-owners, then the sooner the Natives are allowed to deal in the open market with their own land the better. It is this system of tying up Native lands and prohibiting direct negotiations between the Native owners and (he bona fide settlor that prevents the settlement of these lands, as in the case of the Ahuaturang'a Native Block near Woqdville and Mangatainoka Block, near Pahiatua and others, every acre of which would be snapped up at an advance of fifty per cent, above the Government valuation if the public were allowed to deal with the •Natives. . ; If. is.high'time that a change took place in tho control of the Native affairs of this 'country. Many persons having business with the various branches of this Department have assnrod me that the Department at present is in a most , deplorable state, of chaos and urgently requires reorganising and a more energetic man placed at the bond of affairs. The "taihoa" policy 'of the head of the service seems to permeate the whole service.—l am, etc., ABORIGINAL. September 1, 1911.